Q. Doctor, I've been focusing on healthy protein sources like oven-roasted tandoori chicken breast, but why am I not losing weight and instead feeling even heavier?

I understand your frustration completely, as I once experienced a similar 'diet hell' trying to build muscle with only chicken breast, only to end up feeling dizzy and bloated. The key isn't just finding 'good' food, but ensuring your body is in a state where it can actually 'burn' that fuel. From a Western medical perspective, a high-protein diet generates toxic substances like ammonia during breakdown. When the liver and kidneys are overloaded processing these, it leads to edema and chronic fatigue. Over time, this increases inflammation levels, making your body resistant to weight loss. In Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), we explain this through the relationship between Spleen Deficiency (脾虛) and Dampness-Phlegm (痰飮). The Spleen is responsible for the transformation and transportation of nutrients. When Spleen Qi is weak, even high-quality protein cannot be properly refined. Instead, it turns into 'incompletely burned waste' known as Dampness-Phlegm (痰飮). As this Phlegm accumulates, it obstructs the flow of Qi (氣) and can even lead to Blood Stasis (瘀血), where the blood becomes viscous. Like a congested highway, your metabolic efficiency plummets. This is why even if you eat less, you feel heavy and the scale doesn't budge. What you need right now isn't more chicken breast, but treatment to clear these blocked circulatory paths and restore your digestive engine. By strengthening your Spleen Qi while purging accumulated waste, you will feel significantly lighter even while maintaining the same diet.