How Can Imbalanced Hormones Cause Weight Gain?
Are you worried you might have imbalanced hormones? You’re not alone. Almost half of women have struggled with a hormone imbalanced, and a not-insignificant amount of men as well.
Let’s go through how to tell if your hormones are imbalanced and how you can fix the problem if they are.
What Can Cause a Hormone Imbalance?
There are different health issues that can cause a hormone imbalance. In women, the most prevalence causes include puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.
Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can cause an imbalance in your body’s hormones. Different types of cancer, including those that involve your endocrine system, can cause hormone imbalances, as can cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.
Non-cancerous tumors can also result in hormone imbalances, so it’s important to pay attention and monitor issues if you are diagnosed with a benign tumor.
Congenital conditions like Prader-Willi syndrome and Turner syndrome can also result in different hormone imbalances. External factors, such as an unbalanced diet or exposure to different pollutions, can factor into hormone imbalances.
Clearly, many different things can cause a hormone imbalance, and it may be difficult to narrow it down without the help of a professional.
How To Tell If Your Hormones Are Imbalanced
There are some clear signs you can tell if your hormones are imbalanced. In women, excessive hair growth, particularly on your face, is one sign of imbalanced hormones, as is excessive sweating at inappropriate times. For men, hair loss can be a sign of a hormone imbalance.
Acne can be caused by a hormone imbalance, particularly acne accompanied by discolored skin. Pain in your pelvis area, particularly pain that’s exacerbated by sexual activity or menstruation, can be a sign that you might have imbalanced hormones.
One of the most unfortunate signs of hormone imbalance is infertility. If you’re having trouble conceiving, you might want to contact a healthcare professional and make sure a hormone imbalance isn’t causing your problems.
Other signs of imbalanced hormones can include, but are not limited to, the following:
Insomnia or poor sleep quality
Headaches
Mood swings
Lowered sex drive
Bone weakness
Muscle weakness, tenderness, pain, and/or stiffness
Menstruation problems
Joint pain, swelling, or stiffness
Increased, unexplained thirst or hunger
Anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems
Of course, there’s one last major sign of a hormone imbalance you need to consider. One of the most major signs of imbalanced hormones is weight gain. But, how does a hormone imbalance cause weight gain? Well, it depends.
How Does Hormone Imbalance Cause Weight Gain?
Depending on what hormone is imbalanced, you can experience weight gain in different ways.
For example, if you’re struggling with hypothyroidism (a lack of thyroid hormones), your body may not be making enough energy to properly burn off calories, which can cause weight gain.
Having too high levels of estrogen in your body can cause problems for your insulin production processes, which can cause weight gain while having too low levels of estrogen can cause extra energy in your body to be converted to fat.
High levels of cortisol can cause hyperinsulinemia, which increases your body’s fat deposits and makes your fat cells mature faster. An imbalance in melatonin, which helps you sleep, can cause weight gain by messing with your circadian rhythms and causing inflammation in your body.
Ghrelin, a hormone you might not have heard before, controls the signals that tell your body if it’s hungry or not. As you can imagine, it can play a significant role in managing your weight. Leptin, a related hormone, tells your body when it’s full, so if it’s not working properly, it can cause you to overeat and therefore gain weight.
How to Treat Imbalanced Hormones
Luckily, if you do have imbalanced hormones, there are things you can do to treat the problem.
Natural ways you can combat a hormone imbalance include reducing your stress levels, which can cause your hormones to get out of whack. Follow a regular exercise routine, practice mindfulness exercises, or take up meditation.
Make sure you’re eating a diet that allows you to get all the vitamins you need to keep your hormones in check. Ensure that you have plenty of vitamin D, calcium, and other vitamins your body might be lacking in your diet. This will help to combat issues caused by your hormone imbalance.
If you’re drinking a lot of alcoholic beverages, it’s probably time to cut back on your intake. You should also evaluate your caffeine intake to ensure that it’s not contributing to your hormone imbalance.
Types of hormone replacement therapy, such as bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, can treat your hormone imbalance and help you start feeling better. You can also treat your weight gain with accompanying treatments while you work to correct your hormone imbalance.
These treatments can include MIC (methionine, inositol, and choline) injections, B-12 injections, NAD+ (nicotinamide, adenine, and dinucleotide) therapy, and many different types of supplements.
As with any health problem, you should consult with your medical professional to find the right path for treating your imbalanced hormones. Your doctor can also do blood tests to diagnose your imbalanced hormones. They’ll find out what hormones need adjusting for the best possible results for you.
Imbalanced Hormones? Now You Know
Hopefully, you now have some clue whether or not you have imbalanced hormones. And, you can start combatting the problem and start feeling better in no time.
Are you looking for more information about hormones and weight loss? Make sure you contact us today for everything you need to know.
