Are you watching your calories and exercising, yet not losing weight? Blame it on chronic inflammation and weight gain. Common wisdom tells us to eat less and exercise more, and the pounds will melt away. But weight loss, like so many other things in life, is much more complex.

Several factors make it hard to lose weight. These include chronic stress, poor sleep, poor gut health, etc. And these things have one thing in common: they contribute to chronic inflammation and weight gain.

What is inflammation?

In a nutshell, inflammation is your body’s defense mechanism against injury, illness, and other threats to the body. Inflammation can be quite useful.

For instance, without inflammation, your wounds wouldn’t heal. When you cut your finger, blood flows to your finger. This results in white blood cells pooling at the wound site. White blood cells fight infection and start repairing the wound. This sort of inflammation is referred to as acute inflammation as it’s temporary and lasts just a few days.

But inflammation can also be harmful, as in the case of chronic inflammation.

What is chronic inflammation?

Chronic inflammation is inflammation that lasts longer, typically months or even years. With chronic inflammation, your body is in a constant state of emergency. This inflammation can lead to a variety of health issues such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Inflammation also makes you gain weight.

What causes chronic inflammation in the body?

Several factors cause chronic inflammation in the body. These include things like not getting enough sleep, eating processed foods, chronic stress, exposure to toxins, smoking, and drinking too much alcohol.

How does chronic inflammation cause weight gain?

Chronic inflammation in the body can lead to a phenomenon known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition in which the cells in your body don’t respond well to insulin, a hormone that keeps your blood sugar in check.

When you develop insulin resistance, your body isn’t able to use glucose properly. So instead of glucose entering your cells for energy, your body converts glucose into fat. This fat is stored in your body tissues leading you to gain weight.

What are some signs of chronic inflammation?

Aside from weight gain and difficulty losing weight, here are common signs that you may have chronic inflammation:

• Chronic fatigue and difficulty sleeping

• Mood disorders such as depression and anxiety

• Body pain, muscle aches and pains, and joint stiffness

• GI disturbances like diarrhea, constipation, and acid reflux

What are the best ways to reduce chronic inflammation?

Eliminate foods that cause inflammation

Highly processed foods are usually full of simple sugars, refined carbohydrates, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, and other substances that cause inflammation. They cause inflammation by changing our gut bacteria, which affects our immune system. When our immune system gets out of whack, chronic inflammation occurs.

Choose whole foods We’re talking REAL FOODS

These include foods such as vegetables, fruits, wild-caught fatty fish, and pasture-raised meat. While you’re at it, eat more plants. Plants contain fiber, which makes you feel full. They’re also rich in antioxidants, polyphenols, and prebiotics that help reduce inflammation.

Drink more water

Water flushes out toxins from your body, thereby reducing inflammation. Also, when you’re well-hydrated, you’re less likely to turn to high-calorie processed foods that cause even more inflammation. Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces.

Engage in moderate exercise

Exercise has many physical and mental benefits, including reducing inflammation. And the good news is that we don’t need a ton of it. A study found that engaging in just 20 minutes of moderate exercise was enough to cause a 5 percent decrease in the number of immune cells that produce TNF, a substance in the body that causes inflammation.

You don’t want to overdo it though. Over-exercising causes your adrenal glands to secrete excess cortisol. When your cortisol levels are high, your muscles break down, leading to a slower metabolism and causing you to gain weight. High cortisol levels also increase belly fat, cause you to crave more sugar, and lead to insulin resistance.

Need some motivation to exercise? Here are 6 ways to motivate yourself to exercise!

Relax

Recovering from the stress of a busy day is just as important as exercise. Chronic stress makes the immune cells less sensitive to cortisol. So your immune system isn’t able to regulate the inflammatory response, resulting in chronic inflammation. Relaxing activities like yoga, meditation, and warm Epsom salt baths calm the body, reducing inflammation.

Get enough sleep

When you don’t get enough sleep, inflammatory substances like C-reactive protein, cytokines, and interleukin-6 increase. Researchers believe there are many reasons why inadequate sleep increases inflammation.

When you sleep, blood pressure decreases, and blood vessels relax. With inadequate sleep, blood pressure doesn’t decrease enough. This may stimulate cells in the blood vessel walls that promote inflammation.

When you sleep, the body gets rid of beta-amyloid protein, a protein that forms plaque in the brain. When you don’t get enough sleep, the beta-amyloid protein accumulates leading to inflammation. The bad news is that just one night of poor sleep can make your beta-amyloid protein levels higher than usual.

So, it’s a good idea to practice good sleep hygiene practices to ensure you get enough sleep. These include:

• Being consistent with the times you go to bed and wake up (even on the weekends!)

• Making sure your bedroom is dark, soothing, and quiet

• Removing electronic devices from your bedroom

• Avoiding large meals before you go to bed

Manage your emotions

Negative emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger can lead to increased levels of inflammation-causing substances such as interleukin-6. Luckily, there are strategies we can use to manage our emotions. These include keeping a gratitude journal to boost your mood, using deep breathing to manage negative emotions, and reframing negative experiences more positively.

The bottom line

You may be watching your calories and exercising, but if you don’t get at the root cause of weight gain, trying to lose weight will be an uphill battle. By addressing the physiological problem of chronic inflammation using the seven habits above, weight loss is possible!

Need help reducing chronic inflammation so you can reach your weight loss goals? Click here and book your free consultation!