Anyone trying to lose weight can understand the immense struggle of the process. You may be sticking to a strict diet and working out almost every day and still see no progress. It can be very frustrating when you are trying to improve your appearance and health but can’t seem to figure out what you are doing wrong. The answer may simply be that you are actually doing everything correctly. The struggle may lie in a handful of hormones in our body that play a role in weight management.
Insulin: a fat-storage hormone. If you develop insulin resistance or insulin block, then your cells cannot absorb the extra blood glucose your body generates from the food you eat. As a reaction, your liver then starts to convert that glucose into fat. Factors that lead to one becoming insulin resistant include aging, genetics, lack of exercise, and excess body fat.
Estrogen: the female sex hormone. When you have too much estrogen in comparison to its counterpart, progesterone, this is referred to as estrogen dominance (or progesterone deficient). Being estrogen dominant can cause a variety of symptoms or issues including weight loss resistance.
Thyroid: the gas pedal of metabolism. Our thyroid controls how fast or how slow our bodies burn calories. When your thyroid hormones are out of whack it can cause weight gain, fluid retention, and constipation.
Leptin: responsible for signaling your body that you are full and should stop eating. If we overeat sugary foods or processed foods, that oversupply gets converted to fat. Those fat cells also secrete more leptin, which can start to desensitize the body to it and cause the brain to eventually ignore the signal to stop eating.
Testosterone: the sex hormone that is found in males and females. Testosterone helps burn fat and strengthen muscles. Weight gain increases as testosterone levels deplete — even more with age and stress.
Cortisol: a steroid hormone that gets secreted when we are under stress, depressed, anxious, and angry. Cortisol regulates energy levels, but high levels can lead to hyperinsulinemia-excessive amount of insulin in the blood relative to the levels of glucose, leading to weight gain. High cortisol levels can also lead to increased visceral fat deposition and fat cell maturation, which can tack on additional weight.
OVERCOME WEIGHT LOSS RESISTANCE:
If you have tried everything and notice that there is no progress on your weight loss journey, here are some next steps you can take.
- Understand your imbalance by seeking medical care to simply check your hormone levels and get down to the root of the problem. Doing so can tell whether or not it is a hormone imbalance and the specific hormones causing the problems.
- Rebalance with supplementation. If the causation does in fact stem from a hormonal imbalance, you can take supplements and natural hormones to either boost or balance out those hormones.
- Boost your metabolism. Besides the obvious exercise, good sleep, and healthy eating habits, you can also try intermittent fasting which can do wonders for regulating insulin while promoting healthy weight loss. This is not a starvation diet.
If you are experiencing a rough patch in your weight loss journey or are struggling with weight management in general —Contact Premier Health and Wellness by visiting the site or contacting the staff at (512) 459-4405 for more information.
