Are you struggling to lose some extra weight that has been hanging around like extra baggage?

Are you also feeling gassy, bloated, irritated with unexplained abdominal discomfort?

The two may be connected...

Today we're going to talk about weight loss and how to successfully and healthily lose excess fat. The advice that is given to most people trying to lose weight is the “calories in versus calories out” advice, which is to eat less and move more to lose weight.

This is sound advice.

However, it isn't the only thing to look out for, as it doesn't work for everyone. The people who succeed in their weight loss goals and maintain the goal weight are those who focus on the health of the digestive tract from north to south.

This makes sense as the gut is where food is broken down and absorbed. Now, bacteria do not directly cause weight loss, however, they may affect your weight by influencing how food is digested. 

Food isn't just calories. Food is information. Some bacteria are very good at extracting every single calorie from foods you eat and others don't do quite as good a job.

If you're struggling to lose weight, chances are you've got a greater proportion of calorie-hungry bacteria than is ideal. So the key is to make sure that your gut is in good working order to increase your chances of losing excess weight.

In my practice, we focus on being healthy and not just on the “calorie in calorie out” advice. Because when you're healthy, it becomes so much easier to lose excess fat. We look at:

• having good quality and quantity sleep -- helps to improve insulin sensitivity
• trying time-restricted diets --  help restore the circadian rhythm of your gut bacteria
• eating the rainbow when it comes to veggies -- but if you have chronic gut issues watch out for the amount of FODMAPs you’re consuming 
• moving your body --  not necessarily to burn calories 
• hydrating properly -- helps flush out the toxins which is stored in fat cells.
• managing stress -- helps better balance your cortisol levels 
• hormones, including thyroid hormones - you need adequate amounts to help your metabolism fire properly

These are some of the things we look at and work with. Doing some or all of these will go a long way to helping you lose weight and make sure the weight loss is maintained long term.