Are Your Hormones Making You Fat?

Imagine waking up every morning to the sound of your alarm, excited and happy to be starting a new day. When you look in the mirror you admire your body. Everyone tells you how great you’re looking and asks what your secret is. Sound too good to be true? If you, like many other women, don’t feel this way, you may have a hormonal imbalance. Research has documented that over 40 per cent of women have an undiagnosed underactive thyroid gland. If you feel tired all the time, crave sugar, use alcohol and coffee to lift yourself, retain weight around your middle and feel the cold, you could be suffering from this problem.

What Does Your Thyroid Do, and What Does This Mean For You? The thyroid gland is the major player in controlling how many calories you burn. It produces hormones that control the body’s metabolism. If your thyroid is underactive (hypothyroidism) it’s almost impossible to lose that spare tyre around your middle, no matter how many carbs you cut out or how many hours you spend on the treadmill.

Blood Testing Current blood testing methods don’t tell the whole story. Blood tests (TSH) can only measure how much thyroid hormone you have in your blood – they can’t measure how well your hormones are working. So, if you do have a thyroid problem, it may not always be picked up.