Weight Loss Resistance: The #1 Plague

From "The People Need to Know" Series

by Phil Kaplan

Key Point:

The greatest contributor to our nation’s health crisis is

Impaired Metabolism as a Direct and Indirect Result of

Neuroendocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.

I can fill this article with statistics about how sick and fat people are. 

I can demonstrate with research and evidence from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control how over only 5 decades (a mere blink of an eye when considering how long mankind has lived in civilized societies) obesity and obesity-related diseases have escalated from 5% or less of our population to near 70% of American adults.

Nah.  Not statistics.  That’s not the way to go here. 

A statistical revelation may create a momentary “really?” but for the most part, statistics rarely result in action and the impact wears off as soon as the next distraction shows its shiny veneer.

I can try sharing the most obvious illustrations of the fattening of our population with pure anecdote, remembering that there were only two “fat kids” in my entire elementary school and comparing that reality with classrooms today.

When I was a kid, we didn’t have peanut allergies, auto-immune conditions, or a need for gluten-free selection in the cafeteria.

Hmmm.  Maybe I can go a step further and share the awe and disgust that emerge when I watch the incidence of fatty liver disease in children escalate to near double-digits, a condition not a single child had when I was riding my bike with a basketball in one hand hoping to get some court time (the  big kids always  got priority, because they could).

I went from kindergarden to college without every knowing anyone with fatty liver disease.

Did fatty liver disease exist when  I was a kid?

Yes.

Among aging alcoholics.

Not among kids!  Today, in 2024, we're looking at the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in . . . get ready for this . . . near 10% of kids!!!

And when we go a step further, and look at the fact that “science” had to give a name to the all-too-common MCD clusters (Multiple Chronic Disease clusters referred to as Metabolic Syndrome), it becomes obvious that something has changed.  A lot.

The “science experts” and “medical authorities” have neatly packaged these horrific phenomena as the result of lifestyle change (due to technology), overeating, and inactivity so the advice of “eat less, move more” should appear sound.

It isn’t.  It’s completely impotent.

How do I know?

Because I’m in the people business and the people I interact with are more often than not looking to restore some lost element of their health and well-being.  My life is dedicated to helping people “get better.”  

I’ve personally worked with over 20,000 individuals and well over 750,000 through remote programs and affiliates, and the consistencies I see cannot be swept away by the words of touted experts who, in the great majority of cases are backed by or held up as experts in alliance with powerful entities with massive agendas.

THE SYMPTOMOTOLOGY OF METABOLIC DISRUPTION

Most of my clients, seeking restoration of health and reduction of fat, suffer at least three of the following symptoms (this is before we get to reviewing blood chemistry).

• Weight Loss Resistance (no matter what I do I can’t lose weight)
• Brain fog (“I should know this but . . . what was I saying?”)
• Fatigue or erratic and dramatic shifts in energy
• Insomnia
• Sugar and Carbohydrate Cravings / Insatiability
• Joint or muscle pain

I find two consistencies.

1. Every single one of them has tried eating better and moving with little payoff
2. They’re carrying a host of false beliefs

One of the most limiting beliefs is perpetuated by the overriding allopathic medical paradigm following a well-tread path where a diagnosis is the goal of a medical visit and a presription is the inevitable outcome of a diagnosis.  Shortly, when I discuss the condition I'll refer to as REMASS (the underlying reversible condition that is the result of an escalation in metabolic dysfunction) I'll say, "there isn't a single medication that will reverse the condition."  I'll preface that statement right now by throwing the net a bit wider.

There isn't a single medication that will cure or reverse a chronic disease, even in cases where the disease is reversible.

I won’t attempt to address the entirety of our National health crisis here.  I set out to address weight loss resistance, but I want you to realize it’s a subset of something bigger.

Here’s the powerful insight.

The greatest contributor to our nation’s health crisis is

Impaired Metabolism as a Direct and Indirect Result of

Neuroendocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.

Followed by Refined Sugars and Processed Foods

(which are also Neuroendocrine-Distuptors)

Whoa, Phil!  Wait a minute!!!  What did you say???!

Isn’t it obvious that people just don’t move enough?

In that question, in the question based on the assumption that the primary culprit is a lack of motivation to move and exercise, lies the problem. 

The fact that so many are bamboozled into believing “the experts” and feeling that they are simply failures or genetic underdogs demonstrates a perfect screen to disguise the truth.

Chemicals and Toxins are the primary cause of the deterioration of America’s Health.

And in line with all that we just learned about Metabolism, these vehicle for damaging human health work their dirty work with direct access to Human Metabolism.

Whether you eat, breathe, absorb, or invite Endocrine Disruptors into your body and cells, you live in a world where they’re unavoidable, and only with awareness, guidance, precaution, and a conscious and powerful means of detoxification can you ensure that you’re protected.

So there, in short, is the answer to the question, “Why is Weight Loss Resistance a Plague.”

Now comes the follow up. 

What do we do about it?

We regain control over our metabolisms.  We activate the  restoration of the divine balance between the Brain, Immune System, and Gut, between the Mind, Spirit, and Cell.  If that sounds abstract, stay connected with me.  That’s the  foundational power of the Metaboic Reboot.

