EP. 12- Restore feminine hormone balance to put your body into FAT BURNING MODE vs. FAT STORAGE MODE.

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How to balance your hormones so you can lose those last 10 pounds

Hormones are equally as important as what you eat when it comes to weight loss. Your hormones will determine whether or not you lose weight.

Hormones are the signals that tell our tissues, our organs and our body functions what to do, including fat loss. They’re little chemical messengers. If they say ‘lose fat’ then that’s what’s going to happen in the body. If they say ‘store fat’ then that’s what’s going to happen in the body.

It is essential that hormones are functioning optimally for women in order to lose fat. Our endocrine system—the system responsible for releasing hormones—needs to be in balance.

Estrogen—if we have too much estrogen, it creates fat storage.

Testosterone—a key component to maintaining lean muscle mass.

Progesterone—if you have too much it can cause water retention and bloating.

Melatonin—this one impacts your sleep quality.

Cortisol—the stress hormone. Increased cortisol equals increased fat loss

Insulin—the fat storage hormone. It reduces fat burning and increases cravings.

Leptin—the satiation signal hormone.

Grehlin—the hunger hormone.

Feeling frustrated by doing all the right things but feel like you’re stuck and no results?

There are 5 major things that influence our hormones.

Factor number 1: The quality of food

It’s not just about the calories. Calories are energy, and that matters. Of course, the amount of food is important. But food also has other information or raw materials, like macronutrients, micronutrients. The quality of food that you consume determines what information it provides your body.

Pay attention to the quality as well as the calories. Is it organic? Local? Are the animal products grass fed and hormone free? Pay attention to giving your body nutrient-dense foods, like leafy greens. Also check the stuff you’re putting into your body that isn’t even food, like diet food alternatives, calorie-free, sugar-free etc. They’re actually anti-nutrients because your body needs to use nutrients to process them.

Don’t get caught up with it being perfect. Very often when we try for things to be perfect, we get overwhelmed and then sabotage our results. Don’t aim for perfection. Make small changes and a small shift in the quality of your food over time. As you start to do this you are giving your body the raw ingredients and nutrients that it needs to achieve optimal hormonal health.

Factor number 2: Sleep

Proper sleep is so important for fat loss. People talk about nutrition and food a lot. Even if you eat super clean, but you don’t get adequate quality sleep, you won’t get the results you want.

Sleep has a huge impact on your hormones. It’s not just quantity that matters, but also quality. You want to get 8 hours sleep but you also need to get the REM sleep where your body is really, really resting and restoring.

Tips to get good quality and enough sleep:

• Set a schedule and honor it.
• Commit to it and hold yourself accountable for it.
• Avoid looking at/turn off all electronics at least an hour before bed.
• Make sure the space you’re sleeping in is completely dark.
• Don’t eat 2-3 hours before you go to sleep.

For more tips, read Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson

Factor number 3: Stress levels and stress management

Stress affects your hormones, which in turn affects your weight.

In particular, stress can completely throw off your cortisol patterns and levels.

Chronic stress, even if it’s at a low level, will eventually lead to adrenal burnout.

Under stress, the body goes into survival mode, and one of the functions of survival mode is to store fat.

Our body is genius in looking after us and keeping us safe, and this is the body’s way of surviving emergencies. But of course, in the modern world, the stress we feel from getting an email from the boss or an important presentation also triggers our stress survival responses. Our hormones then make us crave sugary and carb foods. These foods give us a burst of energy to be able to survive an emergency. But you don’t actually need that to survive an email from your boss.

Low-level chronic stress influences your hormones to tell your body to store fat.

My Thought Management Tool for Stress:

Using this tool will help you decrease the amount of perceived and experienced stress in your life, and deal with stress in real life situations in a way that is healthy and effective.

Whenever you have a stressful situation, identify the situation causing stress, identify the way you’re thinking about the situation that’s causing you stress, come up with a new way to think about it that doesn’t cause you stress. Takes practice to master but totally worth it.

Factor number 4: Hydration

It’s so simple, but so many of us don’t do it. Just like quality food, our body needs water to function optimally.

Losing the last 10 pounds is a high-performance function, so in order to do that, you need to be very well hydrated.

It’s recommended that a woman drinks half an ounce of water per pound. For example, 124-pound weight = 62 ounces of water. Alternatively, aim for 8 x 8-ounce glasses of water per day as a basic recommendation. If you’re more active, you might need to drink more.

Water is mother nature’s elixir of health and beauty.

Coffee, soda, energy drinks, beer or water, they all dehydrate you. Always drink a glass of water for every cup of these in addition to the basic water you should be drinking.

Factor number 5: Products you use

The products you use, including your makeup, moisturizer, lotions, dish soap, and shampoo can make a huge difference in your weight loss results. The reason is that the products and the chemicals in them affect your hormones.

Most products are made really irresponsibly because they’re trying to make a profit, so they use ingredients that are toxic, carcinogenic and endocrine disruptors that affect your hormones. The skin is the largest organ in the body so your body consumes whatever you put on your skin.

A lot of the products contain ingredients that are xenoestrogens. They mimic estrogen in our body, which leads to estrogen dominance, and triggers fat storage. It also leads to cancer, infertility, and PCOS.

Pay attention, use cleaner products in your body and in your home. Start with the ones that you put directly on your body daily, e.g. foundations, moisturizers, lotions. Slowly start to swap these products out for cleaner, safer products. There are apps you can get on your phone to help check products. E.g. EWG environmental working group.

My favorite brand is Beauty Counter. She absolutely trusts them on safety, cleanness, and performance.

Remember, hormones are the boss. Balance them so that you can lose weight and improve your quality of life.

Remember to schedule a call with me if you want help managing your stress and getting a plan for losing the last 10 pounds.

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