Remedies For Weight Gain Due To Hormonal Imbalance

Natural Ways To Balance Your Hormones

Hormones are chemical messengers that have profound effects on your mental, physical, and emotional health. For instance, they play a major role in controlling your appetite, weight, and mood.

Typically, your body produces the precise amount of each hormone needed for various processes to keep you healthy.

However, sedentary lifestyles and Western dietary patterns may affect your hormonal environment. In addition, levels of certain hormones decline with age, and some people experience a more dramatic decrease than others.

However, a nutritious diet and other healthy lifestyle habits may help improve your hormonal health and allow you to feel and perform your best.

Here are 10 natural ways to balance your hormones.

Other Exercise Tips To Help Ensure Success

Before you begin exercising:

• Talk to your doctor about a new exercise program. Choose activities you enjoy so you’ll stick with your workouts.

• Find an exercise partner to help you stay motivated.

• Buy supportive shoes — the right ones for your activity.

• Pick a start date and start.

After you begin exercising:

• Allow at least 10 minutes to warm up before starting to exercise rigorously. To do this, choose an activity that gently works major muscles.

• Before you work out, stretch the muscles that will absorb most of the shock of your exercise routine.

• If you have any new pain while exercising, stop and let your doctor know.

• Gradually boost the distance, length, or intensity of your workout.

• Mix it up. Do different exercises to keep from getting bored and to keep your body challenged.

For the best fitness results, combine your exercise efforts with good nutrition. Here are just a few tips:

• Choose whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.

• Stay away from processed foods.

• Keep a food diary, or explore programs for your computer or apps for your cell phone, to help you watch how many calories you eat.

• Don’t eat too late in the evening.

• When you eat out, take half the serving home.

• Eat smaller amounts but more often.

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What Is Hormonal Imbalance In Females

Hormonal imbalance in females means too much or too little insulin, adrenaline, steroids, or growth hormones. As it pertains just to women, they can experience imbalances in the hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.

Estrogen and progesterone are the most important hormones in the female body. They play a critical role in pregnancy, the menstrual cycle, and reproductive development and health. Estrogen also plays a role in certain female sex characteristics, such as breasts, pubic and armpit hair, and hips.

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How Can I Balance The Hormones That Affect Weight

Once you understand the various hormones roles in your body, you will see how to balance them.

1. Insulin

Insulin plays a key role in weight loss and weight gain. Secreted in the pancreas, insulin stores sugar and uses it depending on the bodys needs. The hormone stores fat and decides how much fat the body will hold or convert to energy.

To maintain balanced insulin levels and avoid insulin resistance, eat regularly, but dont eat too much. Reducing your carbohydrate intake can also keep your insulin stable. Increased insulin levels eventually lead to weight gain.

2. Leptin

Leptin is the appetite suppressant hormone. Ideally, this hormone “talks” to your brain, telling it when you are hungry or full.

Just like insulin, keeping leptin levels balanced requires you to be on top of your diet. Remember to eat less processed sugar, include more fiber, exercise more, and consume anti-inflammatory foods.

3. Ghrelin

Ghrelin is the hunger hormone. It sends signals to the brain telling it to eat. Every time the stomach is empty, the body releases ghrelin into the bloodstream.

One way to keep ghrelin levels balanced is to consume more protein. Protein makes you feel full, so you should incorporate it into every meal.

4. Cortisol

Cortisol is the stress hormone. Whenever your body is under any form of stress, it releases cortisol into the bloodstream. Studies have linked high levels of cortisol to overeating.

5. Estrogen

Are There Preventative Steps Or Measures To Avoid Hormonal Weight Gain

Seeking early evaluation with an endocrinologist so the appropriate interventions can be started sooner will help with minimizing and possibly reversing hormonal weight gain. Additionally, improving dietary choices, increasing physical activity, getting more sleep, managing stress levels effectively, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol are all ways to decrease and avoid hormonal weight gain.

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Your Low Testosterone Levels Are Slowing Down Your Metabolism

You are confronted with an astounding number of toxins each day, including pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified foods, and about six different synthetic hormones in meat. Toxins are lurking in face creams, prescription drugs, processed foods, your lipstick, the linings of tuna fish cans, the fire-retardant materials in couches, and even the air you breathe. The list goes on.

Many types of these toxins, such as pesticides, plastics, and industrial chemicals, behave like estrogen when absorbed in the body. Experts believe that our increasing exposure to toxins helps explain why so many girls are entering puberty earlier and why many boys exhibit feminine characteristics such as developing breasts. Xeno-estrogens, as these particular toxins are called, have been associated with an elevated risk of estrogen-driven diseases like breast and ovarian cancers and endometriosis.

