Hormones and Weight Loss

Why eating less and exercising more doesn’t work for all women…

We see you. You’re fully motivated to lose weight, you’re watching what you eat, calorie and macro counting, and putting in the time with the cardio and weights. 

However, you’re left feeling tired, drained, and feeling even further from your goals than when you started. Instead of ideally losing weight, you might be plateauing or even gaining weight, despite feeling like you’re doing everything right. This is a truly frustrating experience that affects lots of women. 

The truth is that for many women, weight loss can be a bit more complicated than eating less and exercising more. This is because eating way less and exercising more can actually cause our metabolism to slow down and our bodies to hold on to fat stores, not to mention the lack of nutrients needed to operate basic hormone and neurotransmitter function (essential for both overall health as well as weight loss). Our bodies are very intelligent- and of course, its number one responsibility is to keep us alive. Therefore, there are several mechanisms in place that might be triggered when we drastically reduce our caloric intake over a short amount of time. 

The hormones our body produces support many vital functions in the body. Our hormones help us to maintain muscle, lose body fat, reproduce, and signal stress and hunger responses. If they’re out of whack, it can make weight loss seem like an impossible feat!

Too Much Cortisol

Cortisol is produced by the adrenals and is responsible for the “fight or flight” response. Cortisol is released when we are under stress- which can look like having to juggle too many responsibilities, drinking too much caffeine, under eating (signals a struggle to survive!), not getting enough sleep, work-related stress, family or relationship-related stress, emotional stress, and the list goes on... 

Too much stress signals to the body to release cortisol, sometimes in higher amounts or over longer periods of time than is considered “normal” or “healthy” (cortisol is an essential hormone, so no cortisol would also not be ideal). These elevated cortisol levels can impede blood flow to the digestive tract; thereby slowing down digestion and potentially signaling the body, due to a lack of nutrient intake, to store more fat for survival.  

Dr. Leigh Ann Scott (MD) states, “prolonged stress and high levels of cortisol can cause high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels, increased belly fat, and even muscle loss. If we don’t know how to manage our stress levels the adrenal glands produce less and less cortisol which leads to another condition called adrenal fatigue which causes a chronically sluggish metabolism.”

High cortisol levels can also interrupt sleep, and lack of sleep is another well-known culprit of weight gain. If you are exercising and not getting the sleep you need in order to recuperate, it is very unlikely that you will be able to keep weight off. 

In this modern-day, it’s unlikely that we will be able to eliminate all of life’s stressors, but learning tools to protect your body from the physical reactions to stress can be a great help in managing healthy weight loss (and many other signs of optimal health). 

Try things that help to shift your nervous system into a more relaxed parasympathetic state, such as walking, slow and deep breathing, meditation, yoga, creative exercises, and even acupuncture. 

Progesterone, Estrogen, and Cortisol

Excess cortisol can cause progesterone to decline. This is because both cortisol and progesterone are made from a pre-hormone called pregnenolone. When we are stressed, our body will produce additional cortisol by using progesterone: this is known as the “cortisol steal”. This is because our body will always choose survival over fertility and reproduction.

Low progesterone symptoms include irregular cycles, fatigue, infertility, low libido, miscarriage, and more. 

Progesterone also has an inverse relationship with estrogen. As progesterone declines, estrogen can sometimes go up in response and contribute to a condition known as “estrogen dominance.” Excess cortisol also reduces the liver’s ability to effectively clear estrogen, therefore reducing the amount that is expelled from the body and increasing the amount that remains floating about in your system. An excess of estrogen can make weight loss goals significantly harder to achieve, so a proper cortisol/estrogen/progesterone balance can be extremely helpful in dropping extra pounds.

Estrogen dominance symptoms include tender breasts, PMS symptoms such as mood swings and irritability, bloating, weight gain, hair loss, and fertility struggles.

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone

Studies have shown that high cortisol from high stress can also affect thyroid hormones.  Commonly, excess cortisol can cause a reduction in the release of thyroid stimulating hormone from the pituitary gland and negatively impact the conversion of T4 into active T3 (a necessary step for the cells to actually utilize thyroid hormone). Over time, this might also reduce cell sensitivity to thyroid hormone. If we oversimplify what this means, elevated cortisol levels over an extended period of time can cause the thyroid to become sluggish and cells to be less receptive to it, which, as a result, turns down the metabolic function of the body. 

Symptoms of hypothyroidism include feeling cold all the time, hair loss/ eyebrow loss, weight gain, sluggish digestion, brittle nails, dry skin, infertility, and more. 

Insulin 

Excess insulin is another hormonal component of weight loss resistance. Regulating blood sugar is an important part of sustainable weight loss. 

If you are constantly snacking or eating foods that high are in sugars or low-quality carbohydrates, more insulin will be released into the bloodstream to compensate for high blood sugar spikes. The excess insulin released will cause more fat to be stored in the body. You can limit and reduce blood sugar spikes by avoiding refined carbohydrates and foods high in sugars like breads, pastas, white rice, potatoes, and sweet treats. Instead, opt for healthy fats and proteins and foods with high amounts of fiber. These foods help minimize blood sugar elevations and keep you satisfied longer than sweets and simple carbs.

Lymphatic

Many a woman has worked hard at the gym and nailed a weight loss diet only to hit a plateau and, in some cases, grow disheartened or frustrated.  In these situations, it’s important to understand the role our lymphatic system plays in weight loss.  As we clean up our diet and exercise for the goal of losing both visceral and subcutaneous fat tissue, filtration through the lymphatic system is one of many steps we need to excrete excess toxins and hormones from the body. The lymphatic system doesn’t have a heart to regulate it like our cardiovascular system, so it functions best when flow is regulated by movement, breathing, and massage.  Supporting and regulating optimal lymphatic detox function can help us not only excrete accumulations in our bodies, but also reduce excess water weight and obnoxious bloat! Research into the lymphatic system is growing rapidly as it’s very undervalued role in our systemic health is becoming more and more apparent.  But if you’re working hard to hit those goals, who doesn’t want some downtime for a relaxing lymphatic massage to optimize your efforts!

This blog was written by the Balanced Thistle Team Members

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https://www.theforkclinic.com/post/hormone-series-cortisol-and-progesterone