CrossFit Attitude

The Top 10 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight

8. Toxicity

We live in a toxic world. Statistics regarding the quantity and negative effects of toxins in our
environment are staggering and show that the vast majority of the earth’s food, water and air are all contaminated with toxic chemicals, many of which have unknown effects on human physiology. But one thing we do know is, toxicity makes it really difficult for us to lose weight.

Consider the following research:

Small amounts of the pesticide dieldrin was given to rats, which lead to a doubling of their body fat.

Another pesticide, hexachlorobenzene, caused rats to gain significant body fat compared to a control group, even though the rats were eating half as many calories.

Humans exposed to PCBs have shown that the greater the toxic load, the greater the body weight.

As mentioned in the Hormone section, a group of chemicals collectively referred to as xenoestrogens are rampant in our food and water supply, which are potent endocrine disrupters and cause a host of estrogen-based hormonal issues, many of which lead to weight gain in human and animal studies. Synthetic chemicals were once used to be used to fatten up cattle for meat
production. For example, animals fed organophosphates gain weight while eating less food. While this practice is no longer used due to the toxic effects to the animals, organophosphates are still widely found in our environment. Numerous toxic chemicals used in our food supply negatively affect the thyroid gland, slowing down metabolism and our ability to lose weight.

All of these environmental toxins create an enormous burden on our liver, which normally helps the body burn fat for energy. If the liver is toxic and not working properly, it cannot adequately maintain its role in fat burning. Some scientists believe that our body actually creates more fat to deal with the load of environmental toxins we are exposed to. Because toxins are so damaging to our sensitive cellular DNA, in an effort to protect itself from these toxins, the body can add more storage by increasing the amount of fat we have, and protect us from future damage by holding onto the toxins by not letting us release them back into our system.

Various studies of American adults showed that 100% of them had styrene (Styrofoam), xylene (solvent), dioxins, dieldrin, oxychlordane, heptachlor and para-BHC in their fat cells. Eighty-three percent had chemicals known to damage the nervous system. The liver is one of the major detoxification organs in the body, and it is also involved in processing sugars and fats and therefore, has an important role in our metabolism. Research has begun to show that in addition to the damage toxins create in our body, they also slow down our metabolic rate, possibly by affecting our thyroid hormones which as previously discussed, play a major role in our
metabolism and our ability to burn fat.