Stubborn Weight Loss: Why so many women suffer with weight they just can’t lose.

Article by Naomi Judge BHSc, Naturopath and Clinical Nutritionist

In daily Naturopathic practice, some of the most common complaints that come to me are chronic weight issues, highly stressed out families and individuals, food intolerances, and hormone imbalances. These issues are a huge cause for anxiety for many people. All these concerns are very interconnected and are the main reasons for weight that just won’t budge. This stubborn weight is also known as ‘Resistant Weight’.

Weight is the biggest issue many women deal with, not always due to eating fast food, not exercising and drinking copious amounts of alcohol, quite the opposite. These women often eat very little at meal time, workout daily (usually with their hardcore male trainer who puts them through their paces while screaming at them to go harder). Why, my clients ask, if they work out like a football pro 5 days a week and eat like a bird, do they still have problems with losing weight and feeling great?

Women require different strategies to men, reaching peak optimal performance for women requires a different set of rules. A women’s body composition and biochemical make up is far different from a males testosterone driven metabolic type. Women require a different approach to energise and lose excess kilos. One size does not fit all, and this is very true when it comes to the difference in the sexes. The saying “Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars” has never been as true as it is in the realm of health and fitness.

Women naturally have more oestrogen and oxytocin, and are also more sensitive to the highs and lows of cortisol,  putting them at risk for dangerous blood sugar fluctuations. So women need a different approach. The more intense exercise you do, and the less you feed your body its nutrients requirements, the more your hormones will fight the natural order of things. Cortisol will elevate, which will raise testosterone, and once a women’s testosterone elevates it causes all sorts of blood sugar and leptin issues, which not only causes resistant weight gain, but also leads to acne, stress, insomnia and facial hair growth.