weight loss addressing hormones and your metabolism 627a747e40a03

Weight Loss: Addressing Hormones and Your Metabolism

Fad diets. Calories in. Calories out. Big claims. All these diets come with big claims, but you aren’t getting results. If you are one of the 60% of American adults who struggle with obesity or one of the 45 million Americans who diet each year, then you may be stuck in a cycle that isn’t serving you.

And you’re probably sick of it. If you’ve been trying to diet on your own, maybe it’s time to get help. DIY diets are effective because most people don’t know or time to put together a solid nutrition plan.

And a solid nutrition plan can be pretty complicated – it’s not just about how many calories you need to cut out to lose weight; it’s also about:

DIY Plans

Most DIY plans completely ignore hormones like:

  • Insulin – the fat-storing hormone
  • Leptin – the satiety hormone

And what’s worse is some can spend years trying to lose without understanding why they aren’t losing it. It may be because they have an underlying condition that slows down their metabolism.

Weight Loss and Metabolism

Not everyone has the same metabolism. And, that’s why your size two friend can eat whatever she wants whenever she wants to. She has a high metabolism. If you have a slow metabolism, you don’t have that luxury.

Metabolism is the series of chemical reactions in a living organism that create and break down the energy necessary for life. Your metabolic rate is the rate at which your body expends energy or burns calories.

Here are three ways your body burns calories.

  1. Daily physical activity
  2. Exercise
  3. Processes your body requires to keep your it functioning, even at rest

If your metabolism is slow, then you burn fewer calories. There is little you can do about your metabolism. It’s mostly genetic. As you age, it’s natural for your metabolism to slow down.

Certain conditions impact your metabolism and can lead to weight gain, like:

Hormones and Weight Loss

A hormone imbalance is one of the most common causes of weight gain or ineffective weight loss. After we diagnose the imbalance, the good news is that we can work to get your hormones back in balance. Here are the top five culprits of hormone imbalance when it comes to weight gain.

1. Cortisol – The Stress Hormone

You don’t want too much, but you don’t want too little either.

Short term, cortisol:

  • Gives you a burst of energy
  • Improves your strength
  • Helps you focus
  • Boosts your immune system

However, if your daily life is full of stressors, then cortisol is being released all day long, day after day.

Over the long run, too much cortisol:

Chronically high cortisol levels also put extra fat on your belly because you have more cortisol receptors in your abdominal adipose tissue than in other areas.

2. Insulin – The Fat-Storage Hormone

If you are insulin resistant, your cells can’t absorb the extra blood glucose (sugar) your body generates from your food. When that happens, your liver has to do something with that extra glucose, so it converts it into fat.

3. Leptin – The Satiety Hormone

Leptin acts as a natural appetite suppressant. It signals the brain to stop eating when you’ve had enough to eat. If you are overweight, your fat cells produce more leptin.

If too many cells keep bombarding your brain with leptin signals, then it shuts down. The result of high leptin levels is weight gain and excessive hunger because your:

  • Hormone levels will keep rising
  • Your receptors will stop functioning
  • Your body won’t get the leptin signal from your brain, and it won’t feel full

4. Estrogen – More Than a Female Sex Hormone

If you have estrogen dominance, your estrogen levels are higher than your progesterone levels. Too much estrogen causes many symptoms like:

5. Thyroid – The Gas Pedal Hormone

Your thyroid manages how fast or slow you burn calories. Hypothyroidism can be a critical factor in weight gain and weight loss resistance.

And, if your thyroid is sluggish, you may:

  • Gain weight
  • Retain fluid
  • Lose your hair
  • Suffer from depression
  • Get constipated

Why Try Medically Supervised Weight Loss Programs?

As you can see, there’s a lot more to weight loss than just counting calories and doing jumping jacks. A medically supervised weight loss program may be the answer to your weight-loss woes.

Medically supervised weight loss means you don’t have to keep trying to figure it all out by yourself! Also, you don’t have to go through the process alone. There are a lot of medically supervised weight loss programs out there to choose from.

We designed our program for each individual’s specific needs. We know our patients want:

  • A physical body they love
  • Boundless energy
  • Wellness, including permanent weight loss

Our Approach

We designed our functional medicine approach to correct underlying:

  • Metabolic issues
  • Hormonal issues
  • Lifestyle issues

These issues often plague many who struggle with weight loss resistance. Participants lost an average of 12-22 lbs of fat in the initial weeks of our program.

We Have Answers!

We use a comprehensive genetic test to determine your exact nutritional lifestyle and exercise needs to create lasting weight loss. Then, we work up a comprehensive nutrition and lifestyle evaluation with our nationally and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach.

From there, we come up with a plan the includes:

  • Nutritional supplements to accelerate fat burning and reduce cravings.
  • A monthly program with ongoing support with your health coach will help you make lasting changes, meal plans, and accountability.
  • It is easy to follow with no guesswork meal plan made of primarily real whole foods to promote a change in your biochemistry to improve your metabolism.
  • Organizational strategies to help you plan and execute lifestyle changes.
  • Skills you can use for your entire life. We designed our program lengths on your weight loss goals.

Are you ready to take control of your weight for life? Contact us for a consultation today!

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