Hormonal Imbalance and Weight Gain

Hormonal Imbalance is one of the health conditions faced by women in the modern world. Hormonal imbalance can result in long-term concerns such as fertility and pregnancy issues and more. In an Instagram Live held in May by Balance Health, Traditional Chinese Medicine expert Michelle Zhang extensively answered several commonly asked questions by women about hormonal imbalance.

What causes hormonal imbalance?

There are several factors that experts believe to be the cause of hormonal imbalance. The common causes of hormonal imbalance are weight gain and weight loss. Some people who experience this may also experience fatigue, tension as well as very weird muscle pain or muscle weakness. For some, they may feel some changes in their heart rates whether increased or decreased heart rates.

Aside from those mentioned above, people having problems with their hormone balance may also have dry feeling. It can be dryness in the mouth or the secretion glands. In relation to this, they can also feel weather intolerance whether hot or cold weather. 

Hormonal imbalance does not just affect our physical self. It also has an impact on our emotions. It can cause depression, stress, anxiety and even mood disorders such as the feeling of being irritated at times. For women, they may have acne before or after their menstrual period or having acne for a very long time. Above all, for women, irregular menstruation is a symptom indicating that one can be suffering from hormonal imbalance.

How does hormonal imbalance result in weight gain?

There are three common situations that can cause us to gain weight in relation to this health condition. First of these is menopause. When women reach their menopausal years, the sex hormone level will drop drastically. For example, in these times, the estrogen level will decrease and that would cause a lot of changes in the physical body. Along with this is the decline in the metabolic rate that could result in weight gain.

Second health situation is polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS. People who have PCOS also experience drop in their estrogen levels that can lead to weight gain. Lastly is the development of hypothyroidism which affects our thyroid glands. When you have hypothyroidism, the hormone in the thyroids would be insufficient or not enough that would cause your body to react to it and could trigger weight gain, swelling and water retention.

This is just the first part in our series of blogs on hormonal imbalance. In the next blog which we will release next week, Dr. Michelle Zhang will discuss how traditional Chinese medicine can help us manage this health condition.