Hi, today we’re going to talk about weight loss.
How many times have you wondered about
The Best Way To Lose Weight With MTHFR?
Overweight and obesity are major problems nowadays worldwide.
The World Health Organization reports that worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.
In fact, most of the world’s population lives in countries where overweight and obesity kill more people than underweight.
Being overweight or obese jeopardizes health in many ways, and that’s also the case if you have an MTHFR gene variant.
If you’re overweight and want to learn how to slim down in a safe and effective way, this post will help you out.
MTHFR Gene Mutation and Weight Gain
People gain due to a number of reasons…
Some people put on a few pounds or more due to an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
They eat too much junk food and don’t exercise.
Others can gain weight due to medications, health conditions, and many other reasons.
Genetic mutations are one of them.
The relationship between MTHFR gene variants and overweight or obesity isn’t entirely clear due to scarce studies on this subject.
However, the potential mechanism through which MTHFR gene mutations could cause weight gain is the impaired processing of folic acid, a synthetic form of folate.
Since the body can’t process folic acid, if you’re carrying the MTHFR gene variant, it stores this micronutrient as it can use it properly.
Excess folic acid, especially in combination with a high-fat diet, exacerbates weight gain, fat accumulation, and inflammation, studies show.
How to recognize if your weight gain is associated with the MTHFR gene variant? A few signs include:
- Fat accumulates around the abdominal area first
- Larger BMI, especially hip-to-waist ratio where more fat accumulates around the waistline
- Fatty liver
- Experiencing some signs of cardiovascular disease eg. high blood pressure
- Struggling to lose weight
- Slow metabolism
- Family history of weight-related problems
MTHFR Mutation and Losing Weight
Men and women with the MTHFR gene variant may be susceptible to weight gain.
As I mentioned above, weight gain, in this case, can be stubborn and difficult to manage.
Have you ever dieted and exercised regularly, but those efforts were unsuccessful?
(Chances are high)
The answer to this question is most likely – YES!
Most of us have been there…
You do pretty much everything you can (and know at that point), but nothing seems to work.
Failure after failure and weight gain instead of weight loss takes away our motivation and makes it more difficult to decide to start again.
You probably conclude that it’s not meant to be…
But it is!
Sure, weight loss or weight management for a person with the MTHFR gene variant is challenging, but it’s achievable.
Losing weight when you have MTHFR gene mutation starts with lifestyle modifications where diet adjustments play the most important role.
Just by tweaking your diet, it’s possible to manage weight and keep it in a healthy range.
Nope, this isn’t just some silly claim…
Evidence confirms that personalized dietary guidelines can reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome among women.
Metabolic syndrome involves different symptoms, including weight gain, high blood sugar, high blood pressure.
In this study, the Mediterranean diet proved to be an effective dietary approach toward more successful weight management.
This isn’t such a surprise if we bear in mind that the Mediterranean diet is among the healthiest eating patterns in the world as it prioritizes intake of healthy fats (olive oil mainly), an abundance of fruits and vegetables, but also allows people to eat meat occasionally if they want to.
The Most Important Aspect of MTHFR Gene Weight Loss
Weight loss with MTHFR gene mutation is entirely possible.
But you need to keep the most important thing in mind – methylation.
Men and women with MTHFR mutations have an impaired ability to methylate, and you’ve probably read about methylation a lot.
However, what most people aren’t aware of is that impaired methylation can lead to weight gain or just make it more difficult to slim down.
Therefore, the most important aspect of weight loss for a person with the MTHFR gene variant is to improve methylation, as it can speed up metabolism.
What to do to support methylation and jumpstart weight loss?
Some useful tips include:
- Get enough sleep
- Consume plenty of B-complex vitamins, especially vitamin B6, B12, and folate (avoid folic acid)
- Exercise regularly
- Manage stress
- Make healthy diet choices, ditch junk food, and focus on a well-balanced diet with nutritious foods.
Tackle Inflammation and Hormonal Imbalances
The MTHFR gene mutation can lead to weight gain in many ways, and that’s exactly why it can be tricky to slim down.
When working to lose weight, you should also tackle other problems associated with MTHFR variants – inflammation and hormonal imbalances.
People with the MTHFR variant have a genetic predisposition to inflammation, which slows metabolism and may contribute to weight gain.
To tackle inflammation, you need to consume anti-inflammatory foods, but also reduce exposure to toxins as they impair the body’s ability to detoxify.
Additionally, make sure to support liver health. The liver is in charge of detox.
Impaired methylation, which occurs in MTHFR mutations, can lead to hormonal imbalances and increase the levels of estrogen and cortisol (stress hormones).
Hormonal imbalances and weight gain tend to go hand in hand.
Therefore, yet another important step toward successful weight loss is to manage hormonal imbalances.
For example, you may want to manage stress instead of ignoring it.
Find something relaxing and strive to use it as your stress management method.
Options are endless here.
You may also want to reduce the consumption of soy (as it contains phytoestrogens) and products that contain endocrine disruptors in order to prevent hormonal imbalances from worsening.
By improving methylation, you can support the balance of your hormones.
Conclusions About The Best Way To Lose Weight With MTHFR Are Simply Applying One Useful Tip At A Time To Your Lifestyle…
In this post, you’ve had the opportunity to learn about the best way to lose weight with MTHFR, and now you just have to apply these useful tips into your lifestyle.