Weight Loss Problems Caused by Health Issues

Sometimes, even when you have followed your doctor’s or nutritionist’s weight-loss instructions exactly, you still notice you’re not able to lose much weight. You may feel like you’ve done everything you can: counting calories, controlling how much food you eat at once, and even working out or exercising regularly. Yet you still can’t seem to lose much weight at all.

You may not know this, sometimes gaining weight is not caused by lack of exercise or poor eating habits. There are actually different medical conditions or diseases that can cause you to gain weight too. And even if these conditions don’t cause you to put on extra pounds, they can make it very difficult for you to actually lose weight. By taking care of these standard medical problems though, you should be able to start seeing much better success in your weight-loss progress.

A common health issue which can cause you to gain weight is stress. When you’re stressed your body actually produces a hormone which is called cortisol. Small amounts of stress and cortisol aren’t usually a problem. But when you become overly stressed, your body starts producing more cortisol, and this can cause you to gain weight.

Depression is another very common reason for having problems with gaining weight or not being able to lose weight. Usually this is because people tend to eat too much when they’re depressed. Or they eat more junk food because it’s what’s called comfort food for them.

Something you may not have heard of before is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition where your body resists insulin so your blood sugar levels increase to excessive amounts. And when your blood sugar levels increase too high, it causes you to gain weight.

An active or underactive thyroid, also known as hypothyroidism, can also cause you to gain weight or make it very difficult for you to lose weight. The thyroid is what regulates your body’s metabolism. So when the thyroid is not functioning properly, your body can have a slower metabolism, and thus have a problem with losing weight.

One other medical condition that can cause problems with weight-loss is hormonal changes. For women particularly, hormones play a very big role in the body’s weight loss or weight gain. But men can have the same problem, because they can have hormonal changes and balances as well.

If you think you may have a problem with one or more of these medical conditions, visit your doctor and discuss the issues, then work out a plan to correct the problems.