When you’re trying to maintain a healthy body weight, you might face a few obstacles that you weren’t expecting. Simply monitoring your caloric intake might not be enough to keep the readings on your scale in the range that you’re used to seeing. Here are three causes of weight gain that you should be aware of.
1. Hormonal Imbalances
Your hormones are closely connected with your metabolic rate, and the rate at which your body produces various hormones will change over time. Other factors can affect hormone production such as stress or dietary deficiencies. With too much estrogen overpowering other hormones, it could weaken some of your muscles and make your energy levels falter. That might prompt you to be less active than you ordinarily would.
Weight gain is one of the most notable signs of estrogen dominance. Issues with your energy and endurance coupled with adverse effects on your metabolism could make you much more susceptible to weight gain. To address this problem effectively, try a few changes in your diet. Include more foods that are rich in essential nutrients such as magnesium and boost your fiber intake.
2. Bad Bacteria in Your Gut
Your gut contains a complex microbiome of bacteria. At any given time, you’ve got about 50 trillion microorganisms in your digestive system. Some of that bacteria is good for the gut because it cleans the lining of your digestive tract. The good bacteria fight off the bad bacteria that’s in your gut. When there’s too much bad bacteria, the friendly type won’t be able to overpower it. Resultantly, the bad bacteria can form a biofilm on your digestive tract that causes inflammation and discomfort while interfering with your regular digestion.
Taking a probiotic supplement can help you keep your gut’s microbiome in good shape. In addition, foods with antibacterial properties such as manuka honey are a good way to address sudden shifts in the bacterial population inside your gut that are attributable to various types of infections.
3. Stress
Being stressed out causes cortisol levels in your body to spike. Cortisol is a hormone that medical professionals identify as a key indicator of stress. Physical exertion during exercise prompts the release of cortisol. Basically, exertion is a form of physiological distress, even though it’s good for you. In response, your body serves up a big dose of this energizing hormone.
Emotionally stressful situations have an effect on your body that’s comparable to physiological stressors. While cortisol may supply you with a temporary burst of energy, it will also cause an increase in your appetite. That’s part of the biology behind stress eating. It isn’t all about diving into sweets as a way to escape your troubles. Cortisol makes you crave sugary and fatty foods.
At the same time that stress might have you deviating from your typical diet with unhealthy foods , stress also disrupts the digestive process. When cortisol floods your system, your digestive function comes to a screeching halt. This can upset your stomach, but it might also intensify your hunger. If your body isn’t absorbing the energy and nutrients in the food that you’re eating because cortisol is hindering digestive function, you might feel as though you haven’t eaten anything. Even after you’ve had a full meal. you may find yourself reaching for seconds almost right away.
Being conscientious about stress management could help you avoid this common cause of weight gain. Fortunately, being active is a great way to relieve stress naturally. You might also consider trying meditation to enhance mindfulness. A ten minute meditation exercise can make it easier to unwind and relax. When stress is pulling your mind in a bunch of different directions at once, meditation could help you collect your thoughts and feel less anxious.
If you’ve gained weight rapidly without any dramatic changes in your diet or activity level, it may be advisable to get more information. Diagnostic testing can enable you to identify and treat the underlying cause.