Hormones in relation to Fat Loss – Guest Post By Elite Fit Personal Trainer Paul Graham

Hormones in relation to Fat Loss

Hormones are the biggest thing to fix and get right if you want to sustain a healthy weight and lose fat. These are certainly more important than counting calories. For your brain to be right your hormones have to be right. Meaning you can fully function once your hormones are under control and balanced.

We should always try and eat to our metabolic type. I.e higher protein/carbs or mix depending on what will suit your body type best.

Here is some the key hormones that play a part in your body and how they affect us and trying to lose weight:-

• Thyroid hormone is a key component in fat loss as it steadies our metabolism and insulin levels in our bodies.
• Cortisol – fight or flight hormone which is our natural stress response which releases glucose into the blood stream so we have the energy to fight or run form dangerous situations. Excessive cortisol is dangerous in terms of weight gain as it heightens our cravings for sugar and simple carb foods – increased belly fat.
• Cortisol can be increased by poor sleeping patterns. Need clients to get there 8 hours of sleep and eating clean carbs to combat this.
• Leptin– stops us eating when we are full.
• Gherlin – counteracts leptin and tells us it’s time to eat.
• Gherlin – can be increased by stress and can also be increased by rubbish dieting hence the reason why you put the weight back on and more after you stop dieting.
• Estrogen – when this reproductive hormone plunges the week before so will your feel good neurotransmitters which will no doubt have you reaching for a pick me up sugar laced food or simple carb foods.
• Progesterone – gets a female ready for pregnancy is sends a signal to the brain to tell your body you need more calories.

How to Get the Best from our Hormones

• Eat whole foods – high in fiber, complex carbs, and low-glycemic-index foods like whole grains and fiber-rich vegetables and fruit, as well as unsaturated fats, which will take longer to metabolize and help you stave off cravings.
• Eat foods in their exact form – for example eat veg and fruit where you can with the skin still on them.
• Have 4-5 smaller meals a day with good quality protein and complex carbs in each of these meals as eating smaller and more frequently will help keep your metabolism up and keep your blood sugar levels stable.
• Exercise – strength training is a great way of losing fat as It alters the cortisol level, helping you burn calories and fat. Even at rest, muscle burns more calories than other tissue and if you are looking to tone up and get lean then resistance training is the way you want to go as not only will you lose weight but you will see a decrease in size due to putting on lean muscle.
• Control your stress – take basic stress release measures such as getting a massage or taking part in yoga to help with the stresses of a busy working week. Even just going out a walk on your own and not thinking about anything can help reduce your stress.
• Get plenty of sleep – we should be aiming for 8 hours of undisturbed sleep.
• Raise your Endorphins – Part of why we eat is to get rid of the feelings we have. So if we can increase our endorphins then we can reach our fat loss goals. Exercise is a great way of raising your endorphins, finding a hobby that engages you, listen to music you love, dance, do something thrilling and exciting, laugh. All of these will help contribute to achieving your fat loss goals.

Once we get our hormones under control the fat loss goals that you had been struggling for years become so much easier to manage and even surpass your initial fat loss goals. Sound complicated and want some help putting everything together then make sure you get in contact today for your free consultation and to discuss how we can fix some of these things.

For more info on author please visit http://www.elitefitpersonaltraining.co.uk