Shot or No Shot The Great Debate

Posted on October 29, 2025 by HeatherLynn

There is a question of what the best way is to lose weight. It’s a question that has been asked many times for decades and it comes with varying answers. The latest debate has been between getting “the shot” or doing things the old way, “Lifestyle changes”. The question hovers around the effectiveness, sustainability, and overall impact on health.

Medications such as GLP-1 ( ex: Wegovey, Zepbound ) can produce quick and significant weight reduction. Lifestyle changes involving diet and exercise proved a long-term approach with broader health benefits. It is said that combining the two would be the most successful way to attack this.

Weight-Loss Injections

How it works

Medications that are injectable like semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound) mimic natural hormones that regulate appetite. These communicate a sense of fullness to the brain and slow stomach emptying, significantly reducing food intake.

Pros

Very effective: semaglutide and tirzepatide have shown average weight loss of 15–20% in people with obesity.

Convenient: Weekly or even daily injections are easier to stick to than a rigid diet and exercise plan for many people.

Motivating: The rapid results are motivating for individuals who have struggled with weight loss in the past where the “regular” diets take longer to show progress.

Added health benefits: Some of the injectable drugs have been shown to reduce the risk of heart problems, such as heart attacks and strokes.

Cons

Weight regain: When the medication is stopped, significant weight regain is common without sustained lifestyle changes.

Side effects: Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.

Cost: Many insurance plans do not cover these medications, patients often must pay more than $1,000 per month out-of-pocket.

Muscle mass loss: Rapid weight loss from injections can cause a significant loss of lean muscle mass along with fat.

Social stigma: Studies show weight loss with the aid of medication is viewed “cheating” rather than achieving success through traditional methods.

LifeStyle Changes

How it works

Natural weight loss is done by creating a sustained calorie deficit through healthier eating habits, regular physical activity, and behavioral modifications. This process helps the body adjust and adapt to new habits.

Pros

Sustainable results: Building healthy, lifelong habits, people can achieve and maintain long-term weight loss without dependency on medication.

Health improvements: Lifestyle changes provideb enefits that go beyond weight loss, including better heart health, improved mental well-being, and stronger bones.

Preserves muscle mass: Regular physical activity, particularly resistance training combined with adequate protein intake, helps preserve lean muscle mass.

Affordable: This method is more cost-effective as it does not require expensive medication.

Cons

Slower: Natural weight loss is slower than medication-assisted weight loss, which can be discouraging for some.

Requires discipline: Building and maintaining new habits requires consistent effort and self-discipline.

May not be enough : Many people with chronic obesity or underlying metabolic issues find it difficult to achieve lasting weight loss with diet and exercise alone.

The combined approach

Many agree that weight-loss medication is not a “magic bullet” and is most effective when paired with lifestyle changes.

For Best Results: Combining medication with healthy eating and exercise can lead to better and more sustainable long-term results.

Improved maintenance: Using injections to jump-start weight loss and then transitioning to lifestyle changes and potentially less expensive, alternative maintenance strategies can prevent weight regain.

The choice between the “shot” and “no shot” approach depends on an individual’s specific health needs, lifestyle, and goals. Weight-loss injections are a powerful tool, particularly for individuals with obesity or related health conditions, but they are not a substitute for developing healthy habits. You have to find what works for you. For some it is the shot for some it is simply the lifestyle change, and for some it is a combination of both.

Encouragement/Motivation, Food Stuff, intermittent-fasting

Lettuce Entertain You!

Posted on July 23, 2025 by HeatherLynn

Salads are a great addition for the journey to a healthier lifestyle. They are versatile and varied and nutritious if you choose the right ingredients and practice portion control. The heart of every good salad is based on the greens you choose.

Most people conjure up visions of salads where the Iceberg Lettuce is the base. Iceberg lettuce has gotten a bit of a bad reputation with claims that it has no nutritional value and I, like countless others, bought into this rumor.

