Symptom Solutions | Weight Gain - with Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN, NP

Hi, I'm Marcel Pick, co founder of WomenToWomen.com, best selling author and women's health expert. So are you trying to lose weight right now? The story of our lives, right? Or have you tried losing weight before and simply given up because it's too frustrating and difficult? No matter what you've tried, it just doesn't seem to work. Have you tried multiple diets without success? You know, weight gain is probably the top issue for so many women, and it seems to get worse for lots of us as we get older. But seriously, it doesn't have to be that way. Okay, you're thinking, I've heard that before. Many times over every checkout counter. They tell me the same thing. What's the gimmick this time? But you have to trust me here. I do have some new information for you that will help you understand what why you can lose weight this time and keep it off for good. And listen, it's not about starving yourself. It's not about over exercising and not by following some weird fad diet. If you've tried everything, and I really mean everything, and I can't tell you how many women say that to me, you may have a physical imbalance, believe it or not, that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for you to lose that weight. Now what does that mean? It means that something inside your body is actually preventing you from losing that weight. And we call that weight loss resistance. And it's closely tied to a variety of metabolic imbalances that can occur. Now, the media has kept this secret from you and always blames it on your eating. The thing most women have been told is that it only is about calories in, calories out. And I'm here to tell you the truth. And that's just not the truth. It's way, way more complicated than that. So what are some of those imbalances that work against you when you're trying to lose weight and you can't, because trust me, they really do exist. The ones I see most frequently involve either the chemical messengers in your brain known as neurotransmitters, or the adrenal glands and the hormones they produce, or the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. So let's have a conversation about what's really happening, what may be going on for you. Now, the neurotransmitter serotonin is involved, believe it or not, in both gaining weight and losing it. And serotonin actually regulates your mood, sleep, body temperature, and so many other functions. And if it Becomes imbalanced. It's one of the key, key players in weight loss resistance. So low serotonin in the brain can cause fierce and, oh, do I mean fierce carbohydrate cravings. Because believe it or not, carbohydrates help your body make serotonin. And the problem is that women with serotonin deficiency also often have a heightened pleasure response to carbohydrates. Aw, no, not a double whammy. And that can just fuel the craving for more sweets. And this vicious cycle is so familiar to so many women. And some of my patients put it this way, they feel like they would kill for carbohydrates. So is there a solution? What is the solution? So in my practice, I actually use 5 HTP because it can greatly help control appetite. Yay. Thank goodness. And it promotes a feeling of fullness. On top of that, it helps to some extent emotional well being. And that's not a bad thing. And, oh, for some of you, I'm sure that sounds pretty good, right? So next up is adrenal imbalance. And this is so common because of the enormous stress so many women are under these days. And your poor adrenal glands, they help your body deal with emergencies. But guess what? Your body interprets chronic stress as a never ending emergency. And so it directs the adrenal glands to step on the accelerator when it comes to production and regulation of the stress hormone cortisol. Great, huh? Cortisol can be blamed for so many negative effects, it magnifies the satisfaction you get from pleasurable or compulsive activities like eating sugary foods. Then that's really not good news. And sugar can actually act like a drug in your body. High cortisol levels also increase the amount of fat deposited in the abdominal area. That's right. You heard me right. Cortisol is one of the things to blame for belly fat, for adrenal imbalances. Certain herbs help ease symptoms and support restoration of adrenal imbalance. We've put the most effective of these herbs into our exclusive adrenal metabolism supplement. Making changes in your levels of stress, along with making dietary and lifestyle changes, you can actually change your body's response to stress. Isn't that amazing? Now, imbalances are so very common when your sex hormones fluctuate and shift as well. And this often happens throughout a woman's life, particularly in perimenopause and menopause, but also with PMS and something called pcos. These are all hormonal imbalances that you can actually have many miserable symptoms and weight gain around the middle in particular is oftentimes seen. Newly gained weight can quickly lead to increased levels of estrogen and testosterone, both considered minor hormones. Now this is probably new information for you, but fat tissue itself, believe it or not, produces hormones. I was floored when I first heard this information. And it's mostly estrogen, which increases circulating sex hormones and worsens the problem. So here we go. Vicious cycle again, right? Imbalances in sex hormones often fuel more weight gain and stronger weight loss resistance. My favorite first line action step for hormonal imbalance is a powerful and I mean powerful thought phytotherapeutic formula we developed called menopause Support. Menopause support can jump start the process of resetting the balance between your major hormones and your minor hormones. And that sounds appealing to you, right? Making good choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle is a key part of restoring hormonal imbalance, and it's a major component of healthy weight loss. It's often more about the kinds of foods you're eating, not so much about how much you're eating, although that does play a part. And once you restore the balance, the weight loss often begins to take care of itself. Can you just imagine that weight loss resistance in women sometimes involves more than one of these imbalances? But we have effective methods for determining which imbalances you're primarily one. The good news is once you know that, you can concentrate on resolving it. Often secondary imbalances improve as well, especially if you are paying close attention to the other factors like diet, exercise and stress relief. So if your weight gain seems impossible because nothing you've done so far has helped, I urge you to think more about whether you might have one of these imbalances. Come to our website womentowomen.com for so much more information about recovering balance, losing weight and staying healthy for the long term. Until next time, I'm Marcel Pick. Thanks for watching.