Balance These 5 Hormones to Shed Some Kilos

How quick you will shed kilos is not determined by your diet chart or workout regime alone. There are a lot of other factors that play a crucial role when it comes to shedding kilos and your hormones are just one of them. Hormones impact your mood, metabolism, appetite and eventually your weight. So, only eating right and exercising two times a day won’t help you get into favourite old jeans. You also have to balance your hormones for faster results. Here are 5 hormones that may halt your weight loss progress and ways to manage them.

1. Insulin

Insulin, as we all know, is a hormone secreted by the pancreas and is responsible to regulate
the blood sugar level. When you are overweight, the insulin levels in the body goes off-balance, making it harder for you to shed kilos. Moreover, if you keep on eating refined food then your pancreas has to work harder to produce more insulin to clear the sugar from the body and the hormones eventually end up storing extra sugar as fat. To balance your insulin level, cut down sugar from your diet, eat foods with low-glycaemic index and include more protein-rich foods in your diet.

2. Cortisol

Cortisol is the
stress hormone, produced by the body when we are under a lot of stress. This hormone is linked with insulin and even mild to the moderate stress hormone, spike the insulin level in the blood making it difficult to shed kilos. The rise in the stress hormones also makes your body store visceral fat around your internal organs, which results in a bulging belly. Meditation and peaceful
sleep for 8 hours are two easy ways to control your cortisol level.

3. Ghrelin

Ghrelin, also known as the hunger hormone, is released by the stomach when it is empty. The hormones send a signal to the hypothalamus telling you to eat. The level of the hormone is the highest on an empty stomach and later decreases. But it has been found that in obese people the level of ghrelin does not reduce much after eating. The hypothalamus does not receive the signal and they generally tend to overeat. Avoiding sugar and including more protein-rich foods are some of the ways to manage this hormone.

4. Leptin

Leptin is produced by the body’s fat cells and is responsible to reduce hunger and make you feel fuller. This hormone sends a signal to the brain that enough fat is stored and prevents you from overeating. But in obese people, the hormones do not work as it should. The brain does not get signals to stop and the person ends up eating more. Two potential causes of this are elevated insulin levels and inflammation in the hypothalamus. To bring leptin in control one must eat anti-inflammatory foods, exercise regularly and follow the good sleeping schedule.

5. Oestrogen

Oestrogen is a hormone responsible for the development of female sexual characteristics. Both very high and very low levels of oestrogen can lead to weight gain. It has been found that the level of hormone is higher in obese women as compared to women of normal weight. To manage the oestrogen level it is important to make necessary lifestyle changes. Daily exercising and eating fibre-rich and leafy green veggies can help to control the level of oestrogen.