Hormones and weight gain are correlated. Hormonal imbalance often results in the increase in body weight. A number of hormones are responsible for it and this article describes the most significant ones.
It is a tough challenge to maintain the body weight. A balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle certainly help to keep the weight of the body under limits. Still there are cases when in spite of following both the above mentioned health requirements, people gain weight. If this is the case with you, then you must be interested in knowing the exact reasons behind it. Following is the required explanation.
Hormones and Weight Gain: Scientific researches have established the relation between the various hormones and weight gain. In cases where a person follows a low-fat diet, exercises regularly and still is growing in size; hormones are the reason behind the gradual weight gain. In your school, you must have read about the body hormones and their importance in coordinating physiological functions in the biology classes. Hormones play an active role as messengers in our bodies. They travel in the blood stream and direct the functioning of the brain, kidneys, liver, respiratory and nervous system. They even monitor the presence of fat in the body. Hormones perform their functions efficiently till their concentration is balanced and they work in a team. Hormonal imbalance may lead to various diseases like hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis and even infertility. They have a significant contribution to weight loss and weight gain in the body. Below-mentioned are the hormones that have direct impact on weight gain.
Estrogen: ‘Female hormones and weight gain’ is a term that can be rightly associated with estrogen. Estrogen is produced in the ovaries in females. The role of estrogen is to bring about monthly ovulation. A decline in its concentration in the body directly results in gain in the body weight. The reason behind it is that when its level falls down, the body works to get the required amount of estrogen from other sources. Fat cells produce estrogen. Therefore, the conversion of calories into fat increases in order to raise the estrogen level. Unlike muscle cells, the fat cells do not burn much calories. There is an increased deposit of fat in your body and you look bulky. This especially happens during menopause.
Progesterone: The hormone progesterone is also produced by the ovaries and there is a decline in its level as well during menopause. Progesterone does not have any direct effect on weight gain. Rather, it indirectly leads the body to gain weight. This is so because in its lower levels, the body tends to retain water in its cells. This phenomenon is known as bloating. The water retention makes you look heavier. The progesterone, one of the female hormones and weight gain go hand in hand but its role is often deceiving.
Testosterone: Human body needs the hormone testosterone for muscle building and maintenance. In males, testosterone is produced by testes while in females, testosterone is produced half by the adrenal glands and half by the ovaries. Muscle cells burn calories in the body and keep the rate of metabolism high. Any fall in the level of testosterone results in the loss of the body’s muscle mass. This further leads to slowing down of the metabolic rate. The final result is the gain in the body weight. The level of testosterone especially declines during menopause.
Androgen: The hormone androgen is produced by the testes in males and the ovaries and the adrenal cortex in females. This hormone is mainly responsible for the mid-section spread of your body. Its increased levels directs the deposition of fat around the abdomen. A rise in the androgen concentration is one of the initial menopause symptoms, and hence, depicts the onset of the so called “middle age spread”.
Insulin: In females approaching menopause, insulin resistance is often noticed. The side-effect you suffer from, is that your body converts every calorie taken in into fat. This is one of the most obvious hormonal factors leading to weight gain in the middle age in females.
Cortisol: Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands in a diurnal pattern. The diurnal pattern means that there is a variation in its secretion. The cortisol concentration is at its peak in the early morning and is at the bottom at night. Cortisol plays many roles in the body. The most important are blood pressure maintenance, fast metabolism of fat and carbohydrate to ensure energy availability to the body and stimulation of insulin release to maintain blood sugar. Under physiological-stress conditions, secretion of cortisone increases. This often alters the diurnal pattern of its production. It results in the body gaining weight. The body deposits excess fat around the abdomen, making you look bulky. The fat in the abdominal area is often called the “toxic fat” as it is strongly correlated with cardiovascular disease like heart attack and strokes. Because of the above explained reasons, Cortisol is often referred to as the stress hormone and explicates the relation between the stress hormones and weight gain.
Your body needs hormones to carry out its normal routine affairs. But any rise or decline in hormonal levels affect your body seriously. The most apparent result is the gain in body weight. Therefore, try maintaining the hormonal levels by consuming nutritious food and remain healthy forever.
By Kalpana Kumari