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All this fake estrogen overwhelms your body’s testosteronewhich is vital for hormone balanceand contributes to estrogen overload. Testosterone contributes to muscle growth, which in turn supports metabolism. And, as we already know, estrogen overload raises insulin insensitivity. The combination adds pounds to your frame: A study from Sweden published in the journal Chemosphere showed that exposure to a particular type of pesticide called organochloride was linked to a weight gain of 9½ pounds over 50 years.

Engage In Regular Exercise

Physical activity strongly influences hormonal health. Aside from improving blood flow to your muscles, exercise increases hormone receptor sensitivity, meaning that it enhances the delivery of nutrients and hormone signals (

7 ).

Insulin is a hormone that allows cells to take up sugar from your bloodstream to use for energy. However, if you have a condition called insulin resistance, your cells may not effectively react to insulin. This condition is a risk factor for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease .

However, while some researchers still debate whether the improvements come from exercise itself or from losing weight or fat, evidence shows that regular exercise may improve insulin resistance independently of body weight or fat mass reduction .

Many types of physical activity have been found to help prevent insulin resistance, including high intensity interval training, strength training, and cardio .

Being physically active may also help boost levels of muscle-maintaining hormones that decline with age, such as testosterone, IGF-1, DHEA, and human growth hormone .

For people who cannot perform vigorous exercise, even regular walking may increase these hormone levels, potentially improving strength and quality of life .

Summary

Strength training, aerobics, walking, and other forms of exercise may modify hormone levels to reduce your risk of disease and prevent muscle mass decline as you age.

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How Are Hormonal Imbalances Treated

Treatment for a hormonal imbalance will depend on whats causing it.

If you have lower-than-normal hormone levels, the main treatment is hormone replacement therapy. Depending on which hormone is deficient, you may take oral medication or injection medication.

For example, if you have low thyroid hormone levels , your provider can prescribe synthetic thyroid hormone pills. If you have growth hormone deficiency, youll likely have to take injections of synthetic growth hormone.

If you have higher-than-normal hormone levels, there are many treatment options depending on the cause. Options include medication, surgery, radiation therapy or a combination of any of these.

For example, if you have a prolactinoma, a benign tumor that causes excess prolactin , your provider may prescribe a medication to shrink the tumor or you may need surgery to remove it.

Good Exercise Choices After Menopause

What types of exercise can best help you lose and maintain weight after menopause?

• Strength training, or a weight-resistance exercise program, helps build muscle mass and improve metabolism. Strength training also helps you maintain bone mass. Because you lose muscle mass as you age, add strength training to your workouts, if you haven’t before. Aim for two or three times a week. Examples of strength training include weight machines, dumbbells, exercise bands, yoga, and gardening.

• Low-impact aerobics are good for your heart and lungs. Walking, for example, is one of the best choices, because you can do it anywhere, anytime. Other examples of aerobic exercises include swimming, cycling, aerobics, tennis, and dance. Exercise moderately for at least 30 minutes most, if not all, days of the week.

• Whenever you can, add activity to your day. Wash the car, play hide and seek with your kids or grandchildren, get in a game of ping pong, etc.

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What Are Hormones And What Do They Do

Hormones are the tiny messengers in your body that carry information through your bloodstream to all the other parts of your body. They tell organs and tissues what to do, how to do it, and for how long.

Hormones are the responsibility of your endocrine system, which is a vital part of your overall health. They work efficiently, but slowly, so it may be difficult to know if you have a hormonal imbalance. Hormones affect processes like your metabolism, sexual function, growth, mood, and reproduction.

Weight gain is the most obvious and common sign of a hormonal imbalance. Weight fluctuations are normal, but if youve gained a significant amount of weight in a short period of time, we at Balance Hormone Center can help.

When Should I See An Endocrinologist For Weight Gain

There are a wide range of hormonal issues that may cause sudden, unexplained weight gain. These include thyroid deficiency, declining estrogen , and polycystic ovary syndrome . Weight gain may also be accompanied by other symptoms, such as headaches, insomnia, mood swings, and heavy or painful periods. If you find yourself gaining weight with no apparent explanation or changes in diet or exercise, you should discuss this with your doctor. An endocrinologist can help identify hormonal imbalances by reviewing your symptoms and performing laboratory tests when necessary.

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What You Need To Know About Leptin Resistance

When your body becomes resistant to leptin, leptin levels become too high. In fact, overweight individuals who get their leptin levels tested typically find their leptin levels to be as high as four times the normal level. Whats more, its really difficult to balance leptin levels once theyve become resistant.

