6 Hormone Secrets to Help You Lose Weight Easily

Ever stop to think why some people can effortlessly maintain their weight, whilst others need only look at the wrong types of food one time and their weight can balloon?

Well, a lot of it has to do with your hormones. Hormones control every single function in the human body, therefore if your hormones are out of balance, then weight loss or weight management can be an unnecessarily complex endeavor.

This article looks to address the most common problems or issues that people have concerning the regulation of their hormones.

1)    Reduce Stress

Stress produces the hormone cortisol. Studies have shown cortisol can trigger the body into storing fat. That is because when the human body senses an excessive amount of cortisol, it senses that the body is in stress and pre-empts a potential food shortage. The body then goes into fat storage mode as an insurance against starvation and other kinds of stress. 

Strategies to reduce stress include exercise, get adequate sleep, eat healthy foods with plenty of fresh produce to ensure adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals, meditation or just having some alone time when things are getting a bit too hectic.

2)    Limited Your Carbs 

Many people start their day by eating a really carb meal such as cereals, toast or even excessive amounts of fruit. This can trigger an insulin spike and create a cascade effect, whereby you are craving carbs for the rest of the day. 

By starting out the day with a good amount of protein and healthy fats, you will feel much more full and satisfied, all the way thru to lunch and will most likely avoid that mid-afternoon craving for sugary junk, that so many people feel around 3 or 4 o'clock.

3)    Get Adequate Sleep

As I mentioned above, sleep is so important to reduce cortisol production most likely due to overactive adrenals which produce cortisol, and other negative effects on the body, but it also is extremely healing and therapeutic especially relating to hormonal health.

Your body seeks to repair and renew its millions of cells during deep sleep so it is really important, perhaps even the most single important intervention one can implement to improve overall health including hormonal balance. 

Your liver does most of the detoxification during sleep, during the deepest part of your sleep cycle. When your endocrine system is loaded with toxic compounds it cannot function optimally and your hormonal health will most certainly suffer as a result. Hormone and neurotransmitter regulation all happens during sleep as well. 

Poor sleep can result in 15% less leptin, which is the hormone that is responsible for making you feel full and reduce hunger or cravings for excessive amounts of food. It has also been shown to dramatically increase ghrelin, another important hormone for regulating food intake, it is the hormone that is responsible for making you feel hungry. 

Meanwhile, your fatty acids in the blood go up. The end result is an increase in elevated blood sugars, problems with weight gain and even most alarmingly type 2 diabetes. 

We attain stable blood sugar levels after a good nights sleep as well. Having stable blood sugar levels is another important factor when talking specifically about food cravings, particularly sugar or carbohydrate cravings. 

A study coming out of the University of Chicago found that the body finds it much harder to stabilize blood sugar levels with less than 6 hours sleep, and the less sleep it has the harder a time the body has to regulate blood sugar levels. 

This means that it is very clear and proven, that good quality restful sleep can be very powerful for both managing a healthy weight or for when undertaking a weight loss program.

4)    Exercise

In addition to helping reduce the production of cortisol in the body, exercise can greatly benefit hormonal health in a few other key departments.

Irisin is commonly referred to as the exercise hormone, which basically means it's your best friend in the gym. Recent studies have that Irisin battles fat on 2 fronts. 

Firstly, it activates genes that turn bad white fat into good brown fat, and also secondly by regulating or switching undifferentiated stem cells to become bone-building cells instead of fat storage cells.

So getting down and dirty in the gym is the body’s natural way to fire up production of Irisin. In one particular small-scale study, single afternoon sessions of bother moderate and intense exercise raised levels of this vitally important hormone by a whopping 12 percent in obese women; in another study, single sessions of both intensive endurance type exercise and strength training increased Irisin. All the more reason why women should not shy away from lifting weights in the gym and furthermore lifting heavy is highly recommended too, whilst observing proper form and understand the associated risks obviously, should go without saying.

“One of the best ways to turn on Irisin is to perform intermittent fasting for 18 hours and follow it with moderate exercise or HIIT training,” Dr. Gottfried says. 

But even if you can’t follow the HIIT protocol, you will likely get an Irisin boost just from working up a sweat of any kind.

Studies have also shown that Irisin may also protect brain cells from injury and aging if you needed any more reason to start incorporating exercise into your daily routine. 

5)    Sex Hormone Balance & HGH

2 other key hormones that exercise plays a pivotal role in its production or lack of production are the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. 

Testosterone

Testosterone is the male sex hormone, but it's produced in women's bodies, too (just in smaller amounts). It plays a major role in helping to grow muscle and is responsible for repairing muscle proteins damaged by exercise.

“Exercise affects testosterone by stimulation its production,” says Dr. Gottfried (The data, however, is mixed among older women and those who are overweight or obese). Testosterone’s health benefits are many. It is responsible for everything from increasing sex drive to its ability to help increase lean muscle mass, decrease fat, particular body fat, protect cognitive decline, strengthen joints and bones and much more. It really is like an elixir of youth not only for men but for women as well. 

Estrogen

Estrogen’s job is the most important female sex hormone. It plays a major role in the development of physical features like breasts, hips, the menstrual cycle, and reproduction. It also affects bone health, cholesterol, and more, making it the master multitasker of your endocrine system.

Women need estrogen, but too much of it is a risk factor for breast cancer research has found. Many have excess estrogen circulating for several reasons related to modern life—everything from pesticides, plastics, to the pill. “Most women, starting around age 35, develop estrogen dominance. Exercise helps to reverse this trend, leading to lower risk of breast cancer for premenopausal and postmenopausal women alike,” Dr. Gottfried explains. In fact, not only does exercise reduce breast cancer risk (phew!), it also reduces mortality after diagnosis and among survivors.

HGH (Human growth hormone)

Human Growth Hormone or HGH as its commonly referred to plays many important roles in your body’s fundamental functions, including contributing to muscle and bone strength, but the main reason it really stands alone as a powerhouse hormone it is a powerful hormone responsible for regulating fat metabolism. 

Certain types of exercise are known to increase its production more than others, most notably HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training.

6)    Pregnenolone Supplementation 

One of the best protocols that I can recommend, that I have discovered is to supplement with Pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is the mother hormone, it serves as a steroid precursor to all hormones. 

Many people particularly women as they age go on Hormone Replacement Therapy with detrimental consequences. Pregnenolone can be a safer hormone for regulating hormonal balance with very little side effects. 

It is still best to consult your doctor before beginning treatment with Pregnenolone, but in my opinion, it is the best option if you are experiencing issues of hormonal imbalance.