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The health and safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for all of us at the office of Leigh Ann Scott, M.D. We offer both virtual appointments and in-clinic appointments, whichever you prefer. If you are coming in to see us in person, keep in mind that we maintain the highest standards when it comes to the safety of our patients. We sanitize rooms between patients and shared surfaces, such as door handles, throughout the day.
Should you choose to have a telemedicine appointment, you will still be able to see your provider, just as if she were standing in front of you in the office. Youll still get the same connection as if your appointment was in the clinic. Additionally, we have mobile phlebotomy services available if you do not want to go to a public lab.
Our providers at Leigh Ann Scott, M.D. are devoted to understanding our patients health concerns and symptoms. We use scientific-based protocols to find the root cause of hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, and more. We believe that spending quality, personalized time with each patient provides the necessary foundation to help you achieve optimal health and wellness. Our system incorporates provider consultation, comprehensive health assessment, and laboratory testing in a warm and caring environment.
Youre Experiencing New Cravings
Hormones might cause your hormonal belly if youre experiencing some new cravings that are unusual for you, especially for sugary foods. If youre finding yourself with a constant sweet tooth, your body might be struggling with insulin resistance.
Due to your cells not properly absorbing insulin, high insulin levels will signal your body to store more fat. Elevated insulin levels can also cause increased amounts of the hormone leptin, which gives you a feeling of fullness after eating. High leptin levels combined with insulin resistance can lead you to start excessively eating sugary foods, resulting in lower belly weight gain over time.
Diet Exercise Primary Contributors To Weight
Calling hormones the true culprit behind womens weight gain isnt correct, according to Susan Davis, a professor of Chronic Disease & Aging at Monash University in Australia.
If they were, Davis said, everyone would be fat. Instead, she said diet is the primary culprit.
According to the National Institutes of Health, people gain weight when they take in more calories than they burn, and this imbalance is the greatest contributor to weight gain.
Davis added that diet is a crucial part of weight loss, as exercise alone doesnt always burn calories at the rate some might expect.
Twenty minutes of exercise is a glass of orange juice and three hours of exercise is a Big Mac, Davis said. And most people who eat a Big Mac don’t go out and do three hours of sustained exercise to follow that.
That isnt to say exercise is ineffective.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, physical activity is one of the most important things a person can do to improve their health. Regular physical activity is also associated with reduced weight gain and weight loss especially when combined with reduced calorie intake.”
Davis recommends those who try to lose weight do so slowly. For example, she said someone can think of one thing they eat on most days, and then cut that out of their diet.
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What Are The Causes Of Hormonal Belly Fat
So, what exactly is hormonal belly? A hormonal belly is lower abdominal weight gain caused by an imbalance of hormones. Hormones help regulate many bodily functions such as our metabolism, sex drive, hunger and reproductive functions.
An imbalance of your hormones resulting in certain hormone levels being too low or too high can cause excess weight gain in the lower belly. Lets go over some of the most common causes of hormonal belly fat.
The Hormone Responsible For Weight Loss
The hormone responsible for weight loss will vary depending on your individual body composition and goals. However, some of the hormones that have been associated with weight loss include ghrelin, adiponectin, and leptin.
Ghrelin is a hormone that is responsible for stimulating hunger. Elevated ghrelin levels have been linked to increased appetite and weight gain, so reducing ghrelin levels through diet or lifestyle changes may help you lose weight.
Adiponectin is a hormone that plays a role in regulating energy storage and utilization. Low levels of adiponectin have been linked to obesity and diabetes, so increasing this hormone through diet or lifestyle changes may help you lose weight.
Leptin is a hormone that regulates energy intake and expenditure. Elevated leptin levels have been linked to reduced hunger and an increased sense of fullness, which may help you lose weight.
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How Does The Stress Hormone Cortisol Sabotage Weight Loss
How is this overproduction of cortisol related to weight gain? First of all, heightened cortisol is linked to overeating. Ever notice how you eat when youre stressed? A study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology found that higher than normal cortisol levels were linked to overeating and weight gain. Another study links elevated cortisol levels to an increase in belly fat.
Is The Hormone Reset Diet A Good Option For You
There is never a lack of diet and fitness trends claiming to hold the key to simple, long-term weight loss. The ketogenic diet , the carnivore diet , and intermittent fasting . are some of the most recent prominent diet fads. On the other hand, the hormone reset diet claims to restore peoples malfunctioning hormones.
Sara Gottfried, MD, a gynaecologist, developed the hormone reset diet to help people lose weight by resetting their metabolic hormones. Its primary focus is hormone variations that can negatively affect a persons weight, and it also looks at other factors that can lead to obesity and other chronic disorders.
The hormone reset diet is a 21-days, three-step program that combines diet, exercise, nutritional supplements, and cleansing to promote hormonal balance and a healthier body. The diet controls what you eat and when to eat to get the most out of your hormones.