An amazing sale on bagged “garden salad” caught my eye. I noted the star of the show was Iceberg lettuce and it just burned me that they (whoever “they” are) were offering discounts on food that would do nothing for me. It prompted me to do a bit of research, and I was surprised to find that I had been misled! Iceberg lettuce is reasonable and nutritious!

Nutritionally, it provides essential vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and Vitamin C, contributing to eye health, blood clotting, and immune function.

Iceberg lettuce also contains beneficial minerals like potassium and calcium, which support heart health and strong bones.

I’ll stop hating on Iceberg lettuce, for sure.

There are some other greens to add to your mix. I like to mix and match to keep my body guessing at what I’m going to throw at it next.

Raw Spinach – a great way to boost up your iron

Raw Beet Greens – vitamin A and vitamin K

Raw Swiss Chard – tvitamin A and vitamin C

Raw Dandilion Greens – high in calcium, iron, and prebiotic fiber & vitamin C

Raw Mustard Greens – a bit of Folate, vitamin C and vitamin K

Raw Collard Greens – Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and a small amount of E

Raw WaterCress – Vitamin K and Vitamin C

Raw Romaine – Vitamin K and Vitamin A

Raw Leaf Lettuce – Vitamin A

As you’ll note, there are two vitamins that seem to be present in nearly all forms of the lettuce family. Vitamin A & K

Why you need Vitamin A –

Vitamin A is essential in your Vision health, aids in Immune Function & Reproductive health, assists in Cell growth and development and is a workhorse for your skin health.

Why you need Vitamin K –

Vitamin K is important to contribute to blood clotting and is a major star when it comes to your bone health.

You cannot choose a “wrong” combination of the lettuce family. However, do not live on salad alone. This is only a supplement to healthy journey you’ve chosen. Continue to make wise decisions and eat mindfully!

Emotional Well-Being, Encouragement/Motivation

Pain in the Journey

Posted on July 16, 2025 by HeatherLynn

Pain. It is a factor in your journey that will provide a frustrating stumbling block you will feel helpless to overcome. When you are in chronic or severe pain from an injury, you may want to literally feed that pain. They call this “maladaptive pain-related coping”. The term “maladaptive” refers to behaviors or actions that hinder an individual’s ability to adapt or adjust to different situations differently. ( I hope we have BOTH learned something new today!)

Overeating in response to pain is basically just a coping mechanism. It makes you temporarily feel better. Psychologically, deep down, there is this primitive need to fuel up to replace the energies you are exerting as your body attempts to heal the injury.

This leads, obviously, to over-eating, knocking you off the journey you’ve worked so hard on, landing on a plateau and falling back into a sea of frustration. It can be a dangerous time for you as you risk falling back into old habits since your resolve is distracted by the pain.

There are some things you can do to help.

1. Be careful and don’t hurt yourself. I know, great wisdom coming from the Queen of Klutz. If I am not injured then something is certainly wrong!

2. Don’t suffer through the pain. Get to a medical professional and get the help you need.

4. Bulk up on the antioxidants. Fresh, leaf vegetables and fruits with complex carbs are much better than simple sugars.

5. Keep moving as much as you can. Depending on the injury of course. Take frequent breaks.

6. Get plenty of sleep. Your body repairs itself quite a bit during those hours.

Ice is your friend when it comes to injuries. Inflammation is what is causing most of that pain and ice packs greatly alleviate the discomfort.

Here are some foods you can partake of , that also reduce inflammation :

Whole Grains : whole grain bread, oats, brown rice, barly, quinoa, couscous, polenta, bulgur, and rye bread. Also stick with multi-grain or wheat pasta.

Beans,nuts, seeds, pod foods : peas, edamame, black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, white beans, hummus, walnuts, almonds, pecans, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pinenuts etc. :

Fruits : berries, pomegranates, cherries. Darker colored fruits are especially good. Avoid fruit juices.

Vegetables : yellow, orange and red peppers and tomatoes, Spinach, chard, kale, leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, arugula, mixed greens (focus on dark leafy greens) Purple and green cabbage, onions, garlic, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, radishes, cucumbers, green beans and green onions.

