The endocrine system is an amazing, precisely fine-tuned messenger platform in your body. The pituitary, thyroid, and other glands produce many hormones that do everything from regulate your libido and sleep patterns to impact your appetite and metabolism — and therefore your weight, too.
Sometimes, your hormones become unbalanced, and a variety of conditions can result, including osteoporosis, erectile dysfunction, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A hormonal imbalance can also be the reason you’re struggling with your weight.
At Regenerative Health & Wellness Medical Center, Dr. Steven Foley and Dr. Jacob Holdren offer advanced treatments for many conditions, including hormone imbalance if that’s what’s needed to get you back on track to peak wellness.
How do my hormones affect my weight?
Hormones are important when it comes to controlling your metabolism and how efficient it is at using the calories you get from the food you consume.
Some hormonal conditions that are known to cause weight gain are Cushing’s syndrome and hypothyroidism. Cushing’s syndrome occurs when your body produces too much of the hormone cortisol, the “stress hormone,” while hypothyroidism happens as a result of a sluggish thyroid, because it fails to make enough thyroid hormone.
Hormonal imbalance can cause you to gain weight whether you’re a man or a woman.
Examples of weight gain-causing hormonal imbalances for women include menopause, with the lowered estrogen leading to more unwanted pounds, and PCOS, which makes it hard for your body to convert insulin into energy. You can also gain weight by being on the birth control pill, which alters your hormones.
For men, testosterone production goes down as you age. This also leads to weight gain. A surplus of cortisol causes a loss of muscle mass and again, unwelcome pounds. If you suffer from hypothyroidism, that’s another weight gain culprit.
Even though many individuals experience this problem as they approach middle age, they can emerge even earlier, in your thirties.
Is there an answer for hormonally induced weight gain?
Fortunately, there is. At Regenerative Health & Wellness Medical Center, we offer bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, or BHRT, which brings your hormones into balance again if they’ve gotten off kilter. Bioidentical hormones are plant-based hormones that are actually identical to the estrogen and testosterone your body produces. They fill in the gaps where and when you need it.
Because hormones control so many of the functions in your body, this solution is a game changer that can help the unwanted pounds fall away. In turn, you feel a literal and figurative weight lifted, and can be proud of how you look and feel again.
How BHRT works
When you come to our office for a BHRT treatment, we take a blood sample from you and analyze it in a lab. We receive your results after about a week, and they tell us everything we need to know. If you have low hormone levels, we create a BHRT treatment plan that’s completely tailored to your needs.
The customized hormones in your therapy are contained in very small pellets, which we insert either in or near your buttock or upper hip, and we use a numbing agent beforehand so you feel no discomfort. It’s minimally invasive and takes, on average, a half-an-hour or less.
The pellets offer time-released dosages inside your body for months. If you get estrogen BHRT treatment, you sense a difference in just a few days, while it takes about a week to 10 days to feel noticeable change if you receive testosterone BHRT.
We follow up with you six weeks after your appointment, and dosage is easily adjustable if that becomes necessary.
What’s more, BHRT not only helps with weight gain, but a host of other hormone-imbalance-related symptoms, including erectile dysfunction, sleep problems, and lack of energy.
Make an appointment at either our Colorado Springs or Holly, Colorado, office to learn more about how bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can help you, or reach out to us via our website.