You might have seen this equation — calories in minus calories out equals your net weight loss (or gain), but that equation doesn’t factor in metabolism, which is the way your body creates energy from food. A specialized structure or “organelle” called “mitochondria” found in living cells make that energy, and they’re the key to your weight loss success. These cells are found in every part of your body including your liver, brain and muscles and make up about 10 percent of our body weight.  

Here’s how it works: If all is going as it should, your body uses some of the food you eat right away to produce energy. It then stores excess food in the form of fat so your body can draw on it when energy is needed. But what if all is not going as it should and your mitochondria are unhealthy?

We feel hungry because our body tells our brain that it needs fuel for energy in the form of food. When mitochondria aren’t converting food to energy properly, the body keeps telling the brain that it needs more fuel so we feel hungry regardless of the amount of fat it might have stored up. We keep eating, and the mitochondria keep converting excess food into fat. If we don’t eat, we don’t have the energy to exercise to help burn excess fat, which further slows weight loss.

When mitochondria are unhealthy, they don’t only affect weight loss though, because they also play a role in our overall health and in the aging process. Studies show that as you age, the mitochondria in your cells become less efficient by about 8 percent every 10 years. Mitochondria also emit free radicals when they are unhealthy, which can cause inflammation and affect the function of other types of cells.  

What are some signs that your mitochondria aren’t working to their full potential? Aside from having trouble losing weight, other common symptoms include excess and chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. If you’re concerned, the good news is that diet, exercise, antioxidants and vitamin supplements prescribed by health care providers who specialize in weight loss can often help repair and manage overall mitochondrial health.

Ready to get serious about your weight loss? Anti-Aging and Laser Institute, with locations in New Bedford and (Coming soon) Providence, offers weight loss treatments, hormone replacement therapy, Laser Assisted Lipossuction procedures and more. The physicians at Anti-Aging and Laser Institute are dedicated to providing