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Weight Gain

Weight Gain

Is your weight gain apparent all over your body or more visible in the centralised region around your abdomen? Are you considered slim and yet have a high body mass index? Your weight gain may be the result of a combination of the following factors:

Causes of weight gain

  • Lack of Sleep: When there are more hours in the day, there are more opportunities to eat and, when tired, we will often seek a quick sugary fix. To make the situation worse, our metabolism is slower at night
  • Lack of exercise
  • Diet
  • Quitting smoking
  • Stress and depression:
  • Prolonged exposure to inappropriate levels of cortisol (Cushing’s Syndrome)
  • Medications such as antidepressants or steroids
  • An underactive thyroid (Hypothyroidism)
  • A lack of oestrogen/ progesterone/ testosterone (commonly associated with the Menopause or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)
  • Insulin resistance and diabetes

A consultation will be necessary to determine the underlying cause of your weight gain. This is likely to involve blood testing and may require a scan. It is rare for weight gain to be attributed to one sole cause and therefore losing weight is often achieved through a combination of methods:

  • Lifestyle changes: improving your diet, increasing the amount of exercise you do, addressing your stress.
  • Hormonal causes: Should your weight gain have an underlying hormonal cause, this can be addressed by supplementing your natural hormones using HRT.
  • Insulin resistance: Sensitivity to insulinand cortisol are directly linked to weight gain and can be treated through medication and diet.