Extra pounds are one of the biggest problems women face. There are countless ways to get rid of them, but they don’t always work. It’s important to know that most of the time excess weight has nothing to do with exercise or calories.

Food intake and low exercise are secondary. For many people, the problem is hormones not working properly. Research has continued to adopt this change, but it has not been studied in detail.

Seeing that this revelation has helped so many patients lose weight and feel better is reliable for many women who are trying to lose weight and not succeeding.

According to the article cited in prevention.com, weight problems often stem from thyroid and insulin imbalances. But in addition to these, there are other hormones that not much is known about but which seriously contribute to weight.

Insulin and leptin – two important factors in obesity

Although a fairly complex disorder, scientists have not been able to agree on the main causes of obesity. It is, however, well established that hormones have a strong link to obesity.

The hormone called leptin is an important factor. Under normal conditions, it is released from the body’s fat cells and sends a signal to the brain, where it activates feelings of satiety.

In overweight people, leptin no longer reaches the brain to send that signal. When people are leptin-resistant, it is hormones that lead to increased food intake.

Limited fructose intake is considered appropriate. If the recommended daily portion of 5 fruits per day is exceeded plus processed foods with sugar, the liver will not be able to cope with fructose fast enough.

So the body will convert this fructose into fat, sending it into the bloodstream as triglycerides and depositing it in the liver or elsewhere in the abdomen. As fructose is converted into fat, leptin levels rise (fat produces leptin).

Insulin is a hormone that tells cells to gather glucose from the blood and is the main energy storage hormone in the body. One of the ways insulin contributes to obesity is by blocking leptin signals in the brain. So high insulin levels may be one of the reasons why people become leptin-resistant.

Although fructose from added sugar is one of the main causes of insulin resistance, it is not enough to simply remove it to improve obesity and its associated metabolic dysfunctions. Avoiding sugar is a good prevention strategy, but it will not be effective as a cure. Many studies show that lower carbohydrate consumption leads to a drastic reduction in insulin and automatic weight loss.

Cortisol

The so-called stress hormone cortisol can create all sorts of problems for women who want to lose weight. When it increases, it encourages the conversion of blood sugar into fat for long-term storage.

Accumulating body fat in this way was a way for ancestors to survive when facing times of famine. Of course, reducing stress will also help control this fat-storing hormone, but there’s another common source of the problem: coffee consumed daily.

This raises cortisol levels drastically causing the body to store fat when it needs it least.

Caloric testosterone lowers metabolism

Every day we deal with a staggering number of toxins, including pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified foods, and about six different synthetic hormones in meat.

Toxins lurk in face creams, prescription drugs, processed foods, and even in lipstick or the air you breathe. Many of these toxins, such as pesticides, plastics, and industrial chemicals behave like estrogen when absorbed into the body.

Testosterone contributes to muscle growth which in turn supports metabolism. Thus, estrogen overload increases insulin resistance.

Estrogen is composed of a series of hormones that affect metabolism, mood, health and tissue development. Researchers have found links between estrogen and weight, particularly during menopause, when estrogen levels fall but weight tends to increase. The changes that occur in estrogen receptors in the hypothalamus, as a sign of menopause, make it more difficult to lose weight.

Women are advised to adopt a healthy diet and exercise to help the metabolism compensate for the loss of estrogen, which will help regulate weight and appetite. Interestingly, fat cells produce estrogen along with other hormones and proteins. However the estrogen produced in fat cells will not help stop excess weight gain.

Instead, the estrogen responsible for weight gain, especially that found in abdominal fat, puts women at greater risk of breast cancer because estrogen contributes to the growth of the cells.

Hormones dictate how the body processes food. If these are properly set, extra pounds can easily be lost without extra effort on your part.