Key Takeaways About Hormonal Weight Gain
What Are Hormone Diets And Can They Really Help You Lose Weight Quickly
As a registered dietitian, I have found that my clients are increasingly asking about books and programs that claim you can adjust your hormones with a diet to lose weight quickly and easily.
Search for hormone diet and there are more than 30 recent books on the topic. The authors allege that the reason people over 35 struggle to lose weight doesnt have to do with eating too much or not exercising enough. They say its your hormones working against you.
According to these books, you can trick your metabolism and feed your thyroid. They claim that all you need to do is eat the right foods and take the right supplements, and youll unlock the secret to lasting weight loss.
But is there any evidence these diets work?
In researching hormone diets, I found some that are sold at weight-loss centers, created by wellness experts who have no recognized credentials. They claim to promote rapid weight loss by affecting hormones such as insulin, which moves sugar from your blood into your cells cortisol, the stress hormone sex hormones such as testosterone and estrogen and thyroid hormones.
So, do hormone diets lead to quick and easy weight loss?
I dont know of any diet that will change hormone levels in a way that these hormone changes will be instrumental in promoting weight loss, Franck Mauvais-Jarvis, a professor of medicine at Tulane Universitys medical school, wrote in an email.
How To Take The Quiz
It takes less than two minutes to take the quiz. All you have to do is and answer some simple questions about your age, menstrual cycle, lifestyle, and what kind of results you want.
After you take the quiz, youll watch a video that goes into the results of your quiz. This is where youll learn which one of the seven Metabolic Renewal hormone profiles you currently fall into. This will give you a starting point for your journey to better health..
The whole quiz process is very quick and simple.
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Why Does Your Estrogen Level Matter
Estrogen is a hormone. Although present in the body in small amounts, hormones have big roles in maintaining your health.
Estrogen is commonly associated with the female body. Men also produce estrogen, but women produce it in higher levels.
The hormone estrogen:
- is responsible for the sexual development of girls when they reach puberty
- controls the growth of the uterine lining during the menstrual cycle and at the beginning of a pregnancy
- causes breast changes in teenagers and women who are pregnant
- is involved in bone and cholesterol metabolism
- regulates food intake, body weight, glucose metabolism, and insulin sensitivity
Girls who havent reached puberty and women approaching menopause are most likely to experience low estrogen. Still, women of all ages can develop low estrogen.
Common symptoms of low estrogen include:
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When Should I See My Healthcare Provider About A Hormonal Imbalance
If youre experiencing new, persistent symptoms, its important to talk to your healthcare provider. They can order tests to help determine the cause of your symptoms.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Hormones are complex and powerful chemicals. If one or more of them goes out of whack, it can cause certain symptoms that make you feel like youre not in control of your body. If you have new and persistent symptoms, its important to talk to your healthcare provider. They can order some tests to see if a hormonal imbalance or another condition is the cause. The sooner you reach out for help and treatment, the sooner youll be able to feel like yourself again.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 04/04/2022.
References
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List Of Human Hormones
The following is a list of hormones found in . Spelling is not uniform for many hormones. For example, current North American and international usage is estrogen and gonadotropin, while British usage retains the Greek digraph in oestrogen and favors the earlier spelling gonadotrophin .
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How Hormone Tests Work
In its essence, undergoing a hormone test is actually quite simple.
When women begin to experience symptoms, doctors will prescribe a series of hormone panel tests based on their reports in efforts to determine hormone levels and then pinpoint the underlying cause.
Once results are available, women will be able to discuss them with their doctors to determine the best line of treatment specific to her, based on health status and preference.
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Type : Hormone Overdrive Metabolism
The critical difference between this type and type one is that its estrogen-dominant. You may be thinking that means that its easy to maintain a healthy weight and slim build, but theres a lot more to it than that. Your body will be used to the estrogen throughout your cycle.
The interesting thing here is this is sometimes not a natural state. All of that extra estrogen may actually be environmental toxins that mimic estrogen in the body.
Certain plastics are well-known to be full of these toxins. But it doesnt matter whether all this extra estrogen is naturally occurring or artificial. Managing your estrogen surplus is key to staying fit.
Metabolic Renewal exercises are an excellent way to encourage an optimal balance of estrogen and other hormones. You can at least override the effects that an imbalance has on your metabolism.
Remember that whatever hormone profile you have now isnt necessarily the one youll have forever. Good metabolism-changing programs like those in the Metabolic X family can ease you into a hormone type that allows you to shed fat much more straightforwardly.
