How To Reduce Hormonal Belly Fat And Its Causes

Introduction

Hormonal Belly Fat can cause severe negative health effects on the body. There might be various reasons for hormonal belly fat, such as menopause, metabolism, genetics, illness, etc.

If not treated, it can take a toll on the body, especially in the long run. The good news is that it can be reversed through various treatments. 

This can be done indirectly by treating the medical condition that might be causing it or by treating it directly with cosmetic surgery, medication, or bariatric surgery.

However, this article will focus mainly on the most common hormonal reasons, their treatment and techniques, and how to lose them.

What are the Signs that the body is gaining Hormonal Weight?

While it is easy to tell when they gain weight, it might not be easy to tell if the cause is hormonal or not. Below mentioned are some signs that indicate hormonal weight gain.

Telling a medical professional these symptoms may help one confirm the cause faster and help them through the treatment more effectively.

• Fatigue and Exhaustion but unable to Sleep

Though this might be hard to determine, if one is feeling constantly exhausted with low energy and still finds it difficult to sleep, it may indicate hormonal weight gain.

• Hair fall

Losing hair while gaining weight might be an indication of hormonal weight gain. It can also be a sign of fluctuation in the level of hormones and increased stress.

• The feeling of Stress and Anxiety

Stress is such a big problem that it can be considered a serious disease. Feeling stressed with anxiety and constant mood swings can be an indication of hormonal weight gain.

In addition, increased stress can cause an increased cortisol level in the body, which is known to cause hormonal weight gain.

• Desiring New Cravings

This can be both a driver and a sign of hormonal weight gain. This can be caused by various conditions such as menopause, leptin levels, and metabolic syndromes.

What are the Reasons for Hormonal Weight Gain?

A hormone can be considered the chemical messenger organs use to communicate with each other. Explaining this with an example, think of insulin released by the pancreas when the blood sugar level communicates to the body’s cells that it is time to take sugar.

The opposite happens when the body is feeling hungry or is on fast. Glucagon is released, which triggers the liver to inject sugar into the bloodstream.

The body’s fat supply is controlled or influenced by multiple hormones such as cortisol, leptin, insulin, and thyroid. Thus a hormonal imbalance will cause an increase in body fat, and these imbalances may indicate an underlying medical issue.

Treating it can help reduce hormonal weight gain. Now let us look at the most common causes of hormonal weight gain.

• Slow Thyroid

Thyroid hormone is secreted by the thyroid gland, which helps regulate the body’s metabolism. It is a butterfly-shaped organ that is small in size and is located at the base of the neck. The thyroid activates metabolism in cells, which causes them to burn calories and makes them more active.

People who suffer from hyperthyroidism have overactive thyroid hormones. Due to this, they feel energetic, anxious, and hot, which can lead to weight loss.

Compared to this, people who suffer from hypothyroidism feel sluggish, cold, and more fatigue. Due to this, they may experience hormonal weight gain due to low levels of thyroid.

Multiple treatments for hypothyroidism include autoimmune disorders, genetics, cancers, and even diet. When it is, the treated metabolism level returns to normal.

• Menopause

Women in their forties usually experience menopause. It causes psychological and hormonal changes in women when their reproductive years end. Menopause cause multiple side effects on hormones.

Such as emotional change, hot flashes, and weight gain. Though the mechanism is not clear, it is often believed that estrogens level decline.

The hormone estrogen is believed to have a direct influence on the metabolism of the body and also a direct influence on testosterone levels.

A drop in estrogen level can cause less energy and gaining more fat. The hormones are controlled by testosterone level, and estrogen level increases causing metabolic changes.

• Low Levels of Leptin

Leptin known as the satiety hormone. It is linked with the control of appetite and metabolism released by fat cells after eating. It is responsible for what we experience as the full feeling after eating.

If the leptin levels are low, it makes the body feel hungrier and less full. Hence, this hormone has a huge genetic link to weight gain and obesity.

• Insulin Resistance

Insulin is released in the blood as a reaction to elevated glucose after consuming a meal, by cortisol, or by taking an IV infusion.

Therefore, insulin level remains high when blood sugar is present in high quantities for a long time which the chronic release of cortisol, uncontrolled diabetes, and metabolic syndromes might cause.

Over time, the body starts to get accustomed to insulin and doesn’t respond to it, which results in elevated levels of blood sugar and gets converted to body fat.

This can be treated with various insulin medications and diuretics. However, if not treated may lead to metabolic syndrome, which creates a larger hormone imbalance.

• Increased Level of Cortisol

The stress hormone in our body cortisol is released when the body feels stressed. The adrenal gland generates it in reaction to adrenaline or psychological stressors. This also makes the liver release glucose to provide body energy to fight the factor causing stress.

But if the cortisol hormone keeps releasing sugar in the bloodstream, the pancreas, in response, counters it by the release of insulin, which turns sugar into fat. Leading to hormonal weight gain.

High cortisol levels can get increased by various conditions such as chronic stress, tumors, adrenal functioning, and testosterone/estrogen levels.

Reasons for Hormonal Imbalance

We now know that hormones are nothing but the chemical messenger for the body and organs, which helps them respond and react. Usually, in a healthy body, they are tightly controlled and regulated.

Though medical and genetic illnesses can lead them to be imbalanced and dysregulated. Thus gaining belly fat is not very uncommon due to hormonal imbalance. Let us look at reasons that can cause hormonal imbalance-

• Change in Diet or Exercise-

Increased carbohydrates and fats in the diet will cause the production of more glucose in the bloodstream. Due to this, more insulin is released, which causes weight gain due to insulin resistance.

Exercise also raises metabolism, so if one stops an exercise routine they have been following for a while, it can lead to a decrease in metabolism level and an increase in weight. Stopping exercise can also cause weight gain due to the absence of intense calorie-burning activity.

• Genetics and Aging

Genetics plays a huge role in weight gain as control of hormones such as insulin, leptin, and thyroid depends on genetics. Thus changes caused by genetics are not under direct control.

The body’s metabolism reduces once we start aging. Reasons for this are less muscle, activity, and thyroid. This leads to an increase in body weight gain.

• Lack of Sleep 

Sleep deprivation can lead to various bad results, such as increased cortisol, unpleasant feelings, stress, and physiological changes. In addition, different hormone levels might also be increased for the functioning of the brain. Thus lack of sleep can cause hormonal weight gain and other bad side effects.

Tips to Battle Hormone Changes 

We already know body metabolism reduces as we age, but we can counter it with daily exercise and a healthy diet. So let us look at other things we can do to battle hormonal weight gain.

• Healthy Diet

Eating a healthy diet will reduce the chances of building insulin resistance and won’t spike blood sugar levels. Thus keeping you healthy. You can try also some of the top supplements to Burn Fat.

• Daily Exercise

Regular exercise has many benefits, which cannot be mentioned here. But mainly, it will help you increase your metabolism and growth factor. It will help you reduce weight and reduce stress.

• Stress Reduction

Stress is a disease in itself and needs to be countered. First, one needs to identify what is causing them stress and then eliminate or manage it. Practices like daily walking and meditation can have a huge impact on reducing stress.

Conclusion 

Hormonal weight gain and belly fat is something a lot of people experience. It needs to be treated because it can cause take a negative toll on the body. There can be various causes of Hormonal weight gain, such as menopause, metabolism, genetics, illness, and other reasons. 

Identifying the cause will help in solving it effectively. Stress is also a serious factor that leads to hormonal weight gain and, in most cases, is hidden.

There is various treatment for the reduction of hormonal weight gain, and in the majority of cases, it can be treated naturally with lifestyle changes, mainly in diet and exercise.