There is a reason why our willpower wanes when you are trying to control meal portions or eating low calorie food. And the reason is hunger hormones. The body’s appetite regulators are your worst enemy for people who are trying to lose weight.
We will do a 2 part blog on information about the 3 hunger hormones that exist inside our bodies, what their functions are, what triggers them, and how you can circumvent them in order to achieve your weight loss goals.
Here are the 3 hormones that you need to worry about;
Hunger Hormones – Leptin
This hormone you are going to hate.
It is responsible for keeping the levels of fat in your body at constant levels.
It can go haywire when you go on a diet. The signals it sends to the brain about over or under eating are disrupted.
It tells your body to keep eating because according to Leptin the body is starving.
Leptin also has influence on your metabolism and how amped up it should be to burn the fat that requires burning.
It is not all Leptin’s fault. It is designed to help you survive. But unfortunately the function it performs keeps the fat in your body right where it is.
Hunger Hormones – Ghrelin
Ghrelin is the one that regulates your appetite directly.
Whenever this hormone is increased, you will get hungry.
After you eat something, usually something that you shouldn’t be eating, the levels of Ghrelin in your body are lowered.
Hunger Hormones – Neuropeptide Y
Neuropeptide Y or NPY for short, is responsible for overeating, in the most basic way.
It delays the feeling of fullness that you get when you have eaten a meal. This is why you will see some people eat a lot in one sitting, because NPY is not letting their hunger go away.
NPY is also responsible for partitioning nutrients and telling the body where to store them; either as fat or muscle.
So high levels of NPY will increase your appetite, store the calories as fat, and make it very hard for you to lose weight.
What Triggers these Hunger Hormones?
There are different things and behaviors that can trigger the release of these hormones, so read and try to avoid these triggers;
Lack of Sleep
Lack of sleep is the biggest trigger of these hormones.
If you are a person that gets only 4-5 hours of sleep, Leptin and Ghrelin will be increased by up to 15{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9} in your body.
The overall effects of lack of sleep include, loss of muscle fibers, lethargic metabolic rate, cravings for sweet food, and increase in overall appetite.
So make sure that you get the right amount of shut eye at night.
Stress
Stress can create leptin-resistance in your body and it creates environment friendly for NPY release.
NPY can start creating more fat than muscle in your body, increasing your weight quickly.
So exercise and practice activities that take away the stress.
Boxing or working out can do that.
You can also try some healthy eating habits to aid the release of hormones that make you calm.
Dieting or Fasting
A healthy dieting process doesn’t trigger these hormones but crash dieting and fasting do.
If you cut your calorie count drastically, then you will trigger the release of these hormones and it will have an adverse effect on your health and weight loss.
You should checkout some healthy diet plans in order to avoid dealing with these silent appetite regulators.
Understanding these hunger hormones is half the battle. Now that you understand these hormones better and what triggers their release, the next step would be to deal with them without causing harm to your health.
We will be back with that information in our next blog. You cannot afford to miss that post.
