Many hormonal imbalances lead to difficulty losing weight and an increased risk of obesity.  If you have been struggling with your weight, chances are, one or more the following hormonal imbalances could be your culprit:

 

1.Insulin resistance
Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that allows your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for future use. Insulin helps keeps your blood sugar level from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). People with insulin resistance have cells that don’t use insulin effectively. This means the cells have trouble absorbing glucose, which causes a build-up of sugar in the blood.High insulin levels, obesity, high lipid levels and insulin resistance all characterize a disorder called hyperinsulinema, which can be a precursor to diabetes. The leading risk factors are being overweight or obese, or leading a sedentary lifestyle.

 

2. Low serotonin
When we’re depressed or down, we naturally crave more sugars and starches to stimulate the release of serotonin. These are foods like breads and potato chips and any sugar-laden food. These foods temporarily raise serotonin levels and make you feel better so your body craves them. In the long run though they actually deplete serotonin levels and cause significant weight gain. Plenty of sunlight, supplementing your diet with a B vitamin, and regular exercise all support serotonin. When we measure our current lifestyle against all the elements necessary for the body’s natural production of serotonin, the prevalence of low serotonin is certainly not surprising.

 

3.Chronic stress
Levels of “the stress hormone,” cortisol, rise during tension-filled times. This can turn your overeating into a habit. Because increased levels of the hormone also help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods. Jason Perry Block, MD, an assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard, says eating can be a source of solace and can lower stress.“This happens, in part, because the body releases chemicals in response to food that might have a direct calming effect.” The more stress, the more cortisol which increases your desire for junk food and ultimately causes unwanted weight gain.

 

4.High estrogen
In men and premenopausal women, too much estrogen — a condition called estrogen dominance — causes toxic fat gain, water retention, bloating, and a host of other health and wellness issues. Researchers have found that estrogen receptors in the brains of animals are responsible for controlling food intake, energy expenditure, and body fat distribution.

 

5.Low testosterone
Testosterone enhances libido, bone density, muscle mass, strength, motivation, memory, fat burning and skin tone in both men and women. Low testosterone causes increases in body fat, especially in the midsection. But why does this happen? “The exact biochemical mechanism by which testosterone causes this change is unknown,” Morgentaler explains. However, it turns out that not only does low testosterone seem to cause weight gain in men, the reverse also seems to be true: Obesity is one of the risk factors for lower than normal levels of testosterone. Physiologically, the relationship between low testosterone and weight gain in men can become a vicious cycle.

 

6.Hypothyroidism
Without enough thyroid hormone, every system in the body slows down. Those who suffer from hypothyroidism feel tired, tend to sleep a lot, experience constipation and weight gain typically occurs. Extremely dry skin, hair loss, slower mental processes, feeling cold, brittle hair, splitting nails, infertility, poor memory, depression, decreased libido and an inability to lose weight are also symptoms to watch for.

 

7.Growth Hormone deficiency
A growth hormone deficiency (GHD) occurs when the pituitary gland doesn’t produce enough growth hormone.  Adults with AGHD typically have high levels of fat in the blood and high cholesterol due by changes in the body’s metabolism. Adults with AGHD are at greater risk for diabetes and heart disease.