Hormonal weight can be managed naturally with these easy tips
What are hormones?
Hormones are chemical molecules that are secreted by different glands in your body. They work by interacting on the surface of various body cells. They are the messengers that carry the signals sent by the brain to our organs where they are received to perform various body functions.
For example, the melanin hormone is produced by your body when your brain perceives darkness through the eyes. Melanin is required to induce sleep and ensure healthy uninterrupted sleep.
Similarly, various other hormones control different functions in your body like hunger, sleep, metabolism, health, mood and mental & physical growth.
What Is Hormonal Weight Gain?
Due to poor diet, lifestyle, genetics or environmental factors, your hormone levels can fluctuate. In the long term, these fluctuations may lead to health disorders like slow metabolism, heart risks, thyroid dysfunction, etc.
These underlying health conditions could cause further hormonal imbalances and you may end up gaining excess weight.
Read this article for very simple natural tips to lose weight.
Hormonal weight gain in men
If you are male, the cause of your weight gain could be high-stress levels i.e. cortisol hormones in the body.
When your body is exposed to excess cortisol levels, it goes into survival mode. This state of constant stress induces the production of too many fat cells, in case your body may need that fat for energy later.
This can lead to a low metabolism rate, thus more challenging to lose weight than gain it. Men may observe weight gain in the belly region.
Hormonal weight gain in women
If you are a woman, the estrogen hormone declines during menopause. This can lead to slow metabolism and faster weight loss.
Women can have fat accumulation around the belly, thighs and hips region.
Hormones that lead to weight gain & natural tips to lose weight
Insulin
More than 20% of overweight women with PCOS will develop impaired glucose tolerance after the age of 30.
Insulin Resistance in PCOS combined with abdominal obesity is believed to account for the higher prevalence of type-2 diabetes in PCOS. Type-2 diabetes is closely associated with obesity.
Leptin
Leptin is a hormone produced by your body’s fat tissues. It helps in regulating hunger by inducing a sensation of satiety. It regulates how many calories you burn and store as fat.
When your body becomes leptin resistant, it doesn’t respond to leptin which leads to an accumulation of leptin at high levels. This means that your body is fat but your brain cannot do anything about it.
Oestrogen
For women, as discussed earlier, low oestrogen levels can lead to abdominal weight gain around the belly region.
As men age, their testosterone levels decrease but their oestrogen levels increase which leads to faster fat deposition. High oestrogen levels can also lead to infertility in males.
Hormonal weight gain symptoms
Any or none of these may be seen with Hormonal Weight Gain:
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Mood swings
- Central obesity – increase in abdominal and visceral fat
- Purple striae
- Acne
- Hirsutism/excess body hair
- Amenorrhea or infertility
- Headache
Natural tips to lose weight and balance hormones
Sleep to lose weight
In a study, Sanjay R. Patel and his colleagues found that people who slept for 5 hours or less were at greater risk for weight gain compared to those who slept 7-8 hours.
Lack of sleep can also increase your risk of insulin resistance which leads to type-2 diabetes and weight gain.
So, losing sleep can make you gain weight.
Alternatively, waking up after a good sleep will help you lose unhealthy fat, according to PubMed.
If you have trouble sleeping at night, these herbs will get you an unbothered deep sleep and will lower your stress hormones.
Proper diet for hormone regulation
Diet has an enormous impact on our health and metabolism. A study suggests that the compounds in the food can also interact just like hormones, signalling certain messages. This indicates the importance of the right diet in treating hormonal problems like weight gain.
Ayurvedic herbs like pepper, ginger-lemon-honey, turmeric water, ajwain, and aloe-vera pulp help in improving metabolism and losing weight.
Regular yoga
Exercising with the right diet is the best way to manage weight and hormones naturally.
In a randomised trial, a group of overweight women were told to do regular yoga for 12 weeks. All of these women had a healthy weight loss and reduced waist and hip circumference.
Yoga also helps in stimulating hormonal glands and keeps excess body fat in check.
Here are some easy-to-try yoga poses that you can try for positive and natural weight loss.
Key takeaways
Hormonal obesity is caused by some very common variables like improper diet, lack of sleep and exercise.
Losing hormones is possible naturally if you take care of these factors.
Eating healthily, eating a dosha-balancing diet and proper yoga postures are some of the tips to lose weight naturally without any medicines or heavy workouts.
FAQs
Follow this diet plan to initiate a healthy weight loss process in 7 days.
Begin your day early in the morning so you can have a maximum number of waking hours when the sun is up. As per Ayurveda, getting up with the sun and keeping a healthy dinacharya or daily routine helps you manage weight.
- Improve digestion for fat reduction
- Avoid foods that cause bloating
- Vajrasana – The best yoga pose for weight loss
- No snacking between the meals
- Drink warm water
- Avoid sweet, eat bitter
Think beyond just “calories” and “exercise” when trying to lose weight. Here are some excitingly easy tips for weight loss.
- Lime water
- Honey and water (do not use hot water with honey)
- Fenugreek water
- Whole fruits (instead of fruit juice)
- Bitter foods like bitter gourd, turmeric, fenugreek, giloy,