Hungry Hormones

So you’ve been hitting the gym and exercising pretty religiously lately and have even made drastic changes in diet. All the hard work and sacrifice, as challenging as it may be, is sure to pay off. You get on that scale at home and to your shock and horror….you has GAINED weight??How can this be? You’ve been pushing so hard and eating so well! It’s frustrating!

The above scenario is very common and completely normal. It’s something we all have little control over. We are unfortunately controlled by our Hormones. Our bodies are designed to “regulate” things to keep everything in “balance”. This state of balance is called “homeostasis”. Believe it or not, you body does not want to be super lean and low in body fat. It regulates things in conjunction with other factors (age, amount of lean muscle, medical, etc).You are NOT limited to fat loss because of ethnicity like most people think. If I had a penny for every time some said they can’t refrain from bread or pasta “because they are Italian”, I’d be a millionaire. That’s ridiculous! If you can’t put down the Canole it’s because you have no will power. Now if you’re challenged by a medical adversity such as diabetes, thyroid issues, etc then you will have a challenging time in your battle for a better body BUT you CAN overcome .It just requires an understanding of the complexity of your situation. It’s all due to the Hormones in our bodies trying to keep things copasetic.

      Men and Women have a multitude of Hormones but the main ones are Testosterone in men and Estrogen in women. Both men and woman have a little of both but those are the primary ones. Believe it or not these main factors control weight (fat) loss/gain. As men as over the age of 25-30 that Testosterone starts to decrease and estrogen INCREASES. The opposite is true for females with hormones. When woman hit the dreaded 40’s (sometimes earlier) their Estrogen decreases and Testosterone increases but that does not necessarily mean fat loss will be easier. In fact the decrease in Estrogen causes an imbalance that affects the adrenal/thyroid system in women. Female metabolism is greatly affected by stress and that is caused by adrenal overload.

I know the above is a little complex and you obviously know this if you’re like myself and battling my 40’s (but proud of that I must mention) but the solution is simple. WEIGHT TRAINING combined with SMART eating will keep your metabolism faster and thus will keep the scale in check. If you stay consistent with your exercise and pay extreme attention to eating clean (NO alcohol, greasy foods, processed sugar, etc) you WILL keep your hormones in control.

Do not let your age control you!... YOU are the boss!