Olive Oil: replace butter and other oils with this for cooking.

Fish : Go for cold water fish like salmon, herring, anchovies, sardines and mackerel.

White Meat ; chicken, turkey and other birds. No frying or deep frying.

Dairy: Eggs, natural cheese ( not processed ), low-fat milk, yogurt.

Herbs ; cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, garlic, rosemary, cayenne, pepper, black pepper.

Honestly, looking at the list of “anti-inflammatory” foods, it is not much different than how you should be customizing your diet on a regular basis when you are not in pain.

Above all, know that an injury does not mean your journey has come to an end. This is just a setback. The hard work is not in the physical, its in the mental. You are going to have to mentally pick yourself up and get yourself back into the driver’s seat and start walking again. How long will you sit on the side of the road using your pain as the reason you have failed?

Day five – My Journey Phase 2

Emotional Well-Being, intermittent-fasting

I am my own Enemy

Posted on July 14, 2025July 15, 2025 by HeatherLynn

Does Fasting Work? That’s the one question I am asked frequently. My answer… its the ONLY thing that has worked for me. I have tried many variations of fad diets, portion control and calorie counting, and it all ended with me being frustrated. Honestly, even the Intermittent Fasting brought me to the point of frustration, and I had to sit down and have a hard look at things.

All my life I have identified as the “fat girl”, the “chubby woman”, the girl with love handles and jiggly thighs. That’s who I know and that is who society knows. I am accustomed to a certain way of deference from others… subtle judging glances as I fill my grocery cart, not so subtle stares as I chuff by in my shorts that insist on riding up the inside of my thighs forcing me to do the awkward pull and leg shake to fix the problem. I admit, I am most likely only imagining most of this, people are very self-absorbed and have no interest in those around them while in public. However, being out there, I have always been very aware of how large I am. It’s like the times I’ve gone in the woman’s section to look at clothes and I just “knew” the women there were asking themselves why I thought I was going to find anything at all that would fit me in that section. I was up here in the first class, and I needed to get my rotund butt back over to lower-class where the sold the clothes by square foot.

I dropped 80lbs. People were smiling more at me. I was getting appreciative looks and direct eye-contact. My cart had fresh veggies and fruits in it and not a single item of junk food or sugar. I was still very aware of being out there, but now it felt amazing! I was lighter and moving quicker and it was like being on a sort of natural high. I was actually achieving a goal I had only dreamed of for decades!

Then the self-saboteur came knocking. She looks like me, the “old” me. She told me things like, “Its cool to back off on the fasting a bit now, you got this” and she would look at the clock and shrug, “two scoops of ice cream at 9 pm isn’t going to kill you”. I was oblivious to her tactics, I still felt good, although I admit my energy wasn’t quite the same. Then I was watching more tv and finding excuses to sit down rather than get up and move around. My weight loss stopped. It went beyond a plateau, it came to a screeching halt, tires squealing. I gave half-hearted attempts to return to my patterns but my “get up and go” was gone. Jumping into the mix came a back injury, an excuse not to move much, but also a discovery that when i am in severe pain, I EAT.

I wasn’t gaining, but I wasn’t losing. Ten months down the road and I hurt my shoulder. More pain and realization that things are not going my way at all. This time I sat down and had a chat with my doctor. It was obvious that I had lost my motivation and in our discussion we both agreed that I had sabotaged myself. The question is WHY??? I don’t have the full answer, not yet. I’m still working on that part. I think part of it is that I suddenly didn’t know my part anymore. After decades of being the “fat girl” , I wasn’ t her any longer and it threw me for a curve. That’s something I’ll need to work on.

In the meantime, I am back on track with my Intermittent Fasting. My doctor visit was the motivation I needed to get me back. I don’t want to go back to where I was. The only option is to pick myself up and keep moving forward.

