Hormones regulate specific processes and functions in your body― including your weight. For instance, hormones like insulin, leptin, and testosterone influence your metabolism, appetite, and fat distribution. These hormones are distributed by a system of glands known as the endocrine system. Alongside your nervous and immune systems, it helps your body cope with various external events and stresses that can tilt your weight.
The lack of or excess amounts of hormones produced by the endocrine system can significantly affect how heavy or light your body would be. Thus, it can be safely assumed that weight loss (and gain) is tied to the levels of hormones in your body. To lose or gain weight, you need to regulate it. Indeed, obese people have shown signs of having imbalanced levels of hormones which contributed to the abnormal accumulation of fat in their body as well as slower metabolism.
You Lose Hormones As You Age
Now obesity can be dealt with in many ways, most especially through maintaining a strictly healthy diet and via extensive, rigorous exercises routines. However, you also need to understand that your hormone levels gradually go down as you get older. Many studies have already proven that your body’s hormone production declines when you turn 30. Men start losing testosterone and women estrogen during their 40’s, with other hormones such as progesterone, calcitonin, and DHEA soon following suit.
This eventual loss of hormones will render your body unable to properly regulate your weight, increasing abdominal fat, slower metabolism, and less energy for exercise. The worst part is this happens naturally, and it happens to everyone.
But Then Along Came BHRT!
Luckily, there are newer ways to replenish lost hormones in your body! And one of these is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy or BHRT. This treatment aims to cure several endocrinological disorders through battling hormonal imbalance by reloading the body with the necessary hormones and restoring its owner’s ability to cope with various situations. Through undergoing this therapeutic treatment, you’ll be able to replace the hormones you need to shed the extra weight plaguing you.
Why Go Bioidentical?
But why go bioidentical when undergoing hormone replacement therapy? Because not all hormones are created equal; some hormones play a more significant role in your overall health than others. Thus, you need to consider refilling your body with bioidentical replacement hormones rather than synthetic ones. The former is preferred over the latter since it shares the same molecular structures as well as the biological effects of the natural hormones it intends to replace in the body.
Moreover, many pieces of research have observed that it’s safer than the synthetic alternative, rarely manifesting any side effects that might cause inconvenience if not complications. In any case, most medical experts recommend it over other substitutes, and many health centers and hospitals offer it like KC Medical’s BHRT for men and women.
The Hormones That Need Watching
You also need to know the hormones you need to refill before undergoing BHRT to lose weight. That way, you’ll be able to more accurately regulate the doses of replacement hormones you take in your body.
Start with the sex hormones. Testosterone is mainly produced by men, although women also secrete it on a smaller scale. Its role in weight regulation primarily involves inhibiting fat storage, particularly in the abdomen, and low levels of it can cause sugar cravings which can lead to insulin resistance. Progesterone, on the other hand, helps facilitate converting the fat stored in your body to energy. It is mainly used in BHRT for women (imbalance of it can make women overheat), although it can occasionally be applied in men’s programs, too. Meanwhile, estrone, a form of estrogen, helps women regulate their sugar cravings and appetites.
Next, proceed to insulin and incretin. Insulin regulates fat metabolism and helps your liver, muscle and fat tissues to absorb glucose better. Incretin acts as a supplement, aiding the insulin prevent elevated glucagon levels after food intake as well as curving your appetite and giving you a sense of fullness while slowing your body’s rate of gastric emptying.
Lastly, you need certain amounts of pregnenolone, DHEA, and HGH. Human Growth Hormone or HGH converts fat into muscle, and it helps slow down body fat production as well as reduce the amounts of subcutaneous and visceral fats in your system. Meanwhile, dehydroepiandrosterone or DHEA increases your body’s metabolism to promote weight loss, minimizing fat storage and cravings. And pregnenolone is produced by your adrenal gland to regulate your other hormones and provide general rejuvenating effects on your body, preventing abdominal fat storage, keeping your metabolic rates high, improving brain function and memory, and alleviating stress caused by cortisol.
By having a balanced amount of these hormones through BHRT, you’ll enable your body to regulate its weight and put it back on track correctly. Add a healthy diet and regular exercise in the fray, and you’ll further produce great results!
A Few Words of Caution
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is not without its risks, though. In some cases, it is known to accelerate the chances of having severe conditions like breast cancer, stroke, and heart diseases. Most of these hazards vary depending on the patient’s age, health factors such as family medical history and individual proneness to diseases, and what-not. In any case, you should consider them first before deciding on undergoing BHRT.
You should also consult a medical expert or two when considering BHRT to lose weight. So talk to your doctors first, asking them about the best products and methods for you and the minimal yet optimal amount of hormones you need to take. They can help you set appointments for follow-up check-ups, too, as well as give you a couple of much-needed healthy lifestyle pointers.
The Takeaway
Your hormones help dictate the direction of your body’s weight― for better or for worse. So to maintain your ideal physique, you need to make sure they’re well-balanced. But if ever it tilts against your favor, you can always undergo bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Coupled with a healthier lifestyle, you can rest assured that it will do wonders for your body!