Switch On Your Fat-Loss Hormones

Struggling to lose weight? Learn how you can optimise your body’s natural weight-loss weapons.

1) Ghrelin: Ghrelin is your hunger gremlin. It is produced in your stomach and, like many fat-loss hormones, works with your brain to signal that you are hungry. Reducing kilojoules, in an effort to lose weight, causes an increase in ghrelin. Even after 12 months of a reduced-kilojoule diet, research shows that ghrelin levels stay elevated. In other words, your body never adapts to eating less and constantly sends the “I’m hungry” signal, which is why maintaining weight loss is often harder than losing it in the first place.

What to do: Intense exercise decreases ghrelin levels, making it a key component to fat loss and weight maintenance.

2) Leptin: Leptin is a type of hormone called an adipokine that is released exclusively from fat cells. Leptin interacts with your brain to get your body to eat less and burn more kilojoules. The more body fat you have, the more leptin your fat cells will release. However, too much body fat leads to too much leptin being released—a condition called leptin resistance. When this occurs, your brain becomes numb to leptin’s signal.

What to do: To maximise leptin sensitivity, get adequate sleep and pack your diet full of antioxidant-rich berries and green and red vegetables. Losing weight also enhances leptin sensitivity and gives you some momentum, as the more weight you lose, the more effective leptin will become in your body.