Many people would like to lose at least a little bit of weight, and they’re surprised when they realize how tricky it can be to get their body to respond in the way they’d prefer. Weight loss mostly correlates to diet, but vitamin B12 can play a role in keeping your energy levels stable while you make an effort to get more active.
What Does Vitamin B12 Do?
Vitamin B12 plays many roles in the body. It helps the body manufacture healthy red blood cells that send oxygen to organs, muscles, and tissues throughout the body. It also helps to support your body’s metabolic processes, assisting in its efforts to convert the food you eat into usable energy. Vitamin B12 can help to keep energy levels stable throughout the day, promoting mental focus and preventing you from falling into an afternoon slump.
How Does the Body Lose Fat?
Every adult has an established number of fat cells. Unless you have a surgical procedure that permanently removes fat cells, such as liposuction or an abdominoplasty, the amount of fat cells you have will remain the same throughout your life. Your fat cells will either grow or shrink in response to the amount of fat they’re retaining.
Your body’s basal metabolic rate is the number of calories it requires each day to maintain its weight. Staying at this limit most of the time will prevent you from gaining or losing weight. Going above this limit will cause you to gain weight, and staying below this limit will cause you to lose weight.
When you eat at a caloric deficit, your body will turn to the storage of your fat cells for the energy it needs to support your body. In response, the fat stored in the cells will “burn” away. Your body removes the metabolites through your urine, and even through your breath when you exhale.
Do Diets Really Work for Losing Weight?
There is a huge misconception about diets. They’re very popular and they have a lot of rules. People jump into fad diets very quickly, fall off of those diets when they realize they’re unsustainable, and undo the progress they created.
You don’t need to be on a special diet to lose weight. Things like keto, paleo, or vegan diets don’t directly correlate with weight loss. The only thing that directly correlates with weight loss is a caloric deficit, and you can create a caloric deficit with any type of food. You can actually eat food you genuinely like!
It’s very possible to lose weight while eating carbohydrates, grains, and dairy. It’s just a matter of serving size. You can even incorporate foods commonly regarded as “junk food” like pizza or cheeseburgers if you choose small serving sizes and enjoy them in moderation.
When you remove rules and specific diet plans from your agenda and focus on proper nutrition and remain mindful of calorie consumption, you’ll have an easier time losing weight.
Best of all, making balanced choices is more sustainable than attempting to juggle complex food rules. You can use nutritional common sense throughout the entirety of your life to maintain a healthy body weight once you’ve reached your goal.
Can Vitamin B12 Help With Weight Loss?
As lovely as it would be, there is no magic pill for weight loss. The decisions you make can help or hinder the process, and your outcome solely depends on your choices. What you choose to eat and how often you choose to exercise are the two most important factors in a successful weight loss journey.
Anything else can only provide you with additional support while you’re making the right choices. Things like vitamin B12 won’t override the decisions you make or undo bad choices, however, many people find that vitamin B12 helps to support their journey by assisting with the body’s ability to produce and use its own natural energy.
Movement is not the most important factor in weight loss — your diet is. You can exercise all day, but if you’re still eating more calories than you’re burning, your weight will increase. Exercise is an effort you undertake to maximize your potential results while improving your overall health. Building strength and stamina will keep your body healthy and prevent the negative health effects associated with sedentary lifestyles.
When vitamin B12 provides energy and metabolic support to your body, you may feel like it’s easier to get up and move around more. If the main reason you don’t exercise as much as you should is that you feel as though you don’t have the energy, getting an adequate amount of sleep at night and an adequate amount of vitamin B12 during the day can help to get your metaphorical gears turning.
Many active people enjoy using B12 injections or supplements before a workout. They find that B12 makes it easier for their bodies to produce enough sustainable energy to get them through a workout. This is just as true for high-intensity workouts and weightlifting programs as it is for simple brisk walking.
How To Use Vitamin B12 for Weight Loss
Vitamin B12 comes from the food that you eat. You can also take vitamin B12 supplements. The only problem with things like supplements is that they’re not as easy for your body to use.
Once your body has digested and metabolized the vitamin B12 in a multivitamin, it receives much less vitamin B12 than stated on the label. It can also take over an hour for that B12 to begin to help your body produce energy.
The best way to use vitamin B12 for weight loss is via injection. Vitamin injections are more bioavailable to your body, which means that they’re easier to use. Your body can utilize vitamin B12 injections with high efficiency in a short period of time. You can use them about half an hour before you need them, and their effects will kick in when you’re exercising.
Use vitamin B12 to help power your morning workouts. Even if your workout is a 45-minute walk around the neighborhood, vitamin B12 can give you the little boost of energy you need to walk a little faster or take an extra 5 minutes. Over time, you’ll build strength and stamina that will allow your body to move in new ways or exercise for longer without feeling tired.
Combine your vitamin B12 with a diet that focuses on lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Make sure your diet creates a caloric deficit. If you’re dedicated and committed, you may see a loss of as many as 2 pounds a week. If you’re significantly overweight, you may lose even more.
Getting Started with B12 for Weight Loss
Elite HRT makes it easy to start using at-home vitamin B12 injections to support your weight loss efforts. After a consultation with one of our telemedicine doctors, we’ll be able to provide you with information about vitamin B12 for weight loss and discuss the ways it may benefit you. We offer many nutraceutical treatment options to support your wellness goals.
Contact us to book an appointment today.
Sources:
Why diets fail: Obesity and mental health | British Columbia Medical Journal