Part 4: Why Can't I Lose Weight? - Analysis of Reasons and Misconceptions about Weight Loss Failure

Why can't I lose weight?

Sue was a young, beautiful, and romantic girl with a naive personality. At 21, she won Cupid's favor and fell in love at first sight with a boy. However, Sue never dared to confess her feelings, for one simple reason-she was undeniably overweight. And rightly so, what woman wouldn't care about her figure? Sue decided to lose weight for love. She stopped eating staple foods, meat, and sweets, and even got a gym membership. A few days later, she bought a bunch of weight-loss books, but most of the methods were too time-consuming and laborious, so in the end, the books became mere symbols of self-comfort, used only for self-reassurance.

Later, Sue heard about a slimming cream that would make her body red and hot when applied, thus boosting metabolism and burning fat. However, the day after using it, Sue developed a lot of rashes on her legs! After countless trials and tribulations, Sue's biggest gains were: losing a little weight and then gaining a little more, losing a little weight and then gaining a little more, in a vicious cycle that ruined her health.

Chinese actress Ai Dai once said, "The two most important things in a woman's life are: first, to maintain her beauty, whether young or old, poor or rich, she should have the courage to pursue beauty both inside and out at every stage; second, to find someone who understands and cherishes her, someone who will always witness and appreciate her beauty, whether in health or sickness, whether in passionate love or a lifelong commitment, he will always be her lover, mentor, friend, and family." Indeed, maintaining one's beauty, like finding love, is a lifelong pursuit for a woman.

I've met countless people like Sue who wanted to lose weight but couldn't, or who lost weight but gained it all back, becoming even heavier than before. When I asked them why, some said they couldn't control their cravings; some said they were too lazy to exercise; some said they'd tried many methods, including dieting and exercising, but just couldn't shake off the label of being overweight. Simply put, the main reason these people haven't succeeded in losing weight is that they haven't found the right method, and they don't even know why they're overweight in the first place.

Modern life is fast-paced, with frequent changes in work and life, and rapidly fluctuating emotions. The variety of foods consumed daily is also vast, leading to numerous and complex causes of obesity. From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, the following are some of the reasons:

Innate endowment

Endowment, or innate physical constitution, refers to the physical qualities a person is born with, which is the same as the genetic factors discussed in modern medicine. If one parent is obese, the probability of their children being obese is about 50%; if both parents are obese, the probability of their children being obese rises to 80%.

Uncontrolled eating

Many people believe that overweight people eat a lot, but this reverses cause and effect. It's not that overweight people eat a lot; rather, they become overweight because they eat a lot. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "excessive consumption of rich, fatty, and greasy foods" is the main cause of obesity.

prolonged lying down or sitting

In modern society, most people have cars to drive, televisions to watch, and mobile phones and computers to use in their spare time. They are in a sedentary state all day, absorbing more calories and burning fewer calories, causing obesity in many people. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "prolonged lying down injures qi, and prolonged sitting injures flesh." Injury to qi leads to qi deficiency, and injury to flesh leads to spleen deficiency, which is also an important reason for obesity.

Disorders of the seven emotions

Since ancient times, emotions and health have been closely related. For example, excessive depression can cause irritability and liver qi stagnation, leading to the accumulation of fat under the skin and in the internal organs, thus causing obesity. On the other hand, excessive joy, indulgence in pleasure, lack of activity, and idleness can also cause a large amount of fat to accumulate in a short period of time, resulting in obesity.

Prolonged illness and weakness

People who are frequently ill often lack exercise, leading to deficiency of qi, blood, yin and yang, which can easily cause obesity.

Imbalance of the five internal organs

The five internal organs refer to the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that obesity is ultimately caused by spleen dysfunction, which prevents the body from converting excess fat into energy and expelling it, leading to its accumulation in the body.

Besides the causes of obesity analyzed from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, unhealthy lifestyle habits are also a major culprit in obesity.

Habit 1: Holding in one's urgency becomes a habit

Frequently holding in your urgency can increase toxins in your body by 5 to 10 times, and also significantly impact gastrointestinal motility, kidney metabolism, and liver metabolism. People who habitually hold in their urgency often experience abdominal obesity and thick thighs, because holding in these urges leads to the accumulation of large amounts of toxins and fat in the body.

Habit 2: Inability to control hunger

Studies have shown that the human body contains leptin, also known as the anti-obesity factor, which is a major hormone that reduces hunger and controls our food preferences. People lacking leptin crave all kinds of food and eat excessively, thus eventually becoming extremely obese.

Habit 3: Always unable to resist eating before bed

Many women may not be eating a large late-night snack, but rather just a small cake, a cookie, or a few nuts. These foods, which seem low in calories and quantity, can lead you into a weight-gain trap. You should avoid eating 2-3 hours before bedtime, not only to prevent obesity but also to protect your digestive system. However, if you are extremely hungry, you can eat some low-calorie fruit, but the quantity should still be small.

Habit 4: Be the terminator of leftovers

Slim and slender girls can always accurately control their food intake, knowing exactly when they're full. Even if there's food left on the table, they won't force themselves to eat more. If you're the type who can't bear to leave food uneaten, consider your appetite before ordering and avoid ordering excessive amounts of food.

Habit 5: Sitting still

Women who know how to maintain their figure always like to keep themselves busy, such as serving tea or water, taking a walk outside the office for some fresh air, or going to the restroom. Although these small actions may not seem to burn many calories, getting up and moving around can improve blood circulation and is very beneficial for weight loss. Maintaining one posture for a long time not only obstructs blood circulation but also causes localized edema. Sitting for long periods is one of the easiest habits to lead to obesity.

Habit Six: Relax your appetite on weekends too.

On weekends, some people not only relax their routines but also unleash their appetites. Whether it's high-calorie, high-fat fried, grilled, or baked foods, or various juices, drinks, and carbohydrates, they always think it's harmless to indulge occasionally, but before they know it, they've gained weight. This approach has the same consequences as overeating, making it the easiest way to gain weight and also the easiest way to damage the digestive system.

Habit 7: Don't go to sleep before the appointed time

Even though I wash up and go to bed early, I still play on my phone, read novels, and watch TV series, so I always dawdle until almost midnight before going to sleep. The best time for a person to fall asleep is between 11 pm and 7 am the next day. During this period, the internal organs enter a sleep and metabolic state one after another, and metabolic disorders can directly lead to weight gain.

Habit 8: Insufficient sleep

People who sleep less than 4 hours a day are 73% more likely to be obese than those who sleep normally. Studies have shown that people who don't get enough sleep also have higher levels of appetite-stimulating hormones.

As we can see from the above, the causes of obesity are complex and not simply due to overeating. This means that we cannot lose weight simply by dieting. The correct way to lose weight is not through short-term intensive dieting, but by transforming it into a daily lifestyle. Although dieting can lead to weight loss to some extent, it inevitably leads to two possibilities: the weight loss will not be sustainable, as short-term dieting cannot offset the long-term overeating; if one insists on long-term dieting to maintain the weight loss effect, then malnutrition will naturally result.

Therefore, the "eat less and exercise more" approach that most people believe is not the best way to lose weight.