Have you ever wondered why one of your friends can eat as much as they want and still doesn’t show any signs of excessive weight? It is common to see that a certain amount of calories per day work distinctively on different people. What if we tell you that your hormones play a vital role in your weight gain or loss. A simple Google search can give you numerous supplements, medications, and even diet plans to help you with hormonal balance. Today we will shine a light on how your hormones may be why you have to foil attempts to shed a few pounds.
What are hormones?
In simple terms, hormones are chemical messengers present in our blood to regulate physiological processes. They all have different functions, and blood helps them reach other body organs and tissues. Different types of hormones work on various aspects of bodily functions, including development and growth, cognitive function and mood, metabolism of food items, and more.
In this blog, we will talk about a few hormones that affect how you are putting on weight to a wide extent.
Insulin
Insulin works on signaling glucose uptake and manages blood sugar levels in our body. It helps cells to extract glucose and nutrients from the bloodstream. When you eat excess calories, especially from sugar, insulin response asks tissues to consume the fuel. As your body starts converting unwanted calories into body fat, it eventually cripples your body’s insulin response. When you reach a stage where insulin sensitivity turns into insulin resistance, it can lead to several health conditions, including, but not limited to, metabolic syndrome and obesity.
Cortisol
Better known as the “stress hormone,” our body releases cortisol when we are stressed. Released by adrenal glands, cortisol keeps you away from stress but do you know that increased cortisol levels can lead to excessive eating? Ever wondered why some people eat more in stressful situations? It is because studies have shown that cortisol levels are directly associated with weight gain.
Testosterone
Low levels of testosterone adversely impact the building & maintenance of muscle mass. Now, as your metabolism has slowed down, weight regulation becomes difficult. Despite your best efforts at eating right and working out in such a state, you still gain weight because the stubborn fat doesn’t dissolve. But that’s not all. Low testosterone doesn’t only make it hard for you to lose weight, but it sets off a vicious cycle of gaining weight.
The increased body fat hampers your body from producing & effectively utilizing testosterone. Thus, your testosterone levels drop even further. To stop this cycle, correcting testosterone deficiency is the only way out.
Estrogen
Excessively high or low estrogen levels cause weight gain.
When your body has high estrogen levels, the insulin-producing cells in your body get irritated, causing you to become insulin resistant. This causes a spike in blood sugar levels, leading to weight gain.
Women usually experience low estrogen levels during the menopause phase when the ovarian cells stop producing estrogen. But since the body still needs the hormone, it starts sourcing estrogen from fat cells. Restoring lost fat requires your body to convert all extra energy sources into fat, leading to excessive weight gain, especially in the lower body.
Final Word
People with excessive weight or obesity have imbalanced hormonal levels. These are only a few of the many hormones that affect body weight to a large extent. Apart from these, leptin, ghrelin, Neuropeptide Y (NPY), Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1), and Peptide YY (PYY) are some other hormones that relate directly to weight gain or obesity. Keep following us to get more detailed blogs on weight loss, health, and fitness.