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Uncategorized

Returned

Posted on June 18, 2025 by HeatherLynn

I took a little hiatus from the blog but I have returned. The carnivore diet attempt (for me) was pointless. I love fruits and veggies way too much to just eat straight protein and honestly, I was concerned about missing out on vitamins and minerals that are essential to my overall health. Thus, I continued to plateau and fret about my lack of will power and motivation. I knew I had a huge vacation coming up and I felt like attacking my plan too hard would be like sabotaging myself. (Justification is an art, my friends).

So here we are. The big vacation has been taken. I am back home and a few pounds heavier because who worries about diets when they are on a cruise? I certainly didn’t let anything stop me from grazing and indulging and now I must face the music that I danced to.

Let me first give thanks to the lovely stomach virus for kick starting my journey and shaving off some of the extra pounds. It was unexpected, and horribly and living on the BRAT diet for a few days has sucked rocks, but it did motivate me in some weird fashion.

While away, I never worried about how I looked. My journey so far is responsible for that. I was very comfortable in my own skin amidst literally, thousands of other people. I was able to let go and relax, be myself and make some lasting memories because I wasn’t hung up on my body image. This is a big win for me!

I am not where I want to be yet, but this getaway showed me that I am well on my way. I am once again inspired to hit the trail and rejoin my fellow travelers. My fridge is currently bare and awaiting a grocery run. My list is being made carefully along with a list of activities I must do that will keep me moving (even with a bad back). Stay tuned for updates!

Encouragement/Motivation, Food Stuff, intermittent-fasting

Exploring the Carnivore

Posted on April 16, 2025 by HeatherLynn

A plateau is, no doubt, one of the most frustrating blockers in this journey of a better lifestyle. I began to doubt myself and I felt old habits trying to creep back in as week after week nothing seemed to change. The weeks turned to months and the numbers on the scale have refused to move. I know my motivation is lacking, my hunger pangs are winning, and my self-esteem appears to dip down to those self-sabotaging moments that held me back for years.

This must stop. My brother reached out to me, having the same problem. He has been plateaued for a full year. He grew weary of it and did something about it instead of lamenting about the frustration. He embarked on a side journey of a Carnivore diet combined with the intermittent fasting. If anyone needs an inspiring talk, my brother is the one to speak with. His scale is moving again, and the hopefulness has come back into his voice. The daily text messages I get are all encouraging me to explore this method myself. I’m going to let history repeat itself and I’m going to take his advice and dive headfirst and give it a go.

Today is Day One.

I spent a good portion of my morning reading up on the Carnivore diet and I have doubts, mostly because I am a lover of fruits and vegetables and this diet does not include those. It’s an elimination diet with claims to help with weight loss, improve mental clarity, reduce inflammation, improve digestion and increase energy levels.

The basic foods you get to consume include animal proteins, fatty cuts of meat, organ meats, fish and seafood, eggs and full-fat dairy products.

The foods you are avoiding include plant-based foods, grains and cereals, legumes and beans, processed foods, sugars and sweeteners, and alcohol.

I encourage you to read up on this : The Beginner’s Guide to the Carnivore Diet – Carnivore Keto Secrets This site is very thorough in detail, and you’ll have a good deal of information if you decide you wish to give this a try.

I do know that due to my love of fruits and vegetables, this is not a diet that I will stay on for a great length of time. Especially given the time of year when all the best berries are coming into season. I will most likely alternate this along with a plant-based diet to ensure I am getting all the nutrients my body needs. I am not the same as my brother. Our genders alone dictate that we will lose weight differently. Our age makes a profound difference as well. He is exploring the needs of man entering his 50’s and I am tending the needs of woman mid-50’s in the middle of menopause. Our results will be different, but the point of this exercise is to break the plateau.

Would you give up fruits and veggies for a month to break your plateau?

Drop a comment below and let me know what your thoughts are!

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Emotional Well-Being, Encouragement/Motivation

TABLETOP-PLATEAU

Posted on March 17, 2025 by HeatherLynn

Plateaus are a part of the journey. Plateaus are expected, but they should not last any major length of time, after all, they would be called something much more discerning if they were expected to be lengthy.

