Leptin is a master hormone secreted by adipose (fat) tissue that controls hunger and the feelings of satiety. The more overweight someone is, the higher the leptin levels are likely to be.
If you have tried and continually failed at dieting or health changes in the past, look to fixing your Leptin. If your leptin is not regulated you’ll never experience the lasting changes you are after.
Since Leptin is produced by fat cells, it seem logical that those with more fat cells (such as overweight individuals) would naturally produce more Leptin. More Leptin in turn would then tell the body to eat less and weight would normalize.
However, damaged metabolisms or endocrine issues that overweight people experience prevent this from happening.
The real issue when there is difficulty losing weight is not in how much Leptin is produced but a condition called “Leptin resistance.” When this happens, this master hormone is not able to produce the kinds of normal effects to stimulate weight loss.
Under normal healthy conditions, Leptin would burn excess fat stores. But when there is Leptin resistance it causes multiple mechanisms to be activated to increase fat stores because the body senses that it is starving. This in turn causes people to continue to eat because the body thinks it is starving and so the messages sent are to “eat more.”
With this type of damaging cycle in place it’s not hard to figure out why people continue to gain weight.
Leptin resistance is a complex issue not caused by one single thing. There are many contributing factors that negatively impact Leptin levels and turn on the “fat storing” switch.
Some of these are:
Exercising too much: Yep…there is such a thing as too much exercise…especially if your hormones are already damaged.
Consumption of Fructose and the wrong types of carbohydrates: High Fructose Corn Syrup is especially damaging.
Consumption of too many simple carbs
High Insulin levels (another master hormone): Insulin is the hormone that either tells your body to use energy or to store it. To get off this fat storage merry-go-round the ideal diet is to eat foods that have a naturally lower insulin response.
Overeating
Not enough sleep
High levels of stress and anxiety
So, how does one go about fixing their Leptin levels back to healthy and their metabolism back to working for them?
Eliminating toxins: Throw out your processed and chemically laden foods and replace with what Mother Nature provides. You should also pay more attention to ingredients found in soaps and deodorants as the skin is the largest organ in the body and when you put chemical toxins right on your skin…your body absorbs them. The more toxic your body is, the more inflamed fat cells you will have and the more likely you are to hold onto your fat stores. When you detoxify your body, your energy will increase and you will feel like being much more active. You will also lose excess fat naturally. One you are detoxed, you will look and feel younger and age slower.
Focus more on using weights and less on aerobic type exercises: It’s ok to walk or even swim but what you do not want to be doing is cardio just for the sake of doing cardio. Cardio places more stress on the body which will negatively affect Leptin levels.
Get plenty of quality sleep: Most people have no idea how much sleep or lack of it can affect the proper working of hormones. It’s best to hit the sack by 10 to optimize your sleep patterns.
Look to protein and healthy fats: Especially in the morning. This helps to promote the feeling of satiety and provides important building blocks to make more hormones. Replace grains, sugars and lost carbs with healthy fats.
Avoid refined foods, sugars, fructose and simple starches: It’s difficult to eliminate all of these as they are so prevalent in foods these days…but eat as little of these damaging foods as possible.
Keep between meal snacking at a minimum: When you eat constantly, your liver is working constantly and your hormones don’t get a break. You should also try and avoid eating 4 hours before bedtime. Eating too often is one of the worst things you can do if weight loss is your goal.
Soak in the sun: Get outside and allow nature to do its magic. Walk barefoot on the ground and get your dose of vitamin D from the sun (you can easily enjoy the sun without getting hit with midday rays). There has been a huge increase in vitamin D deficiency because people have been scared “out of the sun.”
Minimize your Omega-6 consumption but up your Omega-3 consumption: This helps to support healthy Leptin levels because its lowers inflammation. Inflammation…even low grade inflammation could be unknowingly affecting your weight loss goals as well as your overall health and wellbeing.
If you truly want to get out of that weight loss resistance body you must begin focusing on nutrient-dense eating as part of your new lifestyle. And, don’t forget, this is not a quick “one-time” fix…this is a lifestyle change and something you will be working on the remainder of your life.
Most weight-loss resistant bodies are that way because of lifestyles and the answers are literally right in front of us…if we are paying attention.
Take this 60 second test and find out how YOU fare on the Weight Loss Resistance Scale!
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