Hormones and Weight Gain

When talking hormones and weight gain the first place to start is F O O D. Food is either medicine or it is poison. Food can be healing and nourishing our bodies, or slowly killing our bodies. There is really no grey area inbetween.

It is also the number one key factor in how to lose weight and keep it off.

Dr. Mark Hyman, one of my favorite functional medicine Dr’s in the US, said it like this, “You can not work out enough to compensate for a bad diet”.

In this post, we will discuss

• hormonal imbalance weight gain
• our hormones our health
• the best diet for hormonal health (best diet for hormonal imbalance)
• natural remedies for hormonal imbalance
• how to create a custom meal plan that works for you
• free downloadable – Hormone Repair Manual

Losing weight can be hard. Losing weight with a hormonal imbalance feels like swimming against some major currents.

I have been there I gained over 70 pounds with my second pregnancy and my autoimmune system (thyroid) went haywire!

Doctors told me, “this was just something I had to live with and manage, there is no cure for it”.

This answer was simply unacceptable.

I knew there had to be a way and I was determined to find it.

It took me over 6 years of rigorous researching, trial and error, and lots of willpower but I did it!

And I am still ad avid researcher today! Wellness and longevity became more than a hobby it is something both my husband and I have an obsessive fascination with.

I am 38 years old, look and feel better than I ever have, I dropped over 50 pounds (and have kept it off effortlessly for YEARS now), and am completely off of all thyroid medication!

I am sharing with you today exactly how I did it!

Whether it is autoimmune issues such as a hormonal imbalance for you like it was for me, or any of the other many issues Americans are facing today, if this process is followed with consistency will work for you too friend!

Hormonal Imbalance Weight Gain

I am a visual person, as I quickly share with you what hormonal imbalance weight gain is I can show you too what it looks like.

Here are a few pictures of me (age 23) on my honeymoon. I was “that girl”. You know the one that is skinny despite eating whatever I wanted and never working out.

That was my reality up to age 24.

Coming back from the honeymoon in Mexico I was sick, really sick. Throwing up everything, including water I assumed I ate or drank something in Mexico that made me sick.

After about a week of this, I decided to take a pregnancy test to eliminate that as a possibility.

Surprise, surprise!

After about 3 tests came back positive (lol I was shocked, to say the least) I had found the root of the constant vomiting.

Suprise honey we are pregnant.

Turned out I would continue to throw up valiantly for the remainder of the 9 months because of a condition medically termed “hyperemesis gravidarum“. Sounds like a magical spell out of the Sward in the Stone movie right?!?!

An evil spell that is.

Hyperemesis gravidarum is extreme, persistent nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. It can lead to dehydration, weight loss, and electrolyte imbalances.

VS

Morning sickness is mild nausea and vomiting that occurs in early pregnancy.

This unfortunate condition was around for my second pregnancy as well….. easy to find the source of my major hormonal imbalance. Not one but two extremely ruff pregnancies!

Thankfully in the third trimester of my second pregnancy, I was able to eat without instantly vomiting it up.

Unfortunately, my brain was sending the survival signal that I was starving and so no matter what I ate I was never full and gained 80 pounds (yikes).

The right is a year after baby # 1 with about 15 pounds of postpartum baby weight that would not budge! On the left, the photos were a year after baby # 2 with 50-60 pounds of postpartum baby weight that would not budge! (Yikes!)

Though this was less hormonal imbalance weight gain, it was pregnancy weight gain, it was definitely a hormonal imbalance weight loss issue that I faced.

Like most people I started at the doctor’s office hoping they would “fix it”. After over two years of doctors and specialist visits, hundreds of dollars of tests later all I was left with was,

“Sorry, K’Lee everything looks “normal” as far as your blood work. Thyroid conditions cannot be healed you will be on medication and need to manage this for the rest of your life. As far as your weight (and the laundry list of other issues hormonal imbalances bring with it), do you want to try a weight loss pill we can prescribe?” quote from an endocrinologist who shall remain unnamed

After crying in my car in the parking lot for who knows how long. I wiped my tears and decided at that moment if I could find one person who healed their autoimmune system then I would know it could be done and by God, I would do it too!

It took me 5-7 years of research, reading books, listening to podcasts and interviews, and lots of trial and error and willpower with a fraction of the resources and tools we have at our fingertips today. (Youtube was not even around yet, and the internet sure was not what it was today)

But I did it!

Free of all medication, 50+ pounds off, and I look and feel better than ever!

Let me be your one person. I did it, you can too!

How food affects your hormones

Unlike the many other “eat veggies and don’t drink cokes” answers you might hear on Dr. Google. It isn’t quite that easy. At least not when you are dealing with Hormonal Imbalance.

There are foods that are wreaking havoc on our health, on our hormones, and the weight is just the “check engine” light to the total mess going on inside of the body.

Then there are the people who have literally tried EVERYTHING and have not lost a pound. After having my youngest son this was the category I fell into. After having my second son I was still stuck there but now with 50+ pounds of extra weight that would not budge!

