In This ArticleView AllIn This Article1. You can’t stop thinking about food2. Once you start eating, it’s hard to stop3. You might want to eat more often4. Your metabolism slows down5. Your belly could get biggerDoes anything good happen?So, how can you go about losing weight without all the hormone trouble?

In This ArticleView All

View All

In This Article

  1. You can’t stop thinking about food

  2. Once you start eating, it’s hard to stop

  3. You might want to eat more often

  4. Your metabolism slows down

  5. Your belly could get bigger

Does anything good happen?

So, how can you go about losing weight without all the hormone trouble?

Our series,Hormones & Our Health: How What You Eat May Affect How They Work, explores the vast role hormones play in the body and the diet and lifestyle factors that help them function as they should.

Numbers don’t lie. Except when it comes to weight loss. For years, dietitians swore weight management boiled down to one simple equation: Eat less, lose more.

Sounds logical. But today, we know that dropping pounds isn’t just about mathematics. If it were, we wouldn’t still be searching for the latest weight-loss miracle (and spending a collective$62 billion a yearin the process). Why is weight loss such a challenge? One big reason is your hormones.

Our bodies are evolutionarily hard-wired to hang onto fat to protect against starvation and famine. So even though you might want to lose weight quickly, your body has other plans entirely. And it really doesn’t matter which diet you choose. Whether it’sketo,paleo,intermittent fastingor old-school calorie-cutting, rapid weight loss sets off alarm bells telling your body to restore the status quo—pronto. As soon as it gets the SOS, your body springs into action, releasing a flurry of hormones designed to put the pounds back on. Next thing you know, the weight you worked so hard to shed starts making a comeback.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. By understanding how weight-loss hormones work, you can develop strategies to work around them and keep the pounds off for good. Here are five common hormone-driven changes that happen when you lose weight, plus one straightforward strategy to outsmart them.

The #1 Habit You Should Break to Lose Weight, According to a Dietitian

Feeling hungry? Blame it onghrelin, a hormone made in your stomach. Ghrelin’s job is to ensure that your body has a steady supply of energy on tap. It kicks in when you haven’t eaten for a while, sending hunger signals from your gut to your brain telling you to start thinking about your next meal. Trouble is, ghrelin doesn’t just rise when your belly is empty. It also spikes when you drop pounds, leading to a gnawing hunger that makes it nearly impossible to maintain your new weight.

If ghrelin makes you hungry, thenleptinis all about feeling full. Leptin is produced in your fat cells, and its mission is also energy preservation. When you have sufficient fat, you generate lots of leptin. So, you’re easily satisfied, and everyone’s happy. But when fat starts to dwindle, leptin follows, making it hard to know when to put down the fork.

Hormones aren’t just about appetite. They also influence your calorie burn. Take leptin, for example. In addition to helping you eat less,leptin also keeps your thyroid—and therefore your metabolism—in top shape. But when leptin drops after weight loss, metabolism often slows too, meaning you’ll have to eat less just to maintain your new weight.

It’s the ultimate paradox. Stress makes us want to eat more. At the same time, dieting is stressful. And that may have some unintended consequences—like belly fat. Several studies have found thatdiets(especiallyfasting plans) raise cortisol, a stress hormone that directs fat to your tummy. If that weren’t enough, highcortisollevels also break down calorie-burning muscle, adding another hit to your metabolism.

Despite these changes, weight loss isn’t all bad news for your hormones. Some hormones improve after weight loss, doing good things for your health.

For instance, losing weight may:

So, how do you leverage the benefits of certain hormones while minimizing the downside of others? As a registered dietitian, I’m a big fan of a balanced diet rich inwhole, minimally processed foods(theMediterraneanandDASHplans are two great examples). This way of eating is naturally filling, so you’re less likely to struggle with post-diet rebound hunger. And it’s easy to sustain long term, since it doesn’t suggest restricting any one food—even sweet treats are on the menu, when enjoyed in moderation.

True, the weight won’t melt off in a hurry. Instead, something even better will happen. You’ll shed pounds slowly, giving your hormones a chance to adjust to your new weight rather than shocking them into chaos.

Read More:The Mediterranean Diet for Beginners

The Bottom Line

We at EatingWell understand that most studies, including the ones we reference in this article, are based on what happens to hormone levels in cisgender people whose gender aligns with the one assigned to them at birth. This is especially true when referring to sex hormones. We adjusted our language to be sure to include all identities but recognize that based on a person’s use of gender-affirming puberty blockers or hormone therapy, some of this information may not apply to transgender and nonbinary individuals in the most comprehensive way it should. We also recognize that not all transgender and nonbinary people use hormones as part of their care.

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