As counterintuitive as it may be, your exercise habits might just be your worst enemy. But before you get too comfy on the couch, best listen up. A sedentary lifestyle is a disaster for hormone health and maintaining a healthy weight. It’s about finding the right balance for you and most importantly you understanding your body better day by day.
By Dr Natalie Kringoudis, Hormone Revolutionist from the Weightloss and Health Institute
Excessive exercise for women with hormone imbalance can be a disaster. In fact for many, it results in further weight gain simply because of the intricate balance between cortisol and our sex hormones, since excessive exercise is simply extra stress that perhaps your body can’t deal with. I’ve met with many women in my clinic who tell me they have done everything known to man in an attempt to lose weight, without success. What these women quickly learn is that the issue goes further than them – that is, it’s not because they eat the wrong food or are too lazy to exercise. It’s most likely because their hormones are sending the wrong messages in an attempt to survive.
For women with conditions like Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) or Oestrogen Dominance, weight loss can be tricky business. For those with PCOS, often their cravings for sugar are bigger than the Incredible Hulk, as insulin levels continue to rise as a result of hormone imbalance. For these very women, excessive exercise not only makes them want to eat more food (very often of the wrong kind), but it further impacts oestrogen, since cortisol (the stress hormone) and progesterone (the hormone required for ovulation) compete for the same receptors in the body to get the job done. Worse still – cortisol is one very bossy hormone, and will take control of the situation. What does this mean? Because progesterone can’t ‘kick in’ to do its thing in the presence of bossy cortisol, oestrogen keeps climbing. Oestrogen feeds fat cells, and fat cells produce oestrogen, so it becomes a very vicious cycle of weight gain, cravings and sabotage.
For those with hormone imbalance any stress that will promote the constant release of cortisol becomes an issue – but think outside the box because stress is far more than your cranky boss and a pending deadline. Your body is stressed under poor nutrition, lack of hydration, un-serving thoughts, emotional turmoil, or unattended ailments.
So before you lift another super heavy dumbbell, understand what type of exercise is right for your body. Gentle, regular movement just like walking is the perfect type of exercise to not only promote weight loss, but to help gently move excess cortisol out of the body alongside balancing your hormones to move you closer to your goal.
It’s so important that we continue to learn as much about ourselves as we can to steer our bodies in the right direction. We are all unique in our requirements which at times can make it overwhelming, but if we remind ourselves to go gently, make small changes and observe how our body responds we can soon take things day by day and really make inroads.
