Oh boy... here we go again. The struggle continues - you've been following your diet to the letter; you've done your exercises day-after-day and you've even done the dreaded cleanse several times, but yet your weight stubbornly refuses to come down. What a mess. This really shouldn't be - so much hard work and nothing to show for it. What is the problem? Please help!Well, let me see if I can help you. First of all let me say you are not alone in this struggle. Many people find themselves in this predicament after the first week or two on their weight management program. In fact, this is the point at which persons give up and return to their old ways. But take heart, this problem that confronts most of us is rooted in the fabric of the body's defense mechanism.You see the body is pre-wired to protect itself against starvation. This, of cause is a good thing, but the problem arises in the way the body protects itself. As it turns out, the same hormone that initiates the starvation defense is also the hormone that triggers the body's fat burning mechanism. This hormone is called leptin. Recently, it was discovered that leptin is the master hormone that controls the functions of all other hormones associated with weight management. It is believed to be at its highest levels in the body after meals containing servings of carbohydrates. High levels of leptin allow the body to use more calories than it stores, relatively speaking.Of course, the obvious problem with leptin is as you manage your diet to conform to the requirements of your weight management program, the level of leptin declines. This decrement in leptin instructs the body to reduce energy consumption and at the same time convert more food into fat for storage to prevent starvation. Hence, even though you may be going full force on your weight management program you may not see any improvement in your weight because thanks to leptin, your body has ceased to burn energy and is working rigorously to store it as fat. This increase in fat storage, in particular, is responsible for the lack of progress after experiencing some levels of success initially. This is sometimes referred to as the"weight loss plateau".Now what can be done about the weight loss plateau? Well, this is a tricky one because in order to increase leptin levels you must eat a sufficient amount of food and if you consume too much food you will most definitely sabotage your weight management program. Fortunately, some diets are beginning to take leptin decrement effect into consideration and for those who prefer supplements, capsules containing certain herbs are performing well in helping to control leptin levels. So take heart, we may be on the brink of wiping out this weight loss plateau for good.