With leptin resistance, communication between the brain and leptin is impaired, so that your brain doesnt understand that its full, and tells your body to keep eating. Its as if your brain thinks youre starving when in reality, youre just leptin resistant.

To reverse leptin resistance or prevent it from happening to you in the first place, lets talk food, drink, and supplements. Everything in your body impacted by what you put into it, and leptins no different. Sugar, in particular, can cause leptin levels in your body to skyrocket, so youll want to eat less sugar. Other ways to prevent or reduce leptin resistance include:

• Committing to a regular exercise routine
• Getting truly restorative sleep on a regular basis

Symptoms Of Hormonal Weight Gain

The most common symptom of hormonal imbalance is weight gain, which may lead to:

• Sexual dysfunction

So, consult a doctor if you face any of the above symptoms and go for a routine hormonal check-up for proper management.

Lets answer another common question that people have about hormonal weight gain.

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The Relationship Of Hormones And Weight Gain

Maintaining a healthy weight can feel like a Catch-22. Being overweight or underweight affects your hormones and can throw them out of whack. But hormone imbalances can be the reason your weight is fluctuating.

So, what are hormones, and why are they messing with your weight?

Hormones are chemical messengers in your body. They are messengers that travel through your bloodstream to reach tissues and organs. Hormones are essential in coordinating and controlling bodily activities.

Your body may accidentally over or underproduce hormones. When this happens, your endocrine system becomes unbalanced.

The most common complaint of hormonal imbalances is weight gain. Even when dieting and exercising regularly, people with hormonal issues continue to experience unexplained weight gain. Other warning signs of a hormonal imbalance include:

• Mood swings and depression
• Fertility problems
• Weakness and fatigue

Hormone problems are very prevalent, especially in women. A survey found that out of 2,000 American women, 47% percent reported symptoms of hormonal imbalances.

Lets explore the different hormones that affect our body weight.

Warning Signs You May Have A Hormonal Imbalance

No-one wants to be a slave to their hormones but how do you know if they are out of sync and what can you do to restore the balance?

Hormonal imbalances may be to blame for a range of unwanted symptoms from fatigue or weight gain to itchy skin or low mood.

Hormones are chemicals produced by glands in the endocrine system and released into the bloodstream. An imbalance occurs when there is too much or too little of a hormone.

Your hormones are important for regulating many different processes in the body including appetite and metabolism, sleep cycles, reproductive cycles and sexual function, body temperature and mood.

No surprise then that even the slightest imbalance may have a noticeable effect on your overall health and wellbeing.

Levels of hormones naturally fluctuate at various life stages, most noticeably during puberty and in women during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and the menopause. They can also be affected by lifestyle and certain medical conditions.

What is important is to notice any symptoms and get them checked out by a qualified health professional so that you receive appropriate treatment, whether that involves using medication or complementary therapies, or making lifestyle changes, to restore the balance and your good health.

Here are 10 signs of hormonal imbalance to look out for and what you can do about them:

8. Headaches: Many women suffer headaches due to hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy or menopause.

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Go For Herbal Solutions

Because of the chronic nature of the condition, lifelong treatment is necessary. Hence many patients prefer to turn to natural alternatives that pose no risk of side effects. Various herbs work as tonic for hormonal imbalance, improve the function of ovaries and thereby, regulate the menstrual cycle. Some herbs and micro-nutrients useful in PCOS are mentioned below.

a. Aloe vera It is a well-known female tonic hormonal balance and normal function of ovaries. It induces ovulation and increases fertility in females. It induces ovulation by improving hormonal levels. The other beneficial effects of Aloe vera include, reduction of, LDL cholesterol, improvement in HDL cholesterol

b. Cinnamon -Facilitates weight loss, improves insulin uptake in the cells and is thus beneficial in PCOS. It improves frequency of menstrual cycle in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. The other beneficial effects of cinnamon include, reduction of fasting blood glucose, LDL cholesterol and improvement in HDL cholesterol.

c. Green tea It contains potent antioxidants such as catechins which help in relieving the symptoms of PCOS by acting on the hormones. Moreover, it is also helps in weight loss as people with PCOS have strong tendency for weight gain

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Causes And Signs Of Hormonal Imbalance In Men

Multiple underlying reasons cause a Hormonal Imbalance in men. The following causes could be specific to males.

• Prolonged stress
• shrunken or under-developed testes
• Hereditary Pancreatitis, etc.

Males do not have the same abrupt hormonal shift that of females. A few hormones in males tend to decline slowly, over the years due to aging, however, a few of these cases mentioned above could be why males even in their early 30s suffer from hormonal imbalance.