Your Baseline for Successful Lifelong Weight Loss – Part 1

If you have spent years starving yourself, attempting fad diets, or endured years of stress it may be time to do some correcting, undo the damage that was done, and bring yourself back to baseline. Stressing your system in any way whether it is life, unhealthy eating, or even not eating enough, can put your system in a state of chaos. If left untreated, you may find it impossible to lose weight, and heal the way you did in the past. Your ability to complete tasks, focus, and concentrate may become less than par. You may also find yourself unable to deal with the ups and downs of life, become easily agitated and stress out even more about things that normally wouldn’t cause stress.

If this sounds a little familiar and life has taken a toll physically, emotionally and mentally it may be time to do some damage control. It may be time for a tune up. There are several things you can do to reverse some of the damage. This will not only help your system run more efficiently, but it will also make you feel good both inside and out. Spending some time on yourself can have a positive effect on how you feel about yourself, which can have even more of an impact and lead to new and better life choices and habits.

I believe it’s important to understand how you arrived at this state of systemic chaos in order to make the necessary changes to return to a state of homeostasis. There are many different approaches you can take, and some even compliment each other. I will list these approaches but first let us look at what may have happened.

Side note: If you feel that your are so out of whack you don’t know where to start then you can start with a visit to your doctor.

Life can throw quite a bit in our direction. These little gifts from life can cause various levels of increased stress. Stress, whether it is continuous or sporadic, can cause a disruption in homeostasis. This disruption can wreak havoc, causing a domino effect soon after the onset of stress. In some people the damage may take years to manifest. This can be even more detrimental because even though you don’t see the signs of the damage that is being done, believe me when I say you are not by some miracle being spared. All the damage is occurring and when it starts to show physical signs outwardly it may be too late to reverse. Let me say though that even when it does manifest outwardly some things can be reversed. Regardless, there is no avoiding the side effect of stress. The severity of damage is effected by the degree of stress, and length.

For example, you may have had a couple of months where you suffered through an extensive amount of stress. The intense level of stress, though it was only for a few months, could have caused such an upset in your system that you are left exhausted both mentally and physically even though the stress has stopped. Your sleep pattern may be off, and even if you do get a good night sleep, you wake up tired. You may notice that it takes longer for you to heal from colds, and even minor cuts and scrapes take longer to heal. You feel older, you are forgetful, your skin may even look like it has changed in a negative way. On top of all of this, the stress has left you with an extra ten to twenty pounds. You have tried to shed the weight but all attempts have been unsuccessful. In fact you have even gained weight during or after various supposed “full proof” diets.

Dieting and exercise may not be the right course of action. It may be a better idea to try to understand what has happened to your body. It wouldn’t be extreme to visit your doctor. It may be hard to find a doctor who would run the right tests, but if you can find one, he or she can run various tests and uncover any deficiencies, even an over abundance in hormones, vitamins, and minerals. When your body is trying to fight the stress it may overcompensate in one area, or take too much from somewhere else. Your body doesn’t want these imbalances to happen and when there is chaos and disorder it may try to get it right but more than likely will fail. Once uncovered you can start down the path of healing, and bring levels back to baseline. You would be surprised how a simple imbalance can throw you off in such an extreme way.

If you feel you aren’t that bad off and want to try various things that can start you on a path of correcting your system then the next article in this series includes things that can make a huge difference. You can also start down this path while seeking the advice of a doctor, or try these things first and then if you feel you are in need of something more aggressive than you can seek the advice or help of a doctor. Make sure to read Part #2 of this series!

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