Having trouble losing fat? Frustrated all your hard work isn’t working? Then this one is for you ladies (most info applies to men too)!
I have worked with so many women who have had a frustrating time trying to lose weight no matter what they have tried, sticking with their nutrition and strength plans and reversing doesn’t work without fat gain! And what do labs tests usually show…
They are low in progesterone, testosterone, high estrogen (at least relative to pro / est ratios) with lower thyroid function.
What is happening? So many factors; history of dieting or competing too much, consistent lack of sleep, birth control and Stress! Let’s talk stress for a minute; many don’t realize that they are under as much stress as they really are! They will rate stress on a scale of 1-10 around 4 ish. Not bad right. Well once a stressor has been removed, they realize how much stress they really were under! It happens ALL THE TIME!
When you are stressed from harsh dieting, work stress, scheduling, emotional stress, toxins and the list goes on and on, the hypothalamus detects stress and lowers FSH and LH are since your body wants you to survive and not reproduce at this time. This affect progesterone. Also, the hypothalamus increases cortisol. Once that happens for a while, your body will struggle to produce enough cortisol and will then recruit more pregnenolone ( also the precursor to progesterone), taking away from progesterone production, thus lowering progesterone. Now that progesterone is double whammy low, testosterone is affected as progesterone is the building block for T. And if that wasn’t enough, when T lowers, estrogen rises causing fat storage, water retention and making you more emotional.
Let’s not forget about your thyroid gland slowing since your body is now in survival mode, it will slow down your metabolism to store fat to make sure you can survive the impending stressor.
The above does apply to men but I see it WAY less often as women are far more sensitive to stress and calorie deficits since they are the givers and sustainers of life! Men.. those little sperm don’t use up even a fraction of the energy is takes to grow a baby and then feed and care for it with your body the first year of life.
What do you need to do?
- Consistently good and adequate sleep
- Nutrition
- Stress management!
- Have an extensive lab panel done and try Herbal supplements to balance hormones and manage stress response.
I like to put clients on herbal supps to balance hormones while dieting down regardless. Check those out in this video!:
What are your thoughts? Comment below.