What cant be changed can be dealt with. This type of program works with your hormones, which is one area where so many others fail.
At this point on the Metabolic Roadmap, relatively gentle exercise is prescribed. Think medium-intensity interval training and smooth yoga-like movements.
How Do Hormone Tests Work
The simplicity of at-home hormone tests makes them an easy, effective option. After ordering your test, a box will arrive with thorough instructions to collect testing samples.
Depending on the test selected, youll be asked to take a urine sample or blood sample using a finger pricking tool.
Once you finish your test, youll ship your results to a lab for review. Results are typically provided online between 2 and 5 business days after the samples reach the lab.
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Menopause: Estrogen And Progesterone Deficient
Both estrogen and progesterone levels drop off, sometimes suddenly, during menopause. The absence of these two hormones that have been relatively high your entire life allows other hormones to manifest in ways they may never have.
For one thing, you can have irrational reactions to stress. Youve heard of stress eating. And to make things worse, you become more insulin-resistant. Even if you dont overeat, you can gain weight much more easily.
Metabolic Renewal Hormone Type Quiz What You Need To Know
There are 7 metabolic types that you can have.
The metabolic renewal quiz looks at two main hormones. Estrogen and Progesterone. Both are very important female hormones.
Estrogen is a female sex hormone.
Estrogen helps control the menstrual cycle and plays other important roles in the reproductive system.
Progesterone is also another womans sex hormone that aids pregnancy while also having an important role to play in the menstrual cycle.
Your hormone type according to Jade Teta, depends on the levels of progesterone and estrogen in your body.
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Type : Metabolic Sputter Metabolism
Most of the women who end up in this category are perimenopausal. Theyre just starting the transition into menopause, in other words. At this time, many women have very high or fluctuating levels of estrogen and low progesterone.
The fluctuation of estrogen causes the metabolic rate to jump all over the map. It can be a real challenge to eat healthy because your body is continually guessing.
Exercise is important for everyone, but it is crucial not to overdo it here. The idea is to keep cortisol low because any change in physical activity will trigger a flood of this hormone. And thats bad because it makes your body want to prepare for a stressful situation, like famine.
Its impossible to maintain a healthy body in this state. You have to work with your hormones. Gentle movement burns calories speeds up your metabolism and makes you feel better and look good without stressing you too much.
Expect plenty of light intensity interval training. LIIT is gentle, and there are plenty of breaks in the routines. Thats important because more breaks allow you to push harder when you need to.
Any good personal trainer will tell you that breaks are an essential part of any workout. Even professional bodybuilders take several breaks during their daily exercise routines.
The dietary focus of this group is fiber and protein. Too many carbs only add to the erratic jumps and drops of estrogen.
Chubby Cheeks Belly And Back Fat Stress Hormones
A round face and a tendency to carry weight around your middle indicates that you need to dial in your stress. Extra weight in the midsection points to fat around your organs, which has its own set of risks on top of the dangers that fat around the muscle has.
You can thank stress and cortisol, your main stress hormone, for the extra belly and back fat. You may or may not realize that youre chronically stressed. You could be experiencing emotional stress that youre well aware of, like an intense job or a toxic relationship.
Or, your body systems might be triggering the fight-or-flight response and you have no idea. Things like living in a moldy house, or eating foods with a high toxic burden trip your fight-or-flight response, whether youre aware of it or not. Somethings causing you to release stress hormones several times throughout the day, and your stress hormones tell your body to hang onto fat.
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When To Test Cortisol
We cant always get a full picture of whats going on with your hormones without looking at the adrenals, which produce the stress hormone cortisol.
Cortisol is involved in your stress response, hair loss, blood sugar regulation and more. In time of stress, the body will shift into preferentially making cortisol over progesterone. Read more about the importance of cortisol here.
Cortisol blood tests are best performed in the morning, along with Adrenocorticotropic hormone , because this is when levels are highest. ACTH is produced in the pituitary gland and helps your adrenals to function. For a more comprehensive picture of adrenal function, a 4-point salivary or urinary cortisol is best. Cortisol can be tested at any time of the month.
How Can I Prevent A Hormonal Imbalance
While many hormonal imbalances arent preventable, there are certain things you can do to optimize your overall health, which could help keep your hormones balanced, including:
- Maintaining a healthy weight.
- Managing your chronic health conditions well .
- Quitting smoking or using tobacco products, if you smoke.