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How Do Hormones Affect Weight Loss
Hormones are chemical messengers that are essential because they control many vital processes in your body. Hormones control how hungry you feel, how your body breaks down food, your sleep and wake cycles, and energy levels. Hormones can therefore influence your ability to lose body fat, maintain muscle, handle stress, and experience hunger.
If you have a hormonal imbalance, either too little or too much of a specific hormone, it can affect your body weight. For instance, if you have a thyroid dysfunction called hypothyroidism, you have an under-active thyroid gland that produces an inadequate amount of the thyroid hormones. Having a reduced production of thyroid hormones is a common cause of weight gain.
Gut hormones also have an extensive role in weight loss or weight gain. An imbalance in intestinal hormones can affect how your body metabolizes food. Gut hormones control insulin secretion and are essential for blood glucose and body weight.
How To Start A Healthy Lifestyle
Oh, boy! Adopting a healthy lifestyle sure seems like an overwhelming project. Yet, it doesnt have to be. Your future can be a success story with helpful advice from Registered Dieticians who understand better than anyone how to successfully lose belly fat, and keep it off. Pritikin is geared to helping people change their lifestyle: nutrition, medical, physical, and psychological. Its a multi-faceted program that focuses on modifying peoples healthy habits and helping them move forward, explains Lon. No matter what age cohort youre in, Pritikin has the ability to significantly improve your blood sugar, control blood pressure and improve your weight.
Making changes to your lifestyle may sound hard, but it doesnt have to be. In a highly interactive, supportive educational experience with experts, such as Lon and Carol, that includes hands-on activities, such as grocery shopping excursions, modifying your eating habits, and moving towards a healthier future , it is possible to succeed. A stay at Pritikin is a health education experience like no other leaving you feeling highly motivated and tremendously confident that you can lose belly fat and live a healthier lifestyle.
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How Can I Balance The Hormones That Affect Weight
Once you understand the various hormones roles in your body, you will see how to balance them.
1. Insulin
Insulin plays a key role in weight loss and weight gain. Secreted in the pancreas, insulin stores sugar and uses it depending on the bodys needs. The hormone stores fat and decides how much fat the body will hold or convert to energy.
To maintain balanced insulin levels and avoid insulin resistance, eat regularly, but dont eat too much. Reducing your carbohydrate intake can also keep your insulin stable. Increased insulin levels eventually lead to weight gain.
2. Leptin
Leptin is the appetite suppressant hormone. Ideally, this hormone “talks” to your brain, telling it when you are hungry or full.
Just like insulin, keeping leptin levels balanced requires you to be on top of your diet. Remember to eat less processed sugar, include more fiber, exercise more, and consume anti-inflammatory foods.
3. Ghrelin
Ghrelin is the hunger hormone. It sends signals to the brain telling it to eat. Every time the stomach is empty, the body releases ghrelin into the bloodstream.
One way to keep ghrelin levels balanced is to consume more protein. Protein makes you feel full, so you should incorporate it into every meal.
4. Cortisol
Cortisol is the stress hormone. Whenever your body is under any form of stress, it releases cortisol into the bloodstream. Studies have linked high levels of cortisol to overeating.
5. Estrogen
How To Fix Your Hormones And Lose Weight
Ive hit a stubborn weight-loss plateau, writes this weeks house call, even though I seem to be doing everything right, like eating the right foods and exercising. How can I overcome that obstacle?
Ive discussed different reasons for weight-loss resistance in past blogs. Many obstacles have nothing to do with what you eat or how much you exercise. Instead, they involve things like nutritional imbalances, chronic inflammation, metabolic challenges, leaky gut, changes in your microbiome, environmental toxins and your genes.
One huge but often-overlooked reason for weight-loss resistance involves hormonal imbalances.
No contest: The monster hormone that causes weight gain, inflammation and chronic disease is excess insulin. Think of this hormone as your fat cell fertilizer! My new book, Eat Fat, Get Thin, discusses how to naturally regulate insulin so you can shift your body from fat storage mode to fat-burning mode.
At the same time, insulin isnt the only player other hormones also affect your weight and health. Three big disruptors are: thyroid, cortisol and sex hormones. I discuss these hormones in-depth in The Blood Sugar Solution, however, lets briefly look at each of them here.
Thyroid
Research shows hypothyroidism, or low-thyroid function, affects one in five women and one in ten men. Unfortunately, in over half of these cases, this condition isnt diagnosed.
A common cause of hypothyroidism is gluten intolerance.
Cortisol
Sex Hormone Imbalances
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Why Are My Hormones Making Me Gain Weight
It is important to understand that hormones influence appetite, the rate of metabolism, and fat distribution. An imbalance in these hormones causes abnormal metabolism, leading to body fat accumulating.
A variety of factors can cause hormonal imbalance. Thyroid and adrenal gland issues are very common causes. Other causes are weight, medications, allergies, and stressful situations.
