Sarah Fit - I would add two items: get regular sleep (Sleep regulates the level of cortisol, a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands.) and reduce the sugar in your diet. Insulin is an anabolic hormone known as the master hormone (it is basically the bossy sibling telling other hormones what to do). Hormones are messengers in the body that tell things what to do and where to go in order for our body to stay in balance and function well. -High insulin levels cause damage to the heart and the cardiovascular system and promote weight gain. The more insulin floating around in the blood stream, the more fat we store which leads to weight gain. So, when our cells start ignoring insulin’s message to store sugar, the pancreas produces more insulin to compensate to keep blood sugar levels down. Therefore, more insulin is present in the blood stream, leading to weight gain. -Insulin hardens the lining of the arteries causing high blood pressure. In fact, a very early warning sign of diabetes is high blood pressure. -Additionally, when our body has too much sugar because we over-consume carbs, insulin changes sugar into triglycerides (cholesterol) through a process called lipogenesis and stores it in our fat cells causing our body to become bigger and bigger, leading to a whole host of other problems including metabolic syndrome, diabetes and obesity.
Survival mode isn't a thing. It's been well and truly debunked. The body does not hang onto fat when it is in a calorie deficit. If you're eating too little you will lose fat. You might not lose weight immediately but you will lose fat. Saying the body goes into survival mode makes as much sense as saying your car goes into survival mode and holds onto gas so it doesn't run out.