I climbed up on a table-top plateau back in September. I then leapt over to another table-top, and another and another. It became just an endless row of tabletops with a few low hills but no major hikes or drops in elevation. Of that, I should be grateful, I haven’t been climbing, but the frustration of not dropping can be daunting.

What happened? Body changes? Environment? Psychological? Perhaps all of that. I got in my own head and lost my motivation. Not completely, but it’s certainly not where it was a year ago and that is the key to the lack of my recent success.

I can give excuses. Justification is a skill I honed years ago while shoveling piles of unhealthy foods into my mouth and claiming one thing or another was the cause of my woes. The only one I would be fooling is myself, and not very well.

I know I am to blame. I start each morning focused. I do well UNLESS I am not active. If I am moving around cleaning, doing chores, tending to my flock of birds or simply just walking, I am fine. A bottle of water or a cup of hot coffee is all that I seem to need. However, I do not have the type of career that is considered active, and I find myself looking at a computer screen early in the day. Within the first hour, my stomach growls and I successfully ignore it for about two hours and then I give in. Because I am weak. No, that’s just an excuse. The reason is because I was weak before I ever arrived at work. I either tossed a bag of grapes into my work bag or I stopped purposely to grab a fruit cup from the local convenience store on my way in.

So, what really happened? I happened. I started feeling really good about what I looked like, and I stumbled. I let up on myself and quit being so disciplined. I treated myself one too many times, gave myself a “break” too often and now here I am. I feel the pressure from myself to keep trying. I’m not at the goal I’ve set and until I reach that goal, I have to keep pushing.

My eating habits are a little skewed right now. I have been portioning out too much, indulging in the starches and giving in to the sweet tooth. Talk about the three major roadblocks on getting off the table! Now that the weather is beginning to move to the warmer side of things. Well, at least some days of the week it is. I’ll be outside more, which means I’ll be more active. The days are getting longer which means I’ll be finding things to do to keep busy. Sitting on the couch when its still daylight feels “lazy” to me and I can’t do lazy. Not if I want to reach my goal.

Motivational Plan for the week:

BE MINDFUL OF MY MEALS

BE ACTIVE IN THE DAYLIGHT

DRINK MORE WATER

I think those are three achievable goals for my week. I think I need to write down every time I use an excuse for deviating from the plan and what the excuse is. I find journaling a difficult task because you must be honest and writing it down makes it very real.

Fourth step for the week: Journal your Justifications.

To all on this journey, it’s important to know that with the success also comes the roadblocks, the things that make you want to fall back into the old habits. You’ve come too far to fall back into the old habits. Stay strong and know that you are amazing, and you have the power to get through!

Encouragement/Motivation, Food Stuff

Water Me!

Posted on January 29, 2025 by HeatherLynn

Any article on dieting and healthy eating you read, inevitably you will find something in there pertaining to the encouragement of drinking water. It helps fill your stomach, making you feel full and reducing your overall calorie intake. silences dehydration disguised as hunger pangs; It is known to regulate body temperature and lubricate joints, helping give a bit of boost to the metabolism. and it flushes out excess sodium which if you leave unchecked, ironically causes, water retention. Water is good for you.

Water can also be boring. It’s recommended to take in at least six full glasses of the liquid elixir on a daily basis, but plain water is just sometimes hard to choke down. Fortunately, there are some great options to make water more enticing and exciting.

Option 1 = Admit it, you like carbonation. It wasn’t just the sugar in the sodas that made you smile. On the market today there are some great “fizzy” waters, better known as “seltzers” with flavors infused right in them. Brands like Waterloo and Bubly have a large line of flavorful sparkling waters with zero calories at a reasonable cost.

Option 2 = Infuse some flavor in your plain water! The natural flavors of fruits, herbs and other botanicals helps you hit that water goal every day. There are a few things to keep in mind with this method.

