Weight Loss Resistance & Why You Cannot Ignore Vitamin D
May 01, 2021
I talk a lot about weight loss resistance. It’s important to understand what it is and how you can take steps to overcome it. What I haven’t spent much time talking about here in this space is the role that vitamin D plays. So unless you're already a client working with me, you probably don’t know much about it or maybe, anything.
Most people are aware that vitamin D is a key nutrient to keep our bones healthy. And with COVID-19 still very much center stage, we’ve been hearing more about how it can boost our immune system. What I want to focus on today is expanding your knowledge of this nutrient. I want to help you understand its role in weight loss and your overall health and finally how to know if you have this deficiency and what you can do about it.
Vitamin D Facts
Here are some interesting facts about vitamin D that you probably don’t know.
- Vitamin D is one of the vitamins your body makes.
- Vitamin D is a hormone.
- Vitamin D helps overcome weight loss resistance.1
- Vitamin D is fat-soluble. Meaning it needs healthy fat and oil like that found in salmon or mackerel so it can be absorbed by your digestive system and used by your body.
How Vitamin D Deficiency Impacts Your Weight
Maintaining optimal levels of vitamin D alone is not what allows you to lose weight. It’s a critical component, a key element, that makes your body run like a well-oiled machine. Without enough vitamin D your body cannot absorb other nutrients that affect your metabolism and weight. Here are a few examples of what I mean.
Let’s start with calcium. Calcium helps the body to burn fat, but your body can’t absorb calcium without enough vitamin D.2 When you do have enough vitamin D and your body can then do its job, absorb the calcium and burn more fat.
Now let’s look at insulin. Vitamin D helps your body regulate insulin, but if your vitamin D levels are too low then your body will have trouble making insulin. That means glucose will get stored as fat.
The last thing I’ll mention here has to do with your body’s response to insulin. If your vitamin D levels are too low, your body's response to insulin is too slow.3 This is at the core of weight loss resistance, immune problems, and chronic diseases.
These are a few reasons why vitamin D is so important. It helps your body absorb other nutrients that keep your body running properly to fight off illnesses of all kinds. Without it there is a cascading effect that negatively impacts your entire body, even affecting your moods, mental state, and emotions.
You cannot overlook the importance of vitamin D.
Three Basic Steps to Increase Your Vitamin D
CHANGE YOUR DIET
Time for a little tough love. Have you heard the saying, Garbage in, garbage out? Friends, you have to clean up your diet. I know you're tired of hearing it but there is no way around this one. Think about what you’re putting into your body.
You have to cut out the processed foods and sugar that destroy your gut health. You already know how important that is. But along with that you also need to start eating whole foods and foods rich in vitamin D in particular.
Vitamin D rich foods include -
- liver
- salmon
- mackerel
- sardines
- herring
- kale
- spinach
- collard greens
- okra
- soybeans
- eggs
- mushrooms
I know. Not a lot of popular favs on that list. So here’s something more palatable. Try consuming fortified orange juice. While not as effective, it can help boost your vitamin D levels. I always suggest making a super tasty smoothie and toss in a handful of spinach. I promise you won’t even taste it!
SUNSHINE
Sun exposure is another way to naturally boost your vitamin D. Vitamin D is unique because it can be made in the skin from exposure to sunlight.4 But there are some things to keep in mind.
First, you need to be in the sun for approximately 30 minutes, preferably mid-day, every day. Unless you’re living in a climate that’s sunny year-round this approach will be impossible to maintain every single day. That’s okay. Do what you can.
The second thing about sunlight is that it needs to contact your skin directly. The use of sunscreen will block the UV rays needed to stimulate the production of vitamin D. Areas with high levels of air pollution particles also impedes the UV rays from having their full effect.
The last thing to consider is your skin type. The darker your skin the more direct sun exposure you need. The reason for that is the more melanin in your skin, which is what makes skin appear darker, the more it blocks the UV rays from doing their job to stimulate the production of vitamin D.
SUPPLEMENTS
By now you probably guessed that even with a change in your eating habits and getting more sunlight, you’re going to need to consider supplementation. You’re going to need to take vitamin D. The best way to do this is by taking a high-quality vitamin D with K, with a meal high in fats because vitamin D is fat-soluble. That means it needs healthy fats contained in the foods mentioned above to be fully absorbed by your gut and used by your body.
I also recommend taking vitamin C and K with this to again help with the process of absorption. Taking vitamins will yield little results if your body can’t process and absorb the nutrients.
You may want to consider taking a probiotic if you know or suspect that you have poor gut health or a gut imbalance. Once again, you can’t benefit from the vitamins and nutrients you are taking if your body cannot absorb them through your digestive system.
ADVANCED OPTIONS TO ACHIEVE RESULTS
Have you already taken these steps and still have not seen your scale budge an ounce? That’s okay. It’s quite common to feel no different and see no difference. If that’s where you find yourself today, I want you to take a couple more steps.
First, if you haven’t downloaded my book Revolutionary Weight Loss: The Predictable Plan To Lose It For Good This Time please do that now.
Then use the free book bonuses link that comes with it to select a direct-to-consumer lab and buy yourself a vitamin D test kit. It ships directly to your home with easy-to-follow steps. (Yes, you can do the test yourself! It’s very easy.)
Complete the test kit and return it to the lab. They will process the test kit and send you the results. Once you receive the results report, you have a few options to pick the next best step for you.
- Read the report and interpret the results. The reports are clear and thorough. They are meant to give you the helpful information you need to understand the results. Including range markers, potential health risk indicators, and suggested actions to take.
- Speak to a lab representative who can explain the results to you. If you have questions after reading your report you may call the lab directly for assistance.
- Share the results with your doctor who can advise you on the next steps.
- Work with me. I’ll walk you through the results line by line. I break it down and explain what it all means. And I’ll create a wellness plan just for you. It includes coaching, a customized supplement protocol for whole body wellness and weight loss, and ongoing support. That way you not only start strong, but you also end strong. At your desired finish line!
Don’t ever give up on your weight loss or wellness goals. You always have options and there is always another step you can take to achieve the results you want.
It’s important to me that you know that you can take control of your health. You just need some knowledge and the right tools to uncover the root cause of your weight loss resistance. Then you can achieve your goal—losing the weight for good this time!
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Endnotes
- "Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Weight Loss, Glycemic ...." 20 Jul. 2018, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6071442/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2021.
- "Calcium - Consumer - Office of Dietary Supplements - NIH." 22 Mar. 2021, https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-Consumer/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2021.
- "Is there a relationship between vitamin D with insulin resistance and ...." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4515445/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2021.
- "Sunlight and Vitamin D - NCBI - NIH." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3897598/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2021.
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