CBD and Weightloss-Using CBD to reach those 'New Year, New Me' Goals

Shonda Da Holistic Gypsy
Dec 23, 2019
2 min read

At the end of the year, many people like to set resolutions on how they will bring in the new year. At the top of lists, weight loss always seems to find a place. Some stick with their resolutions while others become forgotten agreements with ourselves (I’m so guilty of it as well!) But did you know that CBD can help support your goals even if your struggling to stay focused, eat right and take that daily mile walk you promised you would do starting January 1st. Let’s get into it!

Our metabolism is what influences our weight loss/gain. The faster your metabolism is, the better your body adapts to weight loss. The slower the metabolism, the harder it is to lose. When you want to lose weight, you want your metabolism to have a boost that’ll lead to more positive results. Now sometimes this isn’t so easy. There are situations where health issues can affect the proper functioning of our metabolism, for example thyroid disorders. So before you start any type of weight loss plan it’s a great idea to visit your doctor to discuss options and get any necessary testing.

If you read my previous blog posts where I touched on the subject of our ecannabinoid systems and how it directly effects our bodies with receptors that interact with the body that may help you understand how it can affect our metabolism as well.

The receptors of our ecannabinoid system is found all throughout our body and organs including our brain and digestive system. These particular receptors that interact with these systems help by transporting nutrients and storing energy. Although beneficial, there’s a chance that certain cannabinoids can cause our ecannabinoid system to become overactive specifically THC and CBN. Remember THC is what causes the psychoactive effects in cannabis (CBD products have .3% THC or less which is an extremely low dose.) CBD can counteract the effects of THC and CBN to stop the receptors from being overactive. When overactive, the effects are counterproductive in our weight loss goals. Basically you may gain weight instead of losing.

A study conducted by Korean researchers and published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry studied how CBD boosts metabolism in three ways:

1. CBD increased the body’s ability to burn calories by boosting the activity of the mitochondria in cells

2. CBD decreased the availability of proteins that are necessary to generate fat cells

3. CBD aided in the browning of white fat by stimulating genes and proteins to more effectively break down fat cells

Brown and White Fat- There’s a difference

White fatty tissue stores energy in the body. This is the type of fat is associated with increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. Brown fatty tissue burns energy and can help increase weight loss. There is a documented study that showed proven results of how brown fat can increase energy burning in the body through heat leading to a decrease in weight gain.

The study concluded that CBD can turn white fat into brown fat, boost metabolism and burn more energy leading to weight loss.