Your Hormones Could Be Keeping You From Losing Weight

Hormone levels can be a big deal at certain points in your life, particularly in adolescence. And, if you’re a woman, during pregnancy and menopause, too. Outside of these events, though, hormones don’t get much thought. 

Yet, getting older, experiencing stress, and even your diet can cause changes and fluctuations in the levels of these body messengers. Furthermore, some hormone imbalance issues might be sabotaging your weight loss efforts. 

The Riegel Center is located in Plano, Texas, but has been performing virtual hormone consultation appointments since 2015. The Riegel Center has clients across the continental US and in Hawaii. Christopher J. Riegel, MD and his team specialize in proprietary bioidentical hormone replacement formulas, a powerful tool that helps you bypass the effects of imbalances so you can lead your best life. Realizing the disparity between how men and women are treated with hormones, Dr. Riegel conceived and developed bioidentical formulas which replace all the hormones of your youth. As his patients say after one month on his formulas, "I would have never believed I could feel this good, again!"

Problems with weight loss

The basic equation of weight loss is simple. Burn more calories than you eat, and you’ll lose weight. In general, that is how it works, but anyone who has encountered a weight loss plateau knows that it’s not the entire story. 

Hormones serve as the body’s communication system, chemicals that are manufactured and released by the brain to trigger body systems into action. When you hit your teen years, sex hormones controlled the remarkable changes that occurred in your maturing body. Pregnancy is another time when hormones helped you achieve the miracle of childbirth. 

As you get older, some hormones slow or cease production. The lack of some hormones or an excess of others can cause unpredictable changes throughout your body, and sometimes, weight gain is one of these effects. 

Hormones that influence weight

Many hormones have a connection to weight gain and loss, even when these aren’t their primary function. Sometimes, a hormone could become an issue, not because its production has changed, but because a complementary hormone or group of hormones has changed, altering the overall balance. While not every weight gain issue sources back to hormones, when they do, it could be because of these hormones: 

• Thyroid hormones: a metabolic controller, hypothyroidism can cause weight gain
• Insulin: changes levels in response to blood sugar levels and can promote fat storage
• Cortisol: high cortisol levels and obesity have a connection
• Estrogen: responsible for body changes at adolescence, it dwindles at menopause and may contribute to further shape changes and fat storage patterns in women
• Testosterone: encourages muscle growth and discourages fat storage in youth, while these effects may reverse as production declines as a man gets older
• Leptin: this hormone reports body fat conditions to the brain, regulating the response to feast and famine, conditions that don’t occur as they did in the past

If you get the impression that the hormone field is complex and hard to manage, you’ve got the right idea. However, weight loss can be a side effect of HRT when you’re using it to treat other symptoms. When all else fails in your weight loss attempts, it’s time to look at the role of hormones. 

Contact The Riegel Center to explore how hormone therapy and bioidentical hormone therapy may help you. You can reach the practice by phone, text, or online. Schedule your consultation today.