What You Can Do: Stop Overeating The Foods That Cause Insulin Resistance
How do we ensure our insulin levels remain balanced? First, we need to stop eating too much. Its a known fact that overeating leads to insulin resistance, especially when we eat too much food thats no good for our bodies and minds. When we eat too much sugar, too much fast food, and too many processed carbohydrates, insulin goes haywire. These elevated insulin levels lead to weight gain and low-grade inflammation. A 2010 study published in the journal Diabetes found that even eating too much of these foods in the short term leads to insulin resistance and weight gain.
You may also want to restrict carbohydrates in your diet. According to a study published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, a low-carb diet prevents metabolic syndrome and the insulin resistance that causes it. Other findings show drinking green tea, consuming omega-3 fatty acids from fatty fish, and eating adequate amounts of protein all help balance insulin levels.
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Hormones Influence Body Weight
Fat storage and breakdown are strictly regulated by certain hormones in the body. Hormones also influence energy expenditure, or the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis.
For this reason, fluctuations in hormone levels may lead to weight gain or loss, as well as body fat accumulation in specific areas.
For example, the thyroid secretes hormones that are responsible for metabolism regulation.
When the thyroid gland is overactive, it releases too much thyroid hormone. This puts the body into a hypermetabolic state, where it burns more calories . This is known as hyperthyroidism.
Conversely, an underactive thyroid, characterized by low thyroid hormone levels, leads to less energy expenditure . This is known as hypothyroidism.
This is why people with hyperthyroidism may lose weight, while those with hypothyroidism may gain weight.
Insulin is another hormone that can affect body weight.
Cells need insulin to use glucose for energy and store it for later use in the form of glycogen. Insulin is also required for storing energy as fat and inhibiting fat breakdown to maintain body weight .
Keeping insulin levels within a standard range is critical. Chronically elevated insulin levels may lead to insulin resistance, where cells stop responding appropriately to insulin.
Human and animal studies indicate that this may lead to the impairment of hunger and fullness hormones, excessive fat uptake by organs like the liver, and compromised metabolism (
Hormones Work To Help With Weight Loss
There is some scientific evidence that suggests that hormones may play a role in weight loss. Hormones can influence energy intake and expenditure, as well as the storage and release of energy from food. Therefore, by manipulating hormones, you may be able to help control your weight in a healthy way.
There are a few hormones that are known to play a role in weight loss ghrelin is one of these. Ghrelin is a hormone that is released in response to hunger and is responsible for increasing your appetite. By reducing ghrelin levels, you may be able to curb your appetite and help you lose weight.
Other hormones that have been linked to weight loss include leptin and adiponectin. Leptin is a hormone that regulates your bodys hunger and satiety signals. When leptin levels are high, it indicates that you are full and should stop eating. Conversely, when leptin levels are low, this means that you are hungry and need more food. Adiponectin is also known as the fat-burning hormone. It helps to reduce inflammation throughout the body, including the fat cells. When adiponectin levels are high, this helps to reduce the amount of fat stored in the body.
So while its still unclear whether hormones alone are responsible for weight loss what is clear is that they can play an important role by helping to regulate your appetite and energy intake. If youre interested in trying out hormonal weight loss treatments, make sure to talk to your doctor first!
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What Does Hormonal Weight Gain Look Like
Since hormonal weight gain is different from weight gain due to excess caloric intake, its symptoms are also distinctive. While body weight and fat are distributed equally in weight gain due to excess caloric intake, people with hormonal weight gain usually notice increased weight around specific body parts, such as the waist, arms, thighs, chest, and lower body.
Menopause Weight Gain: How To Get Rid Of It
Exercise Physiologist, Carol Espel explains that Things shift when you start to go through menopause, but your ability to shape that is in your hands. Theres something you can do about it! Carol is the Fitness and Program Director at Pritikin Longevity Center who works with many guests, men and women, struggling with belly fat, and knows exactly what works. Newer science says going through menopause doesnt have to involve weight gain.
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Macronutrient Composition Of Meals
The macronutrient composition of meals is one variable that may contribute to excessive caloric intake under ad libitum conditions resulting in unwanted weight gain and the onset of obesity. The postprandial endocrine response associated with meals of varying macronutrient proportions may give some insight as to why certain food combinations lead to greater satiety resulting in less caloric ingestion than others. Identifying and exploiting the macronutrient proportions that are associated with satiety and favorable postprandial endocrine responses may be a useful strategy for initiating weight loss through appetite regulation in the absence of purposeful calorie restriction.
In conclusion, evidence tends to suggest that for the regulation of ad libitum caloric ingestion, a high-protein diet may be beneficial whereas high-fat diets should most likely be avoided. It would appear to be most beneficial if the additional protein is ingested from solid food sources as food form also appears to play a role in feelings of satiety . Future research should investigate the effects of large doses of insoluble fiber in addition to a high-protein diet to determine if this combination could further attenuate appetite and energy intake.
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