How to Activate your Weight Loss Hormones

Taking advantage of female hormones have shown that it may support your fitness and nutrition goals. You might blame your intense period cravings on your hormones but they’re helping in terms of muscle-building and metabolic processes.

Women have always felt vulnerable to hormonal cravings and sluggish metabolism due to stress and period. It’s a good thing that science is now discovering how female hormones are related to weight loss and increased metabolism.

In this post, we will be sharing tips on how to activate these hormones to support weight-loss and revving up metabolism. Here are 4 ways to turn on your hormones to reduce weight and unwanted fat.

1.) Discover the Staying Power of Protein-Packed Meals

Did you know that you have hormones that slow down the movement of food through your GI tract? This is called cholecystokinin which are released by your intestines whenever you eat. It’s a glucagon-like peptide 1 and peptide YY that helps in gradual digestion of food intake. The big idea here is that slow-moving food makes you fuller after a meal.

Your Hormone-Activating Trick: Integrate protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs for every meal. How do you make your meal feel you fuller? Consume around 20 to 25 grams of protein in each meal. High-protein meals increase these satiating hormones, but make sure to add some fiber from complex carbs and some veggies that contain healthy fats.

2.) Curbing Your Cravings

There’s a hormone that decreases your appetite called leptin. It’s also called the feel-full hormone or satiety which is released from your body’s fat cells once it is activated from your brain’s hypothalamus. High levels of the feel-full hormone can lead to leptin resistance since the more fat you have then the more leptin your body will produce. Most women have low levels of leptin which is making them super hungry.

Your Hormone-Activating Trick: People with sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea and insomnia are struggling with weigh loss. Why? Sleep deprivation directly affects leptin secretion. To optimize your leptin levels, women should get around 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Manage your sleep habits to leverage on your leptin levels.

3.) Engage in Fat-Burning and Muscle-Building Exercise

The more lean muscle that you have then the more calories you burn even if you’re not doing any physical activity. How’s that possible? Your testosterone levels are at work even if you have a little of them. It’s a common notion that men have tons of testosterone but women have their share of it as well. It’s our body’s primary muscle-building hormones and you need to turn it on to lose weight

Your Hormone-Activating Trick: Weightlifting movements is an effective way to promote the release of testosterone. Performing compound movements such as pullups and squats will use more muscle fiber which will trigger the release of fat-burning testosterone.

4.) Support Your Thyroid

Our thyroid gland secretes a variety of thyroid hormones including T3 and T4. These hormones manage how many calories you burn by just being in a stationary position. Autoimmune diseases are the cause of thyroid hormone levels, and even healthy women experience a drop in thyroid hormones which result in reduced metabolic rates.

Your Hormone-Activating Trick: Iodine deficiency is the cause of thyroid malfunction. This means that you need to load up with iodine-rich food such as tune and cod. Seaweed is also a good source of iodine. If you take a close look, these can be included as a source of protein and fiber respectively

Do you want to learn more about creating an eating plan or an exercise routine that will boost your metabolism? Let’s get started towards your fitness goals. Chad of the OneBody Wellness and Transformation team specialises in female weight loss success and would be more than happy to talk to you about your personalised eating plan. Click here to know more.