Adrenal Glands and Weight Gain
Adrenal Glands and Weight Gain
Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by our adrenal glands. When cortisol gets elevated it causes us to store belly fat and lowers 7 keto DHEA. The reason why that is a problem is because 7 keto DHEA may help us burn fat and lose weight. So fat storing hormone cortisol goes up and fat burning hormone 7 keto DHEA goes down.
In addition, cortisol raises our blood sugar. The body now must raise insulin to lower the blood sugar and keep it in the normal range. The problem with this is insulin is one of the most powerful fat storing hormones that your body makes. In addition, insulin lowers the fat burning hormone glucagon.
So when the adrenals get over stressed we get the fat storing hormone, insulin, going up and then the fat burning hormone glucagon going down. We also get 7 keto DHEA (fat burning) and glucagon (fat burning) going down. Together these really make it difficult for a person to lose weight. This is the person that exercises and eats all the right foods but still struggles with weight loss.
Now here’s the real kicker, elevated cortisol can actually cause problems with a person’s thyroid gland. Cortisol can obstruct the production of TSH and interfere with the conversion of T4 (inactive thyroid hormone) to T3 (active fat burning thyroid hormone). Unfortunately, this might mean that some people are walking around with thyroid problems that are actually adrenal problems.
These are the people that are on thyroid medication but still struggle with being overweight and have various thyroid/adrenal symptoms such as:
- Insomnia (waking up at 2 am to 3 am)
- Fatigue
- Food cravings for salt and/or carbs
- Pain and/or inflammation
- Anxiety and/or depression
- Weight gain, especially around the belly
- Hair loss
- Weakening of the nails
- Loss of the outer 1/4 of the eyebrows (only in some cases)
Help is on the way!
If you are struggling with a thyroid, weight, or health concern please take a moment to fill out the Free Adrenal Damage Test below. If your weight is normal but you still have any type of health concern or thyroid problem, please fill out the evaluation as it is great for anyone.
