Despite what we’ve long been told, and the pervasive amount of food- and fat-shaming in our culture, the number on the scale isn’t always a simple reflection of the number of calories we consume vs. the number we burn. Often the real key to losing what may be unwanted belly fat, and gaining energy, clarity, and a better mood lies with your hormones.
After digging into the research, I learned that 99 percent of weight loss resistance is hormonal. I discovered that the calorie-in/calorie-out hypothesis has been widely disproven and remains the greatest misconception people have about diet and weight loss. Calories matter, more to some people than others, but hormones matter more. Almost anyone who struggles with weight also battles a hormone imbalance. It amazes me how easy weight loss becomes once hormones are back in their sweet spot. Hormones control how efficiently a calorie makes you fat.
Most diets don’t work for women, because they fail to address the hormonal root causes that are the most common reasons for weight loss resistance, like excess cortisol, insulin and/or leptin blockage, estrogen dominance, a sluggish thyroid, low testosterone, and problems with the HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal) control system.
Which hormones tend to be most problematic?
CORTISOL: Your body makes cortisol in response to stress, but most of us run around stressed too much of the time, and our cortisol is off as a result. High or dysregulated cortisol levels wreak havoc over time, depleting your happy brain chemicals like serotonin, robbing your sleep, and making you store fat—especially in your belly. High cortisol is likewise linked to depression, food addiction, and sugar cravings.
INSULIN: Insulin is a fat-storage hormone. Insulin resistance or block means your cells can’t absorb the extra blood glucose your body generates from the food you eat—when that happens, your liver converts the glucose into fat. Insulin resistance usually causes weight gain and sugar addiction.
LEPTIN: High leptin causes weight gain and excessive hunger. Leptin is nature’s appetite suppressant. When you’ve had enough to eat, leptin signals your brain to stop eating. When you are overweight, your fat cells produce excess leptin. When your brain gets bombarded with leptin signals from too many fat cells, it shuts down; leptin levels keep rising, receptors stop functioning, your body doesn’t get the leptin signal, and you don’t feel full. You keep eating the wrong foods in an addictive pattern, and you keep gaining weight.
ESTROGEN: Estrogen dominance is when you have too much estrogen compared with its counter-hormone, progesterone. Having too much estrogen in the body causes a number of symptoms, including weight loss resistance, moodiness, PMS, and heavy periods.
THYROID: Your thyroid acts as the gas pedal of your metabolism, managing how fast or slow you burn calories. When the thyroid is sluggish, it can cause weight gain, fluid retention, hair loss or thinning, depression, and constipation, among other problems.
What can you do about it?
The best way to get your hormones back on track and reinstate a healthy weight is to correct hormonal misfires with changes to the way you eat, move, think, and supplement. Start with diet: In my experience, 80 percent of weight loss is determined by the hormone/food interaction, so you want to eat in a way that optimizes your hormones. Here’s my priority list:
CHANGE THE WAY YOU EAT AND DRINK. Remove processed foods, refined carbohydrates, sugars and sugar substitutes from your diet. Eliminate alcohol for 21 days (even a single serving can reduce a woman’s metabolism by more than 70 percent—it’s a temporary effect, but can add up over time if you drink most nights).
TARGETED EXERCISE. Make sure to keep moving, and choose forms of movement that you love, but exercise smart. Avoid chronic cardio (more on why coming). Burst training and adaptive exercise (i.e. Pilates) are more likely to stabilize cortisol than running a half marathon. Burst training involves short periods of high intensity exercise with moderate-level exercise as recovery. It is incredibly efficient and comes without the cortisol-raising side effect of a long run. Not only that, but it is extremely effective at raising growth hormone, the growth-and-repair hormone that maintains your lean body mass, a crucial indicator of how your body is biologically aging. My suggestions:
For adaptive exercise (especially important if you have cortisol or thyroid problems): yoga, Pilates, and dance class.
Cross train: Lift light weights twice a week at a minimum to prevent osteoporosis.
Walk or hike briskly at an effort level of 9 to 10 (out of 10) for 3 minutes, alternating with an effort level of 6 to 7 for 3 minutes, for a total of 30 minutes—a protocol shown to foster weight loss.
Try chi walking or running, a combination of walking or running with tai chi.
I also love (regular) tai chi and most spin classes.
TAKE SUPPLEMENTS TO IMPROVE YOUR HORMONE LEVELS. Here are a few of my favorites:
Adrenatran: You need 7 to 8.5 hours of sleep to break through weight loss resistance. My favorite supplement for improved sleep—and less stress—is called Adrenatran. It dials down the HPA so that you don’t feel stressed and can wind down for a good night of sleep. Too much cortisol raises blood sugar and deposits fat at night.
Berberine is the most proven supplement to reset insulin and support weight loss in women. It activates an important enzyme called adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, or AMP, nicknamed the “metabolic master switch.” Take 300 to 500 milligrams one to three times per day. It works better when combined with milk thistle.
Di-Indole Methane (DIM): I know it doesn’t sound appetizing, but it’s very good for you. This supplement is akin to eating 25 pounds of steamed broccoli. Many women with weight loss resistance have estrogen dominance, a problem that affects 75 to 80 percent of women over thirty-five. Specifically, DIM reduces 2-hydroxy-estrone and 2-hydroxy-estradiol, so that you have more protective estrogens and fewer bad estrogens. Dose is typically 200 mg/day but must be adjusted to the individual. (Alternatively: Eat more lightly steamed cruciferous vegetables, which can improve your good-to-bad estrogen ratio by 30 percent.)
Work with me to get a custom hormone balancing supplements regimen specifically for your body!
CONSIDER GENETIC TESTING. It can guide the best ways for you to eat, move, think, and supplement for hormonal harmony and weight loss. It can truly help break through hormonal chaos and weight loss resistance. For example, changing your food strategy can reset the way certain genes are expressed: You can reduce your carbohydrate intake to reset the ADRB2 gene, which controls your weight changes in response to exercise. (I have the bad variant of this gene, which can cause weight loss to take twice as long as it would take a normal person. Exercise helps very little; it’s all about wrangling the mind to eat the right types and amounts of food with steady discipline. Gah!)
Not sure where to start? That's what I'm here for! Schedule a free 1:1 health strategy session and we'll map out your personalized plan together.
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