1 – Never use dried/dehydrated herbs/fruits/vegetables. You will not get the full flavor from these. Always use fresh and try to get the organic if possible. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), wash produce and rinse herbs to remove chemicals, pesticides and other residues.

2 – Always use cold or room temperature filtered water. Filtering the water will maximize your infused water flavors. Using hot water makes produce fall apart quicker and can compromise the nutrients you are hoping to get out of it.

3 – chop fruit or vegetables and tear the leafy bits of herbs to release the oils.

4 – Fill your container ( jug, glass jar, water bottle ), about 1/3 full of your solid ingredients and the rest with water.

5 – Soak (steep) for 2-4 hours at room temperature or you can soak overnight in the refrigerator.

6 – after the soak, squeeze the solid bits against the side of the container with a spoon to release the last of the flavor and then shake it vigorously (don’t forget to put a lid on it!)

8 – Gradually pour the water from one container into another (referred to as decanting) and filter out your solid pieces. A small fine screen mesh strainer or coffee filter will work well for this step.

9 – Store filtered water in the refrigerator for up to three days. OR you can pour the water into ice trays and have infused ice cubes.

Some interesting combinations to try :

Cucumber and Mint

Parsley and Celery

Ginger and Lemon or Honey

Raspberry and Mint

Celery (with pieces and torn celery leaves)

Watermelon and Basil

Watermelon, Kiwi, and Lime

Blueberry and Orange

Lime, Ginger, and Basil

Lemon, Raspberry, and Rosemary (or blueberries in season)

Grapefruit, Pomegranate, and Mint

Lime, Coconut, and Pineapple

Mango and Ginger

Strawberry and Kiwi

Blackcurrant and Lemon

Pear and Fennel

Lemon and Thyme

Orange, Guava, and Mint

There are so many different things you can try, these are just a few suggestions. Be inventive, find a combination that is uniquely your own!

Happy Drinking!

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Emotional Well-Being, Food Stuff

Food Noise – Hear me Roar

Posted on January 24, 2025 by HeatherLynn

When I was young, I remember breakfast discussions between adults about lunch plans and dinner plans. To me this seemed normal, it would be necessary to have this information so you would know to get things out of the freezer to thaw or to know what time a meal would be served.

As I grew older, I found myself planning future meals while devouring a current meal. Often, I would be thinking about it as I drove to work or took a walk. It was okay, that was the way it was supposed to be. I was being proactive.

Now let’s go back to those younger days and fill in some time gaps. When I was offered a baked good or sweet treat, it was GOOD. They made me feel warm and happy inside, albeit only for a short period so I always wanted more and the cravings would become obsessive. As I gained in years, I also gained in pounds. I had a yen for the sweets. Since I lived in an area where fast food was twelve miles away and an absolute special occasion, processed goodies were not yet an issue. However, I gained my independence and loved the taste of cheeseburgers and fries.

Adulthood came upon me. Still planning my meals, thinking about yummy snacks to get at the store, stopping at convenience stores for a quick chocolate bar and then mentally berating myself for being a compulsive snacker with no self-control. I would become angry with myself and sometimes I would be able to turn away from the temptations, but 90% of the time I would give in. The underlying reason? Food had always been a comfort to me and although it was making me miserable physically and mentally, it was giving me brief moments of comfort that I apparently needed as I struggled with life.

I had no idea this had a name. Currently its trending as “Food Noise” and I am most certainly a victim of this.

Food Noise is a preoccupation with food. For example, after (or during) you’ve had a meal, you may instantly start thinking about your next snack or next meal. It is an internal dialogue that can be influenced by factors such as diet, mental well-being, and nutrient deficiencies.

– fixate on what, when, or how much to eat.

-plan the next meal before having finished your current one.

-compulsively check restaurant menus or delivery services

-stress about the consequences of food choices.

– internally beat yourself up over your lack of self-control but still give into the impulse

However it manifests for you, the impact on your life and eating behavior can be both harmful and overwhelming to your physical and mental health.

It is possible to quiet the Food Noise.

