Hormonal Weight Gain: Causes and Solutions

Hormones play a major role in energy consumption and storage, metabolism, growth and fat distribution. When hormone levels change, an unexpected weight gain can occur. Excessive weight gain may increase your risk of weight conditions. It is important to discuss any significant weight change with a health care provider and treat the underlying conditions.

In addition to your diet and your physical activity, a group of hormones works together to influence your body weight. Here’s what you need to know about some of these key hormones.

Esturogen

Estrogen is a female sex hormone that ovaries secrete mainly. He plays a key role in menstruation and also helps regulate body fat, metabolism and fat distribution. The decrease in estrogen levels can cause weight gain, especially around your abdominal region (belly).

Insulin

Produced in your pancreas, insulin helps keep your blood sugar in a healthy range. Sometimes people do not react well to insulin that their bodies produced, a condition called resistance to insulin. As a result, the body produces more insulin.

Diabetes occurs either when your body cannot use the insulin it produces (type 2 diabetes) or when your body does not produce insulin (type 1 diabetes) at all.

Leptin

Leptin is a hormone that helps maintain your body weight and sends signals to your brain that you are full after eating. Oily cells called Adipocytes Secret this hormone.

Because fatty cells release this hormone, overweight or obese people often have higher leptin levels, but they may not respond well.

Cortisol

Cortisol is known as stress hormone. Your adrenal glands near your kidneys produce this hormone in response to stress. It is normal for cortisol to increase during acute stress (short -term). High chronic (long -term) cortisol levels can cause inflammation, metabolic changes, muscle weakness and weight gain.

Ghrelin

Ghrelin is produced mainly by your stomach. Its role is to tell your brain that you are hungry before meals, increase your food consumption and regulate your fat storage. As a rule, weight gain is associated with lower Ghrelin levels.

Several conditions and circumstances may contribute to hormonal weight gain.

Menopause

Menopause is defined as the moment when you have stopped having rules for 12 consecutive months, but the time that has led to menopause (perimenopause) can last several years. People with menopause and the experience of perimenopause decreases in their estrogen levels.

In addition to symptoms such as irregular periods, mood changes, sleep disorders and hot flashes or night sweats, many people notice weight gain and changes in metabolism.

Low testosterone

People affected by men at birth can naturally undergo a gradual drop in testosterone (a male sex hormone) from the thirties or quarantine. Sometimes low testosterone can be caused by side effects of drugs, testicles, testicles and hypothyroidism (subactive thyroid).

Low testosterone is associated with a decrease in metabolism and weight gain.

Polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (SOPK) is a condition characterized by higher than normal androgen levels (masculinized hormones, including testosterone) in people assigned to birth. It is also characterized by ovulation problems. Symptoms include an increase in facial hair, irregular periods and unwanted weight gain.

People with sopk also often experience metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance, which can contribute to weight gain.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is when you produce too little thyroid hormone. This can cause symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, joint pain, slimming hair, depression, irregular periods and weight gain.

Insulin resistance

When you have an insulin resistance, your body cannot respond correctly to insulin that your pancreas secretes. This can cause the construction of glucose (sugar) in your body.

Insulin resistance is believed to be caused by excessive weight gain in the abdominal area. This can also make weight loss difficult, and it can cause unintentional weight.

Und controlled insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Insomnia

Having trouble falling and staying asleep can cause weight gain. Researchers always try to understand why, but a theory suggests that sleep deprivation changes chemical signals that can have an impact on appetite and the brain motivation and reward system.

The symptoms of the gain in hormonal weight depend in part on the hormones involved and the condition that causes hormonal imbalance.

For example, if perimenopause or menopause causes weight gain, you can also feel hot flashes and irregular periods. If hypothyroidism causes weight gain, you can also feel fatigue, weakness, depression and joint problems.

Hormonal weight gain also tends to occur in the abdominal area rather than in other areas of the body.

If you feel a weight gain which you think may be linked to hormones, consider visiting your health care provider.

They will probably do a physical examination and discuss your health history, diet, lifestyle and all other symptoms that you have in addition to weight gain. They can also ask questions about the drugs you take, if necessary, as some may cause weight gain.

A health care provider can order blood tests to help them determine if a medical condition involving hormones causes your weight gain.

Stopping hormonal weight gain can involve one of these strategies:

Approach the underlying cause: The treatment of weight gain may involve the treatment of the underlying cause. For example, if you have hypothyroidism, take thyroid drugs to rebalance your hormones can help you lose the weight you have gained. Replacement hormone therapy can help conditions such as menopause and low testosterone.

Lifestyle choice: This can also help make balanced diet choices, increase your exercise, sleep enough and manage stress. Your health professional can let you know if specific diets can better work for your hormonal needs and other lifestyle strategies could help.

Medicines or surgery: A health care provider can sometimes recommend medication or surgery to treat hormonal weight. For example, drug loss drugs GLP-1 can help people who live with conditions such as diabetes or insulin resistance lose weight. Surgergia and gastric bypass can be appropriate for some people with hormonal weight gain.

There are many potential causes of weight gain, including hormonal changes and imbalances linked to perimenopause, sopk, hypothyroidism or insulin resistance.

If you think you have hormone -related weight gain, talk to a health care provider. They can take your story, do a physical exam and test for possible hormonal causes of weight gain if necessary. They can also discuss possible management strategies.