In order to understand why this six-pronged approach works (in conjunction with a strategic and proven exercise and eating plan), you’d be best off to understand the condition that underlies virtually every case of MCD or Metabolic Syndrome (MetSyn).

R.E.M.A.S.S.

Here’s the definition I share in seminars and professional presentations:

R.E.M.A.S.S.

Resistive Endocrine Maladaptation Adrenal Stress Syndrome

REMASS is a progressive disease of the endocrine system initiated by interaction between the Hypothalamus, Pituitary Gland, and Adrenals.  It results in co-existing conditions of insulin resistance and cortisol elevation preventing the body from releasing adipose material from fat cells.  It is typically realized through failure to achieve weight loss using conventional exercise and eating strategies.  At its most severe, REMASS results in a genetic shift affecting energy, fat storage, hormonal balance, and metabolism.

SYMPTOMS OF REMASS

The symptoms of Restrictive Endocrine Maladaptative Adrenal Stress Syndrome (REMASS) include cognitive impairment (brain fog), fat accumulation, rapid accumulation of abdominal fat (visceral fat), sugar cravings, erratic energy with frequent bouts of fatigue, and an inability to lose weight through conventional means, even when sound strategies are applied.

There are five (5) distinctive phases of REMASS, the fifth and most severe of which often includes thyroid hormone irregularity, high sensitivity to sugar and processed carbohydrates, and inflammatory conditions which may affect sleep, digestion, respiration and circulation.

WHO GETS REMASS?

Most cases of REMASS are found in adults over the age of 33 while increasing incidence is noted in younger adults and teens.  While it is difficult, without an extensive review of labs and a personal interview, to measure “stress load,” most who progress through the stages of the REMASS condition can identify either an emotionally stressful issue or period during which the condition was triggered or extended exposure to or ingestion of endocrine disrupting foodstuffs and chemicals.  It is equally found in men and women and is usually found in those who are not athletic or heavily involved in exercise.  While prior nutritional habits seem to be non-predictory, individuals with REMASS are usually consuming moderate to high levels of carbohydrate based foods when the condition is identified.

WHAT CAUSES REMASS?

The onset of the condition cannot be linked to a single cause.  Typically cytokine elevation is present indicating a “switched on” immune system.  This may be caused by stress load exceeding the body’s ability to recover.  Stress Load is the sum total of emotional, physical, toxic, mental, and environmental stress.  Usually more than one stress factor is present and elevated.  The brain sensing “stress” initiates the adrenal stress response creating a chain of biochemical events resulting in a chronic escalation in the output of CRH, ACTH, and cortisol.  Over time this leads to a biochemical imbalance affecting insulin, leptin, and the appetite centers of the brain.  This may be referred to as the impairment of metabolic efficiency.  With interruption of regular metabolism, energy, fat storage, and fat release systems become imbalanced and an innate protective mechanism overrides normal metabolic function.

WHAT ARE THE MARKERS OF REMASS?

At least 2 of the following are typically present in cases of weight loss resistance, making them strong indicators for REMASS:

• Elevation in C-Reactive Protein
• Elevation in Cytokines
• Elevation in Blood Glucose
• Elevation in Insulin and/or Glycolate Hemoglobin
• Elevation in Average Cortisol Levels
• Elevation in ACTH
• Elevation in Blood Pressure
• Imbalance in TSH, T3, and/or T4

WHAT IS THE “FIX” FOR REMASS?

Presently, there isn’t a single medication (or a series of medications) that will reverse the condition.  While a host of pharmaceutical interventions may manage the symptoms of REMASS, unless lifestyle, nutritional, and behavioral shifts are initiated, none of them have been demonstrated to even slow the progression.

Lifestyle Interventions including (all of the following) regular exercise in brief sessions stimulating parasympathetic recovery, staggered nutritional programs incorporating carbohydrate manipulation and intermittent fasting, and therapeutic strategies aimed at reducing stress impact and enhancing innate recovery systems can not only slow the progression of symptoms, but in most people tested, has been demonstrated to fully reverse the condition.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Metabolic Reboot Program was developed specifically to treat and reverse this restrictive endocrine condition.

ADAPTATION

The adaptive power of the human body is both its most incredible virtue and benefit and its figurative “Achilles Heel.”

When an intentional stimulus  is  applied to the human body facing it against modestly enhanced challenge, and metabolism is adequately fueled, the adaptive potential of cells and structures allows for a reshaping of form.

As a simplified example, a guitar player may develop callouses on his or her fingers to accommodate what, at first, appears to be potentially harmful pressure placed by steel strings forced against the skin of the fingertips.

The body’s adaptation reduces the threat of pain or injury.

As a more relevant example, asking your  muscular system to repetitively challenge ever-increasing workloads through resistance exercise drives the adaptation of muscle with changes in potential (endurance) and size (anabolism).

When the uncharacteristic stimulus is not aligned with a desired outcome, the body and mind tend to “misunderstand” the intention and the adaptation may be undesired.  We can refer to this as a maladaptation (a bad adaptation).

