You are currently exercising every day, yet you realize that you are not losing weight. You start to feel that everything you do so far does not have the results you want.
Beyond feeling uneasy to see that your effort to lose weight is not working for anything, it is necessary that you know a very important factor when it comes to losing weight that many are unaware of: our hormones . Our body contains several hormones and some of them can cause us to store fat without realizing it.
Find out which are the main hormones that will hinder your task of losing fat and how to prevent them from acting against us.
4 hormones that can cause weight gain
1. Insulin
If you have problems with your weight, you may have an imbalance in your insulin levels . This hormone is responsible for telling our body how to store energy. If it is out of control, it could cause our body to store more fat than necessary.
How to avoid it?
- Avoid consuming foods and carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index .
- Don’t eat a lot of bread, pasta, potatoes, and foods with refined sugar.
- At the same time, you should increase your intake of high-quality protein.
2. Estrogen
Estrogen is a female hormone essential for sexual development. Having too much estrogen can lead to weight gain, cellulite, and fat accumulation .
How to avoid it?
- Avoid consuming BPA plastic foods (Bisphenol A), as these are directly related to the level of estrogen in your body.
- Avoid or limit soy consumption.
- Stop consuming alcohol, as it can affect your liver and its ability to metabolize estrogens.
- Increase your fiber intake from 25 to 30 grams daily.
3. Leptin
Leptin has several functions, one of them is to not feel too hungry . If you don’t have enough leptin in your body, you can overeat and increase your body weight.
How to avoid it?
- Eat slowly.
- Turn off the electronic devices that you have around you and enjoy what you are consuming.
- Get enough sleep at night, if you can’t get the hours that correspond to your metabolism and your hormones won’t work properly.
4. Cortisol
Cortisol is the hormone that is produced when our body is under too much stress . If we are under a lot of pressure, high cortisol levels are produced which lead to increased cravings for sugar and carbohydrates.
How to avoid it?
- Do yoga or meditate, several days a week.
- Practice your breathing, this will help you to fall asleep in a better way.
- Listen to relaxed music, get out of the routine, talk with friends or family.
- If you see that you are very overwhelmed by a situation, a good option is to ask for professional help.
Reference
- BodyRock, Are You Hormones Causing You To Store Fat? For Bodyrock [Revised December 2015]