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A Daily Battle With The Bathroom Scale Can Cause Shame Judgment Suffering And Obsession With Weightcontributing Further To Weight Loss Resistance
Even worse, the drill-sergeant approach of restricted eating and harsh exercise can escalate hormonal and emotional problems. A daily battle with the bathroom scale can cause shame, judgment, suffering, and obsession with weightcontributing further to weight loss resistance. When meals are accompanied by guilt, suffering, or anxiety about our food or our bodies a physiologic stress response is activated, triggering a fight-or-flight reaction and raising cortisol.
How do you reset your hormones, or jump-start your metabolism? Can you do it through diet alone?
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. Heres 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 .
TAKE SUPPLEMENTS TO IMPROVE YOUR HORMONE LEVELS. Here are a few of my favorites:
What causes hormones to go haywire? Is it the natural aging process, stress, having babiesis there a primary culprit?
The main culprits of haywire hormones are:
Signs And Symptoms Of A Hormonal Imbalance
Your hormones play an integral role in your overall health. As a result, theres a broad range of signs and symptoms that could signal a hormonal imbalance. Your signs or symptoms will depend on which hormones or glands are not working properly.
Common hormonal conditions affecting people of all genders could cause any of the following signs or symptoms:
- purple or pink stretch marks
Keep in mind that these symptoms are nonspecific. Having one or a few of them doesnt necessarily mean that you have a hormonal imbalance.
Some of these symptoms may also reflect other chronic conditions. So, if you find yourself dealing with any notable changes in your body or energy levels, its a good idea to talk with your doctor.
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Is It Worth The Time
Taking the quiz takes about the same amount of time it took you to read this post. Sure, you learned about the different hormone types that women experience at different phases of their lives, but you cant take any kind of action with that info until you know which type you are.
The best part is getting to see how Metabolic Renewal works. Check out this review I did earlier.
Its different from any other diet out there. The focus is not on eating less and exercising more. You see, that may just put your body under extreme stress. Then your hormone will be working against you. Dr. Teta likens this to trying to run up a down escalator. You can do it for a while, but you tire quickly.
The thing that makes Metabolic Renewal work so well is that it works with your hormones. Thats your hormones, at your particular stage of life, not necessarily a young woman with balanced hormones.
What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Hormonal Imbalance
Because your body makes over 50 different hormones all of which contribute to important bodily functions you could experience several different symptoms depending on which hormonal imbalance you have.
Its important to know that many of the following symptoms could be caused by other conditions, not just from a hormonal imbalance. If you ever notice a change in your day-to-day health and are experiencing new, persistent symptoms, its important to talk to your healthcare provider no matter what you think the cause might be.
Hormone imbalance symptoms that affect your metabolism
Common hormonal imbalances include those that affect your metabolism. Your metabolism consists of the chemical reactions in your body’s cells that change the food you eat into energy. Many different hormones and processes are involved in metabolism.
Symptoms of hormonal imbalances that affect your metabolism include:
- Slow heartbeat or rapid heartbeat .
- Thin, warm and moist skin.
- Irregular body fat distribution.
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How Do You Take The Metabolic Renewal Hormone Quiz
The steps are pretty straight forward and answering the questions takes only a couple of minutes.
After completing the quiz you will visit the official Metabolic Renewal website where you will learn how the results can help determine what you need to do in order to boost your metabolism and loss weight.
To get started on your metabolic roadmap follow these steps:
What Kind Of Doctors Treat Hormonal Imbalances
Primary healthcare providers can diagnose and help you manage many hormonal imbalances, but you may benefit from seeing an endocrinologist.
An endocrinologist is a healthcare provider who specializes in endocrinology, a field of medicine that studies conditions related to your hormones. They can diagnose endocrine conditions, develop treatment and management plans and prescribe medication.
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What Are The Functions Of The Different Types Of Hormone
Hormones are a type of molecule that originates in the endocrine glands. They greatly influence the growth and development process, metabolism and sexual function. The correct functioning of hormones is vital for the physical and emotional well-being of people. Correct hormonal levels also influence mood.
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When To Talk With A Doctor
Some conditions or complications can develop as a result of a hormone imbalance. If youre suddenly losing or gaining weight without trying, have joint pains, severe fatigue, or abdominal pain that doesnt go away, schedule an appointment to talk with your doctor.
You may also want to see a doctor if youre trying to get pregnant and are unable to for some time, or if youre experiencing other reproductive issues.
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