center. Those additional twenty pounds of
body fat are immunologically active—and
secreting a lot of leptin. Since leptin’s satiety
signal isn’t registering in your brain, you
chronically overeat—especially food-with-no-
brakes, because it tastes so good.
Your less-than-active lifestyle and
continuous overreliance on sugar and carb-
dense processed foods has kept your blood
sugar and insulin levels chronically elevated
for years: you’ve progressed well into insulin
resistance—diabetes could be right around the
corner. You continue to gradually accumulate
body fat, glucagon has no opportunity to tell
the cells to use fat as fuel, and you’re
desperately reliant on sugar for energy.
Thanks in part to cortisol dysregulation,
your body stubbornly holds on to your belly
fat even when you try to cut calories—making
weight loss even harder.