Focus on a healthier diet

Eliminate the processed foods (no more Fast Food! )

Meal Prepping – having the meals prepped makes it easier to not overeat

Stop buying the unhealthy snacks, get them out of your house, if they are not there you cannot eat them

Educate yourself on healthy recipes and learn how to prepare them. Taking this time to prepare your meals makes you more mindful of what you are doing.

Eat Intentionally

Make an eating schedule and stick to it.

If Joe brings in donuts for the office, you don’t have to eat one, you can politely decline and remove yourself away from the temptation.

Bring healthy snacks for yourself so when you are tempted to give in for that sweet stuff, you have a workaround.

Exercise

Its hard to walk and stuff a cheeseburger in your mouth at the same time.

Find activities that keep your hands busy and your blood pumping, you’ll find that thoughts of food are nowhere in sight.

Reduce Stress

What i love about this one is people throw this suggestion out like you are intentionally bringing stress into your life. Do your best to find ways to reduce the stress factors. I know some things are not in your control but you do have the power to control how you handle it.

Get more sleep

Tired and fatigued equals the desire to fuel up. If you are rested you won’t feel the extra need to gain energy.

Look into Medication

Semaglutide medications tend to activate certain receptors, which promote the release of the hormone GLP-1 which basically quiets your food noise.

Talk to your doctor if you consider this direction, it is important to make sure you understand all side effects and results of using this method to quiet your food noise.

I will tell you this. My food noise started when I was a child. It’s lived with me for decades and honestly, it’s like a family member in my head. Since beginning my journey and making changes in my lifestyle, this family member has become noticeably quieter. There are days, admittedly, when Food Noise roars and is nearly deafening. On those days, I have my arsenal of weapons to fight it. An always available full water bottle, a portioned out healthy snack, and a “Before” and “After” photo nearby to show me what determination and perseverance looks like.

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Encouragement/Motivation

Brown Fat Keeping You Warm

Posted on January 21, 2025 by HeatherLynn

To say that its cold outside is vastly understating the extreme temperatures that have descended this week. Once you hit single digits and negatives, it’s basically like being in a freezer with the fan on.

Here is some good news though, you can still drop some weight despite the frozen fingers of the arctic scraping at your windows! We are all born with something called “brown fat”, which is much different than your everyday white fat.

White adipose tissue (WAT) is the standard fat that is commonly known. It stores energy in large fat nodules that accumulate around the body. The accumulation of this fat helps keep us warm by providing insulation for our organs.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) helps maintain body temperature when it’s too cold. As newborns, we have a good pocket of this mostly behind the shoulder blades, because infants cannot shiver and this acts as a built-in heater. We lose most of it as we get older and form a shiver response to cold temperatures.

Brown Fat is jam packed with mitochondria, the main energy molecule used by the cell and that is how it gets its color. When brown fat burns, it creates heat without the shivering in a process referred to as thermogenesis. It is during this process; the brown fat also burns calories.

Everyone has some brown fat you’re born with, and this form is called “constitutive” brown fat. Another form of brown fat is “recruitable.” Meaning it can change to brown fat under the right circumstances. This type is found in muscles and white fat throughout your body.

Some ways to increase that brown fat :

Exposing the body to cool/cold temperatures may help recruit more brown fat cells. A suggested 2 hours of exposure each day to temperatures around 66°F (19°C) may be enough to turn recruitable fat brown. I’m not suggesting we step out into the arctic air for 2 hours, that feels a bit much to drop a few pounds. Let’s get the outside temps more agreeable before we consider a two hour venture outside!

Taking a cold shower or ice bath. While neither one sounds appealing, perhaps just slowing turning down the hot tap while in the shower and gradually working your way up to the cold would be better than just diving right under a spray of icy water.

Knock the temp down a few degrees in the house. The electric bill will at least be lighter!

Increasing Brown Fat is not a method suggested for weight loss primarily. Consider it an add-on bonus to what you already have in play. Acclimate yourself to the cooler temperatures, convert some of the white fat to brown fat. Every little bit helps on the journey.