Hormones are chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream and spread information. They play a role in every aspect of our lives, from our mood to memory, and from sleep to the distribution of body fat.

So our hormones influence us, but vice versa, we also influence our hormones. Through the foods we eat, for example, or the toxins we expose ourselves to. If there is an imbalance in our hormones due to a wrong lifestyle, the processes in which they are involved are also disturbed. And you notice this in your diet and weight, for example. People who are unable to lose weight may therefore have hormonal imbalance. In this article you can read which hormones play an important role.

Hormones that affect weight are

Insulin is the hormone that tells your body when it is time to store energy and when it is time to release energy. When your blood sugar rises (such as after eating), your pancreas releases insulin into your bloodstream; this tells your cells to take glucose from the blood sugar and store it as fat or glycogen for later use.

Leptin tells your brain how much energy (in the form of fat) is stored in your body, so you know when you need more (or less). Leptin also regulates appetite and metabolism by sending satiety signals to the brain. When you eat a meal, leptin levels rise, but if there is too much fat in your blood, leptin production can slow down or stop altogether.

Ghrelin is another hormone that affects appetite. In a healthy situation, (an empty) stomach releases the hunger hormone ghrelin, which reaches the brain via the blood. This makes you feel hungry. Once you have eaten, the satiety hormone leptin ensures that your hunger signal stops after a while because there is enough energy again, until you have consumed this energy again.

Adiponectin is the hormone that tells your body to burn fat for fuel. So low levels of adiponectin in the body can cause a higher risk of obesity.