Caution: Your Hormones Could Make You Obese and Prone to Diseases

Hormones Could Cause You to Gain Weight

Sometimes losing weight at a certain time duration has little to do with exercise and calorie intake. For many people, the problem stems from hormonal imbalance and health issues caused by unbalanced thyroid and insulin. The situation may worsen with improper eating habits and excessive consumption of alcohol or tobacco.

As a special case, people with underactive thyroids (hypothyroidism) have a low metabolic rate. Their metabolism continues to slow regardless of any caloric deficits created and they are often skinny and underweight. The opposite is true for patients with overactive thyroids (hyperthyroidism) and it causes rapid weight gain and obesity.

Tip: Here’s a free resource for thyroid patients to check if they should eat more often. We also recommend that they get their thyroid levels checked regularly and consult a healthcare specialist through an app-based setup on their smartphone for expert guidance. Here’s a link to get started with it.

Symptoms of hormonal weight gain

Here is the list of hormonal weight gain symptoms:

1. Irregular weight gain or loss

2. Fattening of shoulders

3. Loss of appetite

4. Irregular blood pressure

5. Frequent mood swings

6. Fluctuating blood sugar

7. Weakened immunity

8. Muscle weakness and fatigue

9. Muscle pain and stiffness

10. Irregular heart rate

Which hormone causes weight gain?

Hormones play a key role in maintaining our fitness levels, immunity, and weight. These hormones are closely related to our dietary habits and the exercises that we do every day. It is thus advised to have more fibrous foods, cruciferous vegetables, and organic foods. It is equally important to stay away from emotional eating and consuming alcohol in unmoderated amounts.

Caution: These factors can also lead to irregular weight gain or loss.

Leptin

Leptin is the appetite-regulating hormone that signals the brain to stop eating after you have had your fill. However, consuming too much sugar can reduce its functioning by inhibiting the flow of its signals. Leptin levels can also be negatively affected by consuming too many sugary foods (like processed foods with added sugars) and following improper sleep patterns.

Since your liver cannot process fructose fast enough, the body converts the excess sugar to fat and transfers it to the blood as triglycerides. The blood deposits this surplus mass on your liver and tummy. As the fats pile on, they stop the signals sent by leptin. Once your body misses these crucial signals, it fails to stop you from overeating. This results in obesity or illness.

Estrogen

Although estrogen is a hormone that favors weight management, its imbalance can also hit you just as bad. An unsteady rise in this hormone stimulates insulin resistance in the body. This accumulates sugar in the bloodstream and pushes the body to convert the sugars to fat.

To ensure proper limits of estrogen, you should consume more proteins. You should go for grass-fed beef, organic poultry, organic milk, eggs, and legumes. They offer better health-based advantages when consumed over some time.

Testosterone

Our bodies are exposed to toxins every day. Some of these poisonous substances are present in the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the products we use on our hair and skin. These toxins work similarly to estrogen when absorbed into the body.

When estrogen levels exceed your testosterone levels, you may experience a negative impact on your metabolism and muscle development. The same effect is also transported to your weight management results.

Cortisol

The stress hormone or cortisol can send your body into a fat-storage mode. It is the main culprit so your best bet would be to practice ways to reduce it. Coffee can relieve you from stress with regular use and would also stabilize your blood pressure levels.

However, a better option would be to go with green tea. Going ahead with a premium variant with unbroken tea leaves is highly advised because it is not chemically treated or sun-dried, and this preserves its natural goodness. It may help you stay stress-free and energetic throughout the day.

The Hoax of Blood Type Diet

The Blood Type Diet doesn’t take into account individual medical history, hormonal growth, current body type or age, medications, food allergies and cooking oils. As a fad diet, it says that people with different blood types have different digestive proteins (called lectins) and if you eat something that is not consistent with your blood type or the digestive system, you could get some health issues.

The converse is also true- if you eat something compatible with your blood group and lectin, you would digest it easily and stay healthier. The same principle would lead you to have better weight management cycles and immunity.

The trouble is that no research has ever suggested any evidence in its favor. While it won’t hurt you to eat a healthy and nutritious diet, building a personalized diet plan as per your blood group is, at best, inconsistent. We recommend that you stay away from the misconception and rather focus on observing healthy and mindful eating practices to stay in shape.

Ask a Wellness Expert How You Can Stay Healthy and Immune to Obesity

There is no one-size-fits-all rule with fitness. You would almost always find people following less than good dieting practices to slim down and they often end up going the opposite way. It thus makes proper sense to understand that we should control our inappropriate eating habits and lifestyle.

Consulting a wellness expert online through a live session is the best way to get closer to the idea of a healthier life. She would also be the best person to advise you on improving your sleep cycles and reducing your stress levels, and offering you some much-needed motivation. If you follow these principles carefully, you could have a better and more fulfilling life.