Hormone Imbalance & Weight Gain

[dolphingirl4]

Hello! I would love some insight, but if not it's okay. Simply venting all this may help me some.

So I really need to make some changes to diet and lifestyle. In the last year, really less than that, I have gained more than 20 lbs. I've been a bit overweight for several years, but this is the most I've ever weighed. (I'm in my mid 20s.) I don't think that I have changed many habits or anything, so I'm not sure why my weight has ballooned like this. I am not comfortable at this high of a weight and can feel it's not good for me. To be at my "healthy BMI", I'm sure I would need to lose over 50 lbs, but I'd be happy with around 30-40.

I suspect that I am dealing with multiple hormone imbalances, but don't know what to focus on since there seem to be many things going on at once. I don't think my stress levels are that high, and I haven't been working full time hours in a long time. Unfortunately I do not exercise much, but feel that I still get a decent amount of steps and movement in most days since I work with small children.

Another issue I've been having is an irregular menstrual cycle. The last 2 or 3 months have been quite off and just this week I finally had a more normal period again. Not sure if all the irregularities are due to my weight, a potential hormone imbalance, or both.

I have not had formal blood testing or anything done in several years as I currently don't have any health insurance and don't make much extra income to afford doctor visits. I also would like to go a more natural way with healing by working on lifetsyle factors before trying synthetic hormones.

Hypothyroid problems do run in my family as well as several other health problems, so this is one of my suspicions. I often have cold hands and feet, get tired early in the evenings, and more. I also suspect some type of autoimmune, so maybe I'm on the cusp of Hashimotos? I seem to have developed food intolerances that I didnt have when I was younger. Dairy and soy are two I think I react poorly to. Digestive issues are definitely prevalent, but seem to alter or change- possibly depending on what I eat/drink.

I know I need to cut sugar down if not completely out, and work towards no caffeine or alcohol as well. I think completely cutting out dairy, soy, and gluten may be important for my healing as well.

Would love any opinions on diet and lifestyle changes. Should I stick to gentle exercises at first, like yoga or swimming? I also want to find a natural practitioner that can work with me to help restore my health over the next several years. I would love to starting trying to conceive in a couple years, and right now I know I am not healthy enough for a strong pregnancy.

So any tips for finding a good natural doctor who is well versed in hormones would be helpful. As far as supplements go, I currently utilize some essential oils (mostly topically and diffusing). I also take a probiotic and multivitamin, but am not good about consitently consuming these everyday. I want to try Ashwaghanda, so info about that would be appreciated as well.

Also, if anyone else has experienced things like this, I'd love to chat. Feel free to ask me any questions below! Thanks for reading all this, it definitely feels better to get all my concerns out there!

 

[Norman]

My wife reads these post and suggested you have your thyroid gland x-ray or scan. She experienced many of your symptoms with doctors just collecting a $174 dollar fee and suggesting it was women middle age syndrome. It was not until the hospital offered x-rays for former smokers to check lungs. Her lungs were okay, but they noticed her thyroid was enlarged. She googled thyroid gland and had me to read that information and we immediately got an appointment with a Endocrinologist. She noticed that you indicated thyroid problems run in your family.

 

[Ghostgrl1]

Hey there, that’s a great question. There are many ways to balance hormones and regulate hormone levels naturally. I found a video on YouTube from someone who has been experiencing the whole gambit of hormone problems. This is her first in a series about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

I, too, have experienced this and I like her videos. Here she is: https://dausel.co/poplGd.

Click on that link above and once you land on the page, click where it says “I am not a robot” and then you will be redirected to the YouTube video where she starts the beginning of her journey. I hope this is helpful!

 

[TanishChopra]

Hi,

According to the research, there are many variations to balance hormones and weight gain issues.
I found a very interesting video on YouTube. The lady herself is a doctor & she experienced hormonal imbalance and weight gain issues in the past. In this video, she is telling her full story that how she recovered.

Watch it here:

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Simply click on the link above and you will be redirected to YouTube. It's around 4 minutes video. I hope it will be helpful.

 

[waxing gibbous]

If you're concerned about conceiving, you could centre women's superfood nutrient herbs like parsley and nettle in your diet. Parsley and nettle soup. It grows like a weed in depleted soil. Get a saliva cortisol test to find out what exercise would be best.

 

[waxing gibbous]

Parsley isn't safe to eat a lot of when you're pregnant though. And nettle is only safe/good in the last week of pregnancy. I still think if you want to bring yourself up to a base level of health in terms of any burn out, that's the way to go. At least then you can really see what the true problems might be. I'm glad I did it. It has made my body (and mind) much stronger in dealing with the illness. And it also has given me a base level awareness of my body's vitality, that I can compare and contrast the illness battle with, which makes it far more obvious what the source of the problems are.