Struggling with weight is hard. That’s true whether you’re struggling to lose weight or gain weight.
It’s made harder still when you hear from people in fantastic shape how “easy” it is to be healthy.
I’m sure you’ve seen them as much as I have. Fitness enthusiasts, often with a supplement or apparel to sell, saying how they know the “secret to melting fat.” Or how a “killer new workout secret” can give the physique that looks like it’s been carved from stone with “just 10 minutes a day.”
In truth, these influencers almost certainly spend more time in the gym than they’d care to admit, and some of them have an unhealthy relationship with both food and their physique.
Let me be clear: obsessively counting every calorie and chugging garbage-filled supplements created in a lab with questionable ingredients is not a lifestyle to emulate.
Even in everyday life, you probably know someone who has never struggled with their weight and isn’t shy about saying how it’s easy to control it. What they really mean is that it’s easy for them to control.
That’s good for them, but it can be very demotivating to hear as someone who’s struggled with their weight for a long time. When you’re already finding weight control a challenge, to hear that you shouldn’t be struggling just piles on the pressure. You ask yourself why you’re finding it so difficult and before you know it, you’re developing an unhealthy relationship with food and your emotions.
I want to remind you that looking healthy and being healthy are two different concepts. These influencers may fit into the clothes they want to, but that doesn’t mean they are healthy. In fact, your motivation to lose weight and improve your health could mean they are less healthy than you are, because they’re mistakenly complacent.
But the question still remains:
Why do some people struggle with their weight while others don’t?
There are various reasons that affect how easy somebody finds it to control their weight.
Some people simply eat too much. Processed foods are dietary bombs that are nutritionally empty, so it’s remarkably easy to eat in excess without feeling satisfied. But once you switch to unprocessed whole foods, you may start to realize you can’t eat as much. With proper nutrition and macronutrients, your body naturally alerts you that it’s had enough to eat – much like filling a car up with fuel and the pump clicking off when the tank is full.
Other people may find it difficult to eat enough during the day. Very thin people often feel like they’re eating a lot, but when they actually measure intake during waking hours, they can start to see they’re below their requirements.
As I’ve written before, the number one factor that leads people to my operating table is food. This is the best place to start making a change.
But food isn’t the only factor involved in losing weight. You may also find yourself struggling to shed pounds because of your hormones, which are typically affected by certain aspects of your lifestyle.
The following can all have a detrimental effect on your hormone levels:
- Lack of sleep
- Lack of sunlight
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Poor diet
Like you, I struggled with weight for my entire life up to my 40th birthday. That’s when I decided to finally take control and improve my metabolic health — and for the first time ever, the weight I lost stayed off.
This is what I learned.
The real secret to being healthy: restoring your metabolic health
You can’t build a house on shaky foundations, and the same is true of your body. Your metabolic health is the foundation to health, upon which you can build your fitness and strength.
Despite what some influencers may suggest, exercising for hours a day or taking mystery supplements isn’t going to give you a perfect body. The only way to be truly healthy is to restore your metabolic health.
This means:
- Eating whole, real foods. Throw out processed ‘near food’ objects and replace them with food that comes from the ground or is fed from the ground.
- Making sustainable lifestyle adjustments. You need to prioritize healthy sleep and rest, getting plenty of exercise, and spending time under the sun.
- Focus on being healthy, not thin or ‘skinny fat.’ A lower number on the scale doesn’t mean you’re metabolically healthy. Working on strengthening your muscles and eating whole, real food can have a remarkable effect on your health and longevity — often within a few months or less.
Unlike the people who tell you it’s easy to be thin and healthy, I have been where you are.
I know that struggle. I also know how to overcome it, and I can help you overcome it too.
If you’re ready to take control of your metabolic health right now, you can take my free metabolic health quiz to get a baseline measurement of your health. Then, you can schedule a complimentary call to learn more about next steps.