How Hormone Imbalances Can Sabotage Fat Loss

We're often led to believe that losing weight is solely about calories in versus calories out. But that doesn't tell the full story, especially if your hormones are imbalanced.

Your hormones play a huge role in helping or hindering your fat loss efforts. They can affect everything from your appetite to where you’re most likely to store fat, and if certain hormones are out of whack, it can make it difficult to burn fat.

But here’s the good news: it’s easier than you might think to control these hormones and achieve or maintain a healthy body composition. Excess fat is not a stand alone problem, it’s a symptom of other underlying issues and addressing hormone health is one of the keys to creating a healthy, flexible metabolism (yes, you want a “flexible” not a “fast” metabolism).

Here are some of the hormones that play a role and ways you can get them working for you, not against you.

Stress Hormones

In our culture we tend to wear busyness as a badge of honor, but being super stressed and busy can mean that stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are constantly being released.

High cortisol levels are linked to overeating and weight gain, especially around the belly, and stress causes most of us to crave high carb and/or sugar-rich foods, especially if other hormones are also out of whack.

Managing stress, getting regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy sleep pattern can help regulate cortisol levels, making you less likely to crave empty calorie foods and store fat around your middle.

Thyroid Hormones

Your thyroid plays a key role in your metabolism and I could write several posts on thyroid alone, but you can read more here.

If you have a sluggish thyroid, it can cause weight gain, fluid retention, fatigue, dry skin, sensitivity to the cold, and depression. Thyroid problems are extremely common and things like chlorine, BPA (found in soda cans, canned food, plastics), and pthalates (found in nearly all synthetic fragrances) can interfere with thyroid function. Watch for my upcoming article on these “obesogens”.

Blood tests can identify thyroid imbalances so it’s crucial to rule out thyroid issues if you’re struggling to lose weight despite a healthy lifestyle. Sadly, most doctors only test TSH and T3 which don’t tell the whole story. “Normal” test results can be very different from “optimal” results, so it’s important to understand the difference. Here’s a great article that explains this. Ask for a comprehensive thyroid panel which should include TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOAb), and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb).

Estrogen, Progesterone and Testosterone

Estrogen levels can be affected by factors such as body fat, intense exercise, diet, and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

If your estrogen levels are high, it can make it far more difficult to lose weight, and low levels of estrogen can also affect fat storage, especially around menopause. Keep in mind that estrogen dominance doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re producing too much estrogen, just that it is higher than it should be in relation to your other hormones.

Progesterone is another sex hormone that has an impact on weight and sleep. It can be easily depleted by factors such as stress, birth control pills, estrogen dominance, and menopause. If your progesterone is too low, it can cause insomnia and anxiety.

Women often don’t think about their testosterone levels, but testosterone plays an important role in muscle and bone growth, hair growth, sex drive/libido, and metabolism. Symptoms of low testosterone in women are often subtle, and can include fatigue, decreased sex drive or sexual satisfaction, and difficulty building muscle.

Ideally, you want to have a healthy ratio of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone — if one is higher or lower than it should be, it can quickly affect the others. Estrogen dominance and low progesterone can have a lot of similar symptoms and it’s common for them to go hand-in-hand.

If your sex hormones are out of whack, you may also notice some other unpleasant and debilitating health problems, including headaches, mood swings, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, hair loss (or undesirable hair growth), menstrual problems and infertility.

Insulin

Every time you eat or drink something that’s sugary or high in refined carbohydrates, your blood sugar spikes. This triggers the production of insulin which acts as a shuttle to move the sugar from your bloodstream into your cells where it can be turned into usable energy. While it’s normal to have a little increase in blood sugar and insulin after a healthy meal, a high glycemic meal or snack will cause a big spike in blood sugar and subsequent spike in insulin to regulate that sugar.

Whenever insulin is elevated, your body is in a fat storage state, not a state of fat burning, so the more often you eat and the more refined carbs and sugars you eat, the more efficiently you’ll store fat. In addition, a high glycemic diet (one that constantly has your blood sugar spiking) leads to insulin resistance and can eventually cause Type II Diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

Refined carbs such as white pasta and white bread are common culprits for blood sugar spikes. Swapping these “fast carbs” for whole grains or starchy vegetables that are higher in fiber, protein and micronutrients slows down the absorption into the bloodstream. This means that your blood sugar is more likely to stay stable for longer, along with your body’s insulin response.

As an added bonus, the extra fiber from non-refined carbs will keep you feeling fuller for longer, and snacking is less of a temptation. The end result? It's easier to keep your weight in check when your blood sugar and insulin levels aren't all over the place.

Leptin and Ghrelin

Leptin and ghrelin are two more hormones that are heavily linked to appetite.

Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain you’re full and to stop eating, and when you’re producing sufficient leptin and your cells are sensitive to that leptin, you’ll feel full and satiated after meals.

If you're still feeling hungry even after eating a big meal, insensitivity to leptin may be partly to blame, but leptin can be regulated with a healthy diet and exercise. For some people, it may require more work than this, especially if you've been eating processed, high glycemic foods for years and are experiencing Leptin resistance.

According to studies, leptin resistance is more likely to occur if you’re overweight. Even if you have higher levels of leptin in your body, it may not have the intended effect if your cells become leptin resistant. It is thought that this is likely due to the inflammatory chemicals pumped out by fat cells, which impede the effects of leptin and encourage you to keep seeking out high-calorie foods.

Ghrelin is also an important hormone when it comes to appetite. Ghrelin stimulates appetite and under normal circumstances, ghrelin levels fall after eating and rise again when you're hungry.

This balance helps prevent overeating but it can quickly be tipped the wrong way, especially if you're overweight. Not drinking enough water or eating enough protein or fiber and going overboard on sugary foods and drinks also increases ghrelin levels making you want to keep eating and eating.

Adiponectin and Orexin-A

Adiponectin is a hormone found in fat tissue that is involved in regulating glucose levels and fatty acid breakdown (aka fat burning). In a study published in Nature Medicine, mice who were injected with adiponectin lost weight, even though there were no changes to their appetite or the amount of food they ate.

Orexin-A regulates energy metabolism, excitement, and physical activity, playing a role in energy output and preventing obesity.

Both of these regulate bone metabolism, increase energy expenditure and metabolic rate, improving blood lipids (cholesterol) and reducing inflammation. You can increase these helpful hormones simply by exercising consistently.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line here is that is you want to achieve or maintain a healthy body composition and feel your best, you can’t ignore your hormone health. Nutrition can make a huge impact (for better or worse) on your hormones, so do your best to eat nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods. Focus on lots of fresh veggies and fruits in an array of colors, choose the cleanest possible protein sources (organic, pasture-raised/wild caught), stay hydrated and minimize high sugar foods and caffeine.

If you need some help creating a healthier, happier way of eating that works for you, book a complimentary 30-minute Coffee Talk with me and let’s chat about your goals.