Are your Hormones causing Weight Gain? (How to tell & what to do!)
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Hormones And Weight Gain
Have you tried eating well and working out regularly, but the weight just won’t budge?
There’s a good chance it’s not just you being ‘lazy’ or not eating ‘cleanly’ enough. It could be one or more of your hormones tipping you towards weight gain.
Is weight loss really ‘calories in vs calories out’?
Yes and no. The energy that you consume does play a role in weight loss – you can’t lose weight if you’re putting more energy in than what your body is using up. But there are dozens of factors that can influence the ‘calories out’ aspect of that equation.
One of the most common contributors when it comes to weight gain is your hormones. This includes your thyroid hormones, stress hormones, insulin and sex hormones. Let’s take a closer look at each of these and how they influence your body weight.
Thyroid hormones
Your thyroid gland is the master gland when it comes to your metabolism. If you are struggling to lose weight or find yourself gaining weight with no change to your diet or lifestyle, this is the first place you want to look.
Click here to read our post all about hypothyroidism.
If you aren’t producing enough thyroid hormone, or your hormones aren’t being converted to the active form, your metabolism will slow down. Less energy is used up, so it tips the ‘calories in vs calories out’ equation towards weight gain.
Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) is a common condition, particularly in women. It also leads to symptoms such as intolerance to cold, fatigue, depression and hair thinning/loss.
The good news is that it can be diagnosed with a blood test. Keep in mind that your GP may only test for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). This test alone is not enough to rule out a thyroid condition – you want to get your T4 (inactive thyroid hormone) and T3 (active thyroid hormone) checked as well.
You may also want to get checked for thyroid antibodies, as most cases of hypothyroidism are caused by Hashimoto’s. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease where your immune system targets the thyroid.
Cortisol
When it comes to stress, cortisol is probably the best known hormone – and for good reason. In small amounts, cortisol is incredibly useful for the body. It is cortisol that is responsible for us waking up in the morning! But too much can be a big issue when it comes to your health and your weight.
We produce cortisol in response to stress. But it isn’t just mental stress like a bad day at work or the kids driving you up the wall.
It can also be due to physical stressors such as:
Excess high intensity training
Poor gut health
Dieting and low calories (this is why we don’t recommend huge calorie deficits!)
Food intolerances
Environmental pollutants
Nutrient deficiencies
Caffeine
High cortisol is also a big issue with our current ‘hustle’ culture. If you’re working a full time job while juggling a side hustle and still working out 6 days a week and going out at night to socialise, your body will be feeling the strain.
The issue with high cortisol is that is increase your blood sugar levels. This is helpful if you are in a life or death situation, but most of us aren’t! So your body stores away this energy as fat instead. High cortisol can also reduce the conversion of thyroid hormones into the active form, dropping your metabolism.
Symptoms of high cortisol can include:
Dependence on coffee to ‘get going’
Feeling of ‘tired but wired’ in the evening and night time
Waking feeling unrefreshed, even if you’ve had plenty of sleep
Significant fatigue for 30+ minutes after working out
Falling sick frequently
Weight gain, particularly around the stomach area
Brain fog
As cortisol levels will naturally fluctuate throughout the day, it can be harder to test for high cortisol or even cortisol dysregulation (when levels spike at the wrong time, such as bedtime). An integrative GP may suggest using salivary testing to get a better picture of your cortisol levels.
High cortisol can also feed into insulin resistance, which leads us to the next hormone.
Insulin
Another hormone that can contribute to weight issues is insulin. This is the hormone that takes excess sugar from the blood and stores it away.
Storing sugar is something we want, as high blood sugar can do some pretty nasty damage to the body! But the problem with insulin is when your cells stop allowing insulin to store the sugars, which increases your insulin and blood sugar levels.
There are many factors that could lead to insulin resistance, including inflammation, lack of physical activity, added sugars (fructose), high levels of fat in the blood, and even your gut bacteria. Your sleep quality and quantity, medications such as the contraceptive pill and overtraining can also contribute.
Insulin resistance is closely associated with weight gain and obesity, but it’s a bit of a chicken or egg scenario. Some believe that weight gain leads to insulin resistance, but insulin resistance itself leads to weight gain.
Symptoms of insulin resistance can include:
Sugar cravings
Feeling hungry shortly after eating
Getting shaky if you don’t eat frequently
Wanting a sweet treat after your meals
Weight gain
Frequent urination
Increased thirst
Elevated insulin and blood glucose can be tested by your GP, as well as HbA1C which gives an indication of blood sugar control over the past few months.
Along with weight gain, insulin resistance can also lead to high blood pressure, low HDL (good) cholesterol and high triglycerides. For some women, it can also lead to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS. These have further health implications, so it’s best to get checked if you suspect there is an issue.
Sex hormones
Finally, we come to the sex hormones – oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. If you have a healthy balance of the 3, you will find it easy to maintain a healthy weight. But if one is thrown off balance, it can make it almost impossible to lose weight.
Oestrogen and progesterone levels will naturally fluctuate throughout your cycle. Oestrogen is higher during the first 2 weeks of your cycle (from day 1 of your period through to ovulation), and progesterone is higher during the last 2 weeks (from ovulation to the start of your period).
When it comes to weight loss, one big issue is low progesterone.
Progesterone levels can drop due to factors such as:
Medications such as hormonal birth control and anti-inflammatories
Chronic stress
Undereating and/or low body weight (leading to anovulation)
Obesity
An underactive thyroid
Hormonal conditions such as PCOS
Progesterone will also drop off as you head into perimenopause.
When progesterone drops, oestrogen will become the ‘dominant’ hormone. This can lead to what is known as oestrogen dominance. When oestrogen is dominant, it can cause weight gain by impairing thyroid function, as well as contributing to insulin resistance.
The lower progesterone levels also contribute to weight gain. Progesterone helps you to get a good sleep and boosts your thyroid hormone levels, helping you to maintain a healthy weight.
Symptoms of high oestrogen/low progesterone include:
Loss of libido
Mood swings
Depression and anxiety
Headaches and migraines
PMS symptoms
Spotting in the days before your period
Irregular or absent periods (which further contributes to low progesterone)
Tender breasts
Infertility and miscarriages
High testosterone is another potential contributor to weight gain. This is most often seen in PCOS. The excess testosterone can lead to insulin resistance, as well as impairing ovulation. Without ovulation, your body can’t produce enough progesterone, creating a vicious cycle with too much oestrogen and/or testosterone
Other symptoms of elevated testosterone in women include:
Excess hair growth, particularly on the face
Hair loss
Acne
Irregular or absent periods
It was my own journey struggling to maintain my weight that led to my diagnosis of PCOS. For me, it was a combination of sex hormones and insulin that led to weight gain.
But the good news is that if your hormones are out of balance, you don’t have to settle for gaining weight or struggling to maintain a healthy weight.
Download my PCOS Action Plan here - it’s free!
✔ Get an easy meal idea sheet that you can draw ideas from to help reverse PCOS symptoms, lose fat, and start to feel in control of your own body again.
✔ Learn the best foods to always have on hand in your pantry to get the most out of your nutrition.
✔ Discover what kind of PCOS you have and how this impacts what approach you should use treat your symptoms.
✔ Stop feeling out of control with your body and learn how to manage your PCOS, for good!
Hey there, I’m Rachel!
NUTRITIONIST, PERSONAL TRAINER, WELLNESS COACH
Here I share healthy recipe ideas, training plans, and nutrition & wellness advice you need to know.
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While we make every effort to make sure the information in this website is accurate and informative, the information does not take the place of professional or medical advice.