Why You Gain Back The Weight You Lost

In most, if not all developed countries, obesity and the chronic diseases caused by being overweight is a recognized and stated health crisis. This condition is even declared as a worldwide epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO. If you are overweight or obese, this article about the leptin hormone will have a direct impact on you to lead a healthier and happier life with much lower risks of weight related diseases.

Because of the huge negative health impact, loss of productivity, rising medical costs and subsidies and for the simple reason of aesthetics, huge amounts of research and billions of dollars are being invested each year in the weight loss industry to understand the obesity scourge and how to get rid of it.

The energy balance and body weight regulation are complex functions that are generally controlled by genetic disposition and hormones. It is now known that our body weight is regulated around a very narrow range of about 10 to 15 pounds on the average.

This theory was developed because numerous research have confirmed time and again that people who lost a significant amount of weight usually returned to their starting point weight over a period of time. For those of you who have successfully lost weight before and gained it all back will not be surprised with this finding. So how do we overcome this phenomenon?

You see, our body adapts to under or over eating by changing 3 basic metabolic functions. They are your resting metabolism rate, metabolism during physical activities and metabolism from the ingestion of food that you consume. So during weight loss, your body's metabolic rate will slow down which in turn causing lesser calories to be burnt off as energy. This will make it more difficult for you to lose more weight and as such, you stay within the boundaries of the weight range as metioned earlier.

There are many things which people do when undergoing a weight loss program that upset their metabolism mechanism which is why, most diets don't work! I bet you know that since you have probably been on some kind of diets before. This is because the diets are either too hard to maintain or if you have lost some weight, you would have probably put them all back again. At least for most people.

All is not gloom and doom if you are overweight because you can actually tweak your body's own natural leptin production to lose and maintain your weight permanently. Never heard of leptin before? So what is leptin and why is it a weight loss hormone?

In the 1950s, scientists found a genetic defect in mice that led to spiralling morbid obesity in a controlled experiment. They found out that mice with this condition weighed up to 3 times that of the average mice and that they had a much more ravenous appetite. Scientists further discovered that these obese mice were deficient in a blood-borne protein that regulated hunger and body weight. This protein was identified as leptin in 1995 and its name is derived from the Greek word "thin".

Leptin is now accepted as the main regulator of appetite and metabolism in human beings. This hormone is mainly secreted from our fatty tissues, although small amounts of leptin are also produced in the stomach and the placenta.

Leptin binds to receptors that cause hormonal signals to be released that can limit hunger and thus can control food consumption. The greatest concentration of leptin receptors is found in the hypothalamus part of the brain and this is the reason why the hypothalamus plays a vital role in a person's body weight regulation.

The leptin hormone has numerous effects on the body which include:-

Hunger inhibition

Raise metabolism and thus burn more fat

Stimulates fat burning activities in the muscles and liver

Now, since most leptin is produced from fatty tissues, then overweight and obese people will have more leptins, right? So why are they still overweight?

You see, it is now known that consistently elevated leptin levels impair the function of the leptin receptors, thereby requiring greater leptin secretion to produce the same effect. So production of more leptin to lose weight is not the answer to fat loss but regulating its production is.

In other words, to lose weight with the help of leptin, you must know when to eat, what to eat and how often to eat. Yes, you can even consume food with chock full of carbs and calories if eaten at the correct time and quantity which can actually help you to produce leptin to lose weight!

You will also be glad to know that not only does the hormone leptin has an impact on metabolism and hunger control, leptin also plays important roles in your immunity system, lung function, bone development and even reproduction.

So if you want to lose weight without gaining them back and improve your health substantially, then find out more on how to regulate your leptin production.

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