If this is you do not fret 7+ years later and I have found a lot of answers I am sharing with you today.

In my case, I discovered I was Hypothyroid.

Yes.

This autoimmune issue or hormonal imbalance was why after a 6-day water & vegetable juice only (yuck) fast I did not lose even a single pound.

My 60+-year-old stepdad was doing the fast with me and in 3 days lost a pants size (sigh).

A fun fact is not all foods are friends.

For example, eating carbs and sugar = insane insulin spikes. Our bodies can only handle so much of this until things inside start going haywire. And this means you guessed it weight gain.

Our minds are powerful and if you lose something your kind and brilliant brain will help you find it. So, let’s release that unwanted weight instead.

Custom Keto Diet

The first thing I did that finally worked with the Keto Diet. Again, this was back in the day. Before all the amazing tools, recipes, and resources that we have today. I had to figure most of what I know out myself the long hard way.

I refer everyone who will listen to the Custom Keto Diet meal planner.

Why?

Because friend it was not around when I started and I spent countless hours researching the keto diet to understand it than to spend even more time figuring out a meal plan so I could stick to it.

Now, unless you have a LOT of spare time and love to research then let me save you from hitting the first major roadblock that gets knocks most people off the wagon….. let me offer you a guided plan to success!

When I started Keto I went from nothing working to dropping 30+ pounds within the first 90 days!

I followed this up with an exciting visit to my doctor requesting blook work be done informing her my goal was to be off all thyroid medication and be fully healed.

Little did I know she would meet me with major resistance the entire way!

She was taught in her 12+ years of medical school that autoimmune issues were “incurable”. This was her truth, so the fear she had in me taking on this journey was high and she did not hold back how she really felt about it.

That is until she got my blood work back and saw the amazing improvements.

“Great!”, I said, “let’s cut the medication in half and see what happens.”

Y’all I thought she might pass out by the look of shock on her face! “Half?”, she nervously responded.

We settled on a halfway point and cut the thyroid medication by a third with an appointment to retest (and in my mind lower it again) in 60 days.

Mind you I was on a very high dosage of thyroid medication so I knew this process might take a year or more. But I was committed and I was determined.

Fast forward it ended up taking close to two years to fully be off all the thyroid medication. There were some visits my numbers were low so we waited 60 more days before lowing it again and so forth.

However, it worked! Amazing what we can accomplish when we are determined enough.

Clean Keto Diet

After about two years of trying multiple eating styles – and friends, I gave them a good 90 days+. Nothing will work overnight. If you are serious about your health and getting rid of that extra weight YOU HAVE to give things time.

If you have 40+ pounds to drop, I am sure that didn’t all appear on your body overnight right? It took months or even years to accumulate the extra unwanted weight and it will take some time to get it off – that is if you want it to stay off.

For me it was 9 months of pregnancy that brought on the extra weight for me and even with a great excuse like pregnancy

Mindset & perspective when starting anything new is key. Looking for a quick fix, aka fad/crash diet, may get you the weight loss quick but it comes back on jut as quickly (plus some normally due to fad/diets often screw up the metabolism so the boomerage brings back some extra weight with it).

A good rule of thumb is if you lose weight quickly you will find it just as quickly!

Ok, as far as Keto goes this was the first place that within 90 days I dropped 30 pounds. Great results! But not “overnight” by any means.

Now, this was MIND-BLOWINGLY fast considering, and honestly a bit unexpected. Considering I had tried several different “diets” before Keto and did not lose a pound!

There are two types of Keto. Clean Keto and Dirty Keto.

I started keto 6+ years ago now and honestly, I am not even sure “clean keto” or “dirty keto” was a thing 6 years ago.

Let me quickly distinguish the differences.

Clean Keto is dairy-free and eliminates the processed (junk foods) that otherwise are “keto-approved”. Dirty keto allows for dairy as well as a wide variety of junk food, fast food, etc.

Where should you start?

Well, you obviously know I am going to say, Clean Keto!

I, however, did not realize there was a difference for our first year on keto and once we removed dairy as well as (most) processed foods WOW did I feel better!

Not to mention I dropped another 15+ pounds within a few months.

Whoop whoop.

Since I am constantly studying, learning, growing, and implementing what I learned and after around two years on Keto my husband and I would say are somewhere between Clean Keto + Paleo.

We have started to incorporate carbs in our dinners and have seen amazing sleep score improvements.

See our brains need some carbs – clean healthy carbs (don’t go off on bread and donut bing friends this is NOT the kind of carbs I am talking about).

I teach all of this in my One-On-One Healthy Hormones Wellness Coaching program as well as my husband & I’s Couples Wellness Coaching Program. (Click Here to Find Out More)

Having the bases of Clean Keto and Paleo makes it easy when looking for recipes or just to have a clear set of general guidelines.

Sticking within the clean versions of Keto and Paleo is like the bumpers in the bowling alley. It gives you a ‘safe’ path for food. Once you have been with this eating style for a year or so it becomes completely effortless!

You don’t even need the “bumpers in the bowling alley” anymore. You know what to do and doing it is easy.

