Fat, love handles, extra padding, or just about any negative word that is synonymous with extra weight comes with numerous stereotypes that often make us cringe. Later, it is when fad diets, superfoods, detox cleanses, supplements, new workouts and other programs that promise encouraging results are usually mentioned, but do you know the relationship between body fat and hormones?
With these solutions, you think you never have to worry again, but after feeling like you’re trying so hard and doing your best, you realize you’re not getting results. You rationalize it and say: ‘it’s not that bad or it could be worse’. However, the answer to your weight loss problems still confuses you, however it shouldn’t be that difficult.
The most advisable thing would be to be able to analyze our problem of fat accumulation in a profound way. Our fat cells literally tell us how we can help them function optimally, and there are a few top strategies to finally get out of this recurring weight loss problem.
But: What is body fat?
Fat keeps us alive by helping store nutrients and cushion our organs, and the cells themselves have receptors for hormones such as vitamin D, estrogen, testosterone, thyroid, cortisol (our stress response), insulin, and hormones. hormones that tell us when to stop eating.
Many of these help control energy metabolism, food cravings, anxiety, sleep, stress, heart disease risk and, of course, metabolism.
Here are some important facts about body fat that you may not have known.
1. Not all types of fat are created equal
Not all fat is the same, there are types of fat called brown and beige adipocytes (fat cells). In fact, by increasing them we can further increase our metabolism. Generally, “lose fat” refers only to white adipose tissue, which is where energy is stored.
2. Fat can also warn about diseases
Fat also gives off a number of signals as it is heavily involved in any inflammatory process, a general term for when our body is in general overload. It also helps regulate blood pressure. Our endocrine system, the main system that helps control metabolism, has at least 7 different organs, each with various hormones, many of which are lipid (fat) based.
3 culprits of not achieving fat loss
There are many factors that do not allow us to lose weight correctly, now some of the main culprits will be mentioned.
1. Estrogen
The main culprit that our weight doesn’t come off and instead seems to keep piling on is due to an excess of a common hormone, estrogen (ie estrogen dominance).
This occurs predominantly in women, but is being found more and more in men, and is a common result of low testosterone levels, since testosterone can be metabolized into estrogen, and also in fat cells. When estrogen is in balance it can help us lose weight, however when it is out of balance it can cause weight gain and potentially food cravings.
It can also slow down our thyroid function, aka metabolism, making it even more difficult to work on our diet or hit the gym. Extra estrogen is commonly found in our environment, so consider swapping your beauty and home products for products whose ingredients don’t look like they came out of a chemistry lab.
2. Insulin resistance
It is also incredibly common in cases of weight gain. Along with insulin resistance, there are usually elevated levels of glucose and other markers of blood sugar and decreased acidity, even with adequate food intake. What could happen is that if your cells have become overloaded over time with high stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, the body just decides keep insulin out. The problem? Elevate glucose, also known as your energy. This increases our appetite, and not particularly for healthy foods.
3. Too much stress
What happens in this case is subjective. Some people know when they are stressed or very anxious, and take deep breaths, but others do not… We can become desensitized to the reaction to stress.
We need stress to survive, but the problem is when there is too much. It’s ‘too much cardio’, going to the gym when your body just wants to rest, living in an urban city, staying up late, not getting enough sleep, not having a good diet, letting go of various thoughts, emotions, being in stressful environments.
In addition, the cortisol receptors in our abdomen are 4 times more receptive than in any part of our body. So if you want to get back to being able to button your pants without holding your breath, consider setting a daily alarm on your phone at 3pm that tells you to take 5 minutes of deep breathing.
Don’t worry, even these few tips can cause massive improvements over time. Just as our symptoms did not appear overnight, they will also take time to go away. This is a big picture, and even these three factors may not have the same impact on everyone, and knowing that we are very unique is also one step closer to knowing that we need to have our own plan.
Consider consulting a physician, or an integrative medicine practitioner who can really explore these areas, as well as your own research and inquiry.