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Do you feel like your body just won’t cooperate when you’re trying to lose weight?
No matter what you do, you can’t shed any pounds?
Don’t beat yourself up! It could be your hormones making it hard to lose weight.
Hormones are your body’s chemical messengers. They are the communication system for your body and brain. Good communication=healthy metabolism. If you’re struggling, it could be your hormones that need to be balanced to get the weight loss ball rolling.
All of your hormones affect one another. Many of our hormones are produced by fat cells. Achieving hormonal balance by boosting leptin and other fat cell hormones improves nearly every aspect of your life.
Keep reading to see if your hormones are causing your weight loss struggles and how you balance your hormones to lose weight.
This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.
I first learned about the hormone leptin (which causes you to gain weight and not be able to lose it) from THE FAT SHRINKING SIGNAL.
Are your hormones making it hard to lose weight?
Hormonal balance helps you:
- Have a lean, efficient body
- Have no excessive hunger or cravings
- Have a healthy metabolism
- Be more energetic
- Elevate your mood
- Get a deep, restful sleep
- Have a sharp mind
The master hormone that is related to almost all other hormones is called leptin. Leptin is a hormone made by fat cells that tells your body to stop eating. As you gain weight, you develop leptin resistance. You have plenty of leptin (remember it’s made by fat cells) but your body can’t see it. So it thinks you’re starving and slows your metabolism, makes you hungry, and makes you feel tired so you’ll conserve energy.
Leptin must work properly for you to lose weight and be able to keep it off. It is connected to almost every other hormone in your body. It is closely connected with thyroid function and insulin resistance.
Fat cells make hormones, but they also have receptors for hormones. When a hormone finds its receptor, it’s like a key slipping into a lock. As the hormone and receptor merge, the door is unlocked and a chain of events begins.
When leptin binds with the brain’s receptors, it shuts down appetite and speeds up metabolism. When there’s a malfunction with the receptors, the exact opposite happens and leads to weight gain. This is known as resistance and it makes the body blind to the effects of the hormone. An example of this is Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Type 1 is usually caused by an insulin deficiency and Type 2 is usually caused by insulin resistance. So in Type 2, there is enough insulin but the receptors aren’t working properly to be able to use it.
Weight gain causes many hormone receptors to malfunction. The best treatments for resistance focus on improving the way receptors function to get everything working right and create complete balance in the body.
When leptin is low, you feel hungry. When it’s high, you feel less hungry and when you eat, the meal is more satisfying. If the brain does not get enough leptin, it believes you are malnourished and sets in motion a hormonal cascade that stimulates feeding behaviors and slows metabolism to protect you from starvation.
Some physical signs and symptoms of leptin resistance and the possibility that your hormones are making it hard to lose weight are:
- Excess body weight and unexplained weight gain
- Excess abdominal fat
- High body fat
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- High blood pressure
- Acanthosis Nigricans (dark skin rash around the neck)
- Skin tags
- Stretch marks
- Symptoms of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
- High blood sugar
- Inflammation
- High cholesterol
- High testosterone in women
- Thyroid problems
- Cardiovascular problems
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver
- Ovarian cysts
How To Balance Your Hormones To Lose Weight
If you think you have leptin resistance, this is the absolute best way to turn off those signals that are causing you to gain weight and not be able to get it off.
I hope this has made you realize that losing weight is not always about willpower. In fact, it’s very difficult if not impossible to override the effects of leptin resistance with willpower. It is your body’s survival instinct. Even though you’re eating clean and working out, if your hormones aren’t balanced, you may not be getting the results you want.
I have suffered with many of these symptoms myself. The right healthy diet can help get this in check and start shedding those pounds.
Do you think your hormones are making it hard for you to lose weight?
XOXO,
Cassie
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