MALADAPTATION DEFINED

• A biological process or system changes its activity and/or output to facilitate survival in the case of an unusual challenge or unnatural interference.
• Maladaptation usually occurs because of less-than-optimal eating habits, environmental factors, distress, anxiety, or pathogenic invasion

A simple example of a maladaptation would be the common condition referred to as “forward head,” or more clinically, an excessive kyphotic (forward rouned) curve of the thoracic spine.  This often afflicts an individual who spends a significant amount of time sitting, with the hips at a 90-degree angle, shoulders rounded forward with the head facing a screen and hands on a desk operating a keyboard.

Form follows function.

Ask the body to handle an uncharacteristically challenging task with repetition and it “adapts” to better suit itself to the task.

Forward head, among desk-sitters, is usually accompanied by an anterior pelvic tilt and other postural misalignments that can lead to structural, balance, and nerve issues over time.

You get it?  It’s an adaptation, just not one that was desired.

Weight Loss Resistance (WLR), and its source condition, REMASS, are a population-wide maladaptation that comes from a multitude of stressors (high stress load) compounded by habitual behaviors related to activity (or lack of), nutrition (or lack of), behaviors, emotions, and neuroendocrine disruptors.

The key trigger for a REMASS escalation is an imbalance between “Stress Load” (the sum total of all physical, emotional, and environmental stresses) and “Parasympathetic Recovery (a restoration of balance where the body can rest and digest).

While reducing the impact of stress plays a role, training the endocrine and nervous systems to renew pathways to recovery has  proven to be the most effective strategy for REMASS reversal (and reversal of any WLR condition)

I’ll conclude with an abbreviated bullet-pointed overview of the steps of this maladaptive process, and remind you, weight loss resistance and obesity, as almost every chronic disease, is self-induced (unintentional) metabolic disruption and, is not only preventable, but in my experience . . . reversible!

THE  PROCESS OF METABOLISM-DISRUPTION AS A MALADAPTATION

• Adrenals become “overstressed”
• Blood sugar is erratic (consumption of energy disruptors)
• Insulin receptors shut down
• Blood sugar elevates
• Leptin receptors morph (appetite increases as do cravings for sugars and fats)
• The immune system “reacts” to stress creating inflammatory cytokines
• Cellular shifts “reset” innate programming driving fat accumulation
• Metabolic compromise / thyroid disruption slow basal metabolism
• Fat loss halts, fat storage is increased

While coming to understand you have “a condition” that you’d never heard of before may prove momentarily unnerving, when you realize the condition is reversible, you find a new level of optimism.

It is reversible.

Different thoughts, different actions, different outcomes.

I’m here to guide you any time you need a strategy for all of the above.

REFERENCES

Chacón C, Arteaga I, Martínez-Escudé A, Ruiz Rojano I, Lamonja-Vicente N, Caballeria L, Ribatallada Diez AM, Schröder H, Montraveta M, Bovo MV, Ginés P, Pera G, Diez-Fadrique G, Pachón-Camacho A, Alonso N, Graupera I, Torán-Monserrat P, Expósito C. Clinical epidemiology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children and adolescents. The LiverKids: Study protocol. PLoS One. 2023 Oct 13;18(10):e0286586.

Haverinen E, Fernandez MF, Mustieles V, Tolonen H. Metabolic Syndrome and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: An Overview of Exposure and Health Effects. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 10;18(24):13047.

Haverinen E, Fernandez MF, Mustieles V, Tolonen H. Metabolic Syndrome and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: An Overview of Exposure and Health Effects. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 10;18(24):13047. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413047. PMID: 34948652; PMCID: PMC8701112.

Ormsby, Marlena. (2021). The HPA Axis in Health and Homeostasis: A Review. 10.13140/RG.2.2.12382.72001/1.

HELPFUL LINKS / NEXT STEPS:

Visit Phil and his Team at Infinite Impact in Boca Raton for a FREE "Metabolic" Experience including Full Spectrum Red Light Therapy and an Introduction to Hyperbaric Oxygen

Order the Metabolic Reboot Online

Email Phil to Inquire About working with one of his Health Optimization and Performance Coaches

Take the Online REMASS Quiz to determine the best strategy for Metabolic Recovery

Watch the  7 Day Reboot and Energy Detox Webinar Replay (90 Minutes)

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

If you have a question related to the article or Subject Matter, email it to [email protected]

Are there Lab Tests that can tell me if I have REMASS?

We normmally begin with a subjective assessment we refer to as The REMASS Quiz.  You can take it in my office or onlline.  The next step, to verify the reinforced suspicions that may come out of a high score on the Quiz, is to draw some blood and examine a handful or Biomarkers consistent in REMASS patients.  We'll typically see irregularities in thyroid function, elevation in RT3 (Reverse T3), elevated output of adrenal hormones (i.e. cortosol), and escalation in inflammatory markers such as C0Reactive Protein.  Over the course of the 8 Week Metabolic Reboot we expect to see significant improvements in all of these markers with positive health trending in blood glucose, insulin, and lipids as well.

Be sure to read the previous article in the series, The Truth About Metabolism