Let me again refer you to a program to act as the “bumpers in the bowling alley” for you until you get to that effortless place of this being a lifestyle for you!

“Most people don’t plan to fail they fail to plan” ….. Don’t be most people!

That said I have never weight or measured our food. Because, for me anyway, I knew this was not a long term lifestyle change I would stick to.

My biggest secrete to long-term success and how I was able to stick with it for over 6 years?

Was by viewing this as a Lifestyle change NOT a diet.

Mindset is one of the first areas we cover in our coaching programs. If we do not get our mindset right and build on a strong and solid foundation then it doesn’t matter how “good the house looks” if the first sign of a storm (life) blows it down.

Mindset around food and our lifestyle is key to getting results that last.

Clean Keto for 90 days to up to 6 months to get your body fat adapted IS 100% were I would start. This coming from a girl with a track record of NOTHING worked then

BAM 30+ pounds dropped in 90 days. And my thyroid medication was cut in half too…..

more on that story here.

What to eat to lower cholesterol

The number one cause of high cholesterol among a very long list of other health issues that if left untreated promise to lead to one of the

Big 5 Killers:

• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• Alzheimer’s / Dementia
• Cancer
• Diabetes

Is….drum roll, please!

Inflammation

I have many different blog posts on how to heal your body naturally. After you finish here just pop “hormones” in the search bar above and you will find so many great articles right here on my blog.

Once you see that the weight is not the real problem (the roots), though YES we want to be rid of all the extra weight. We see that weight is just the by-product of a MUCH MUCH bigger issue going on inside of us.

Then why not “two birds with one stone”.

Seriously, you can heal your body and drop the unwanted extra pounds at the same time if you are willing to stay with it.

Earlier I quoted Dr. Mark Hyman, one of my favorite resources on educating myself on healing.

Dr. Hyman went to medical school and practiced as a surgeon for many years…..until he himself became very ill. Being an American trained Dr when he became ill he did what we all do in the US. Went to see a specialist.

After many tests the specialist told him ok Mark here are your medications, looks like you are just going to have to live with this and “manage it”.

In the US medical professionals refer to their offices as “medical practices” otherwise said as they practice medicine. Mmmmm do you see the problem?

They do not practice healing – they practice medicine…….. and they practice it on you and me.

Please do not get me wrong.

I am not bashing doctors I am simply saying they are doing what they are trained to do in the 8-12+ years of medical school.

Identify the problem and “practice medicine” on it. This is the Western way of medicine.

The Eastern ways date back thousands of years and are still going strong in the East and we call those Functional Medicine.

Dr. Hyman is now a leading specialist at the Cleveland Clinic of Functional Medicine.

For his full story and countless hours of interviews find him on Youtube or on his Podcast “The Doctors Farmacy”.

Belly Fat Burner

Ok so now we have talked about food. I shared how going Keto, then I transitioned into Clean Keto (dairy-free & cutting out most processed foods whether ‘keto’ approved or not).

Now, we are Clean Keto + Paleo.

Low carb (clean keto) until dinner then we enjoy a more Paleo Style dinner and dessert.

We have added in fruits like oranges and apples, even the occasional banana (living on the edge lol).

Eating more of an ancestral diet. Clean, healthy, wholefoods that came from the ground and eating them as they are season as much as possible.

For a healthy Keto + Paleo meal ideas, and clean natural living follow me on – Pinterest CLICK HERE

Food (and our mindset around food) is the starting line.

When we eliminate inflammatory foods and transition our bodies from burning carbs to ketos something magical happens. Our bodies spend less time in insulin spikes and drops and more time healing the damage that poisoned food caused.

Remember food is medicine or it is poison.

Avoid the inner aisles of the grocery store (aka the processed and junk foods).

Remember this is a lifestyle change NOT a “diet”.

A wellness lifestyle has no “end” date.

Saying things like ‘this is my cheat day’ is a good sign from someone not starting with the right mindset.

Think about it this way.

If your friends cheated on games they played with you all the time and took all your money.

Would you still be friends?

Or better yet if your partner (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife) had a once-a-month “cheat day” would you stay with them?

So why would you cheat on yourself?

On your health?

For a lousy piece of cake or beer?

If food is an addiction and you need help, please get help! Ask friends or family, and reach out to me for coaching,

Starting clean keto will help you eliminate the foods causing the addiction if you can commit to it long enough for it to work! I promise it will work!! Find a friend to start with you. Do whatever you need to do to begin to break the food addictions and be free from the grip food has on you.

Conclusion

The weight loss industry is a multi-BILLION dollar a year industry is because it teaches th idea that there is a “start date” and “end date” to a healthy lifestyle.

Most focus more on exercise than food, because lets be honest food taste good and when we are younger most of us can eat horrible diets and just work it off.

It has been proven exercise is only 20% of the equation.

Food is medicine or it is poison. It is either healing and nourishing your body or slowly killing it.

If you live in America the diet for Americans is SAD – Standard American Diet.

Comment below, what lead you to this post?