Is Your Weight Gain the Result of a Hormonal Imbalance?
Eating more calories than your body burns causes weight gain, right? Yes and no.
Though your calorie equation counts when it comes to your weight, it’s not the only factor that influences the number on your bathroom scale.
Many people gain weight as they get older. Though some of the extra weight may be due to a decrease in physical activity, your weight gain may also be the result of a hormonal imbalance.
Here at OnePeak Medical, our team of health experts understands the connection between health and hormones, especially when it comes to your weight. That’s why we offer hormone testing and therapy for men and women.
If you’re gaining weight and don’t know why it may be a hormonal imbalance.
Hormones and weight
Hormones are chemicals produced by your endocrine glands. These chemicals circulate through your blood and regulate many body processes, including your mood, sex drive, and body temperature.
Many of your hormones also influence your weight. Your thyroid hormones, for example, regulate your metabolism, which determines how many calories you need to perform basic body functions, like digestion and breathing. People with hypothyroidism, which causes low thyroid hormone levels, may gain weight or struggle to lose weight.
Though hypothyroidism affects nearly 5% of the population in the United States, it’s probably not the hormonal imbalance causing your weight gain. Both men and women experience a decrease in sex hormone production as they get older.
Your sex hormones include estrogen and testosterone. Though estrogen is a female sex hormone and testosterone is a male sex hormone, everyone produces these hormones. And, aging affects the production of the female and male sex hormones in all people.
Your sex hormones influence the distribution of body fat. When hormone levels decrease, the body tends to accumulate more fat around the midsection. This type of fat is associated with health risks like heart disease and diabetes.
Additionally, a decrease in testosterone production leads to loss of muscle mass. And muscle burns calories.
When you lose some of your muscle mass, your metabolic rate decreases. If you don’t change your caloric intake to match your new metabolic rate, you will gain weight.
Signs of a hormonal imbalance
Your hormones influence many body processes. A hormonal imbalance affects these normal body processes and may cause a number of symptoms.
In addition to weight gain, other symptoms of hormonal imbalance include:
- Low energy
- Fatigue
- Mood changes
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Low libido
- Insomnia
- Difficulty concentrating
In women, a hormonal imbalance causes vaginal dryness, and in men, it can lead to erectile dysfunction.
Though these hormone changes are part of the aging process, you don’t have to suffer from the symptoms. We offer therapies that optimize your hormone levels, relieve your symptoms, restore your vitality, and help you drop some of the extra pounds.
Restoring hormone balance
When you come in for an evaluation with concerns about your weight, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation to fully understand your health. This includes checking blood work to measure your hormone levels.
To treat weight gain due to a hormonal imbalance, we offer hormone pellet therapy. Our hormone pellets contain bioidentical hormones, which are made from plants and modified to have the same structure and function as the hormones produced by your body.
We customize your hormone pellet therapy to match your unique hormonal needs. We then implant the pellet under your skin just above your buttocks. The pellet slowly and consistently releases the hormones into your body to optimize your levels and restore your health.
Personalized weight-loss program
In addition to optimizing your hormone levels, we also offer nutrition and fitness programs to help you lose weight and keep it off.
We customize your weight-loss program to match your weight goals, health needs, and fitness level. Our program includes a personalized diet plan, fitness program, nutritional supplements, and lifestyle counseling.
There are many factors that affect your weight and your ability to lose weight. Eating less and moving more may not be enough.
To see if your weight gain is the result of a hormonal imbalance, contact us today.