Metabolic Hormones

This week we are talking all about your metabolic hormones - what they are and how they are regulated. Your hormones are responsible for SO many things in the body. Including your hunger, fullness, and how well your body utilizes the energy that you put into it. Ready to actually understand a little more about your appetite and cravings?? After this episode you will understand why you don't need to "curb" your appetite, because if you don't know by now...being hungry isn't a problem!

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Kevita - https://www.instagram.com/kevitadrinks/

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Transcript

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Brianna 0:22

Hello everyone! Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Baylee 0:26

And this is Brianna.

Brianna 0:28

This week I am drinking a Kavita. I think that's how you say it. Like K E V I T A.

Baylee 0:34

That's how I say it.

Brianna 0:35

One. I found these new ones at Target. It's a probiotic refresher sparkling drink. It's a mojito flavor. I'm on my mojito kick right now and it's really delicious.

Baylee 0:47

That does sound good. I just have a, like my store brand lemon sparkling water, but I added like a little, a bit of like pink lemonade. I don't have anything fun this week.

Brianna 1:00

tried to get some. There was another one I tried to get, and then it had some weird herbs in it, and I guess I should

Baylee 1:06

Oh, yeah. Again, got to stay away from the herbs.

Brianna 1:09

Yeah, I'm getting some probiotics in,

Baylee 1:12

Yeah.

Brianna 1:12

and I was a little nervous, because I usually don't like the kombuchas or anything like that, so I was scared it was going to taste like that, but it's really delicious.

Baylee 1:21

it sounds good. I like a good mojito flavor.

Brianna 1:24

my favorite. All right. Well, this week we are talking about your hormones and how they affect your metabolism. So your metabolic hormones. We're going to give a brief summary of each one, and these are not all of your hormones. They're just kind of the main hitters that we're going to cover. So some of these you have heard us talk about, but we're just going to break it down to like the top ones that can be affecting your metabolism and even affecting weight loss. So First one is insulin. So if you've been listening for a while, you've heard us talk about these first two, but insulin, just a quick review. It is kind of like your fat storing hormone, but this doesn't mean it's a bad thing. It is basically kind of like a key that is needed for glucose to enter ourselves and help regulate our blood sugar. it's secreted by the pancreas allow the cells to. uptake the glucose so that we can use that for energy and storage. So we need this process to happen for our body. However, too much insulin is what can lead to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, increased hunger and cravings. So this is why we always emphasize, well, one of the reasons we emphasize balancing out Your blood sugar. So we aren't having insulin just constantly in our bloodstream hanging out. And there are lots of things, I mean, you can do to help improve insulin sensitivity. So how your body utilizes carbs, and this could be through like exercise, sleep, omega threes, changing what you're eating that can all impact how insulin is being produced and therefore how our body is functioning. Utilizing those carbs too.

Baylee 3:08

And, just like a little note on insulin because it's anabolic. So that's where we get the whole like, It's a fat storage hormone. Like it builds up rather than breaks down. It's also needed to build your muscles as well. So if you're trying to improve how your body reacts to the insulin, it has like how, since how insulin sensitive it is, you're trying to improve like your muscle. They all plays a role. So strength training increases insulin sensitivity. Allows your body to utilize that glucose better. And then also allows you to build and maintain muscles. So insulin is important. We don't want you to like be scared of it, but typically when we think of insulin, it's like a bad thing because everyone's walking around with like insulin. Yeah.

Brianna 3:54

Yes. And I think as soon as we hear like fat storage, we feel like red flags go up. But again, like if we didn't have insulin in our system, this is what like type one diabetes looks like. We need this insulin to be able to utilize glucose and we need glucose. So that way we have energy throughout the day. So we can think

Baylee 4:14

Yeah. It's absolutely necessary.

Brianna 4:16

So glucagon is like. The friend and foe, insulin and glucagon. Glucagon, they don't really work well together it comes into play when insulin kind of clears out the system a little bit. So it is also produced by the pancreas, but glucagon has a little bit of an opposite effect of insulin. So it stimulates the breakdown of glycogen, which is simply your stored glucose and the liver, and it breaks down that glycogen into glucose, which helps raise your blood sugar levels. Glucagon kind of helps promote that fat breakdown for energy. So this is one that we refer to as like a fat burner.

Baylee 4:58

Yeah. And this is the one that's like keeping your blood sugar steady when you're in a fasted state. So like overnight. Yeah. When you're in between meals and you've kind of already used all the glucose that you already had from your previous meal, like glucagon is helping to break your energy out of storage, keep you feeling level, keep your, keep everything good. So it's kind of like the opposite, if you will, the yin and yang. But again, if you aren't very good at storing your glucose, then you're not going to have a lot of glucose that you can use in these fasted times. And so that's like another problem.

Brianna 5:31

And this is part of making your body more metabolically flexible so that you can use carbs quickly from the food we eat. But we also have that glucagon that is able to break down that glycogen from our stored energy. So it's kind of like becoming a hybrid car. You can either use gas real quick, or you can use electricity on reserve. I don't know how those cars work. No, no.

Baylee 5:57

I feel like that's right.

Brianna 5:58

But you get the point. You can either use quick energy or you can use your stored energy. So you're not having to rely on being able to sustain your day with having to need food every two

Baylee 6:10

Yes, like having to need, Oh, I need to rely on the food. Like, no, cause I have these storages in place. I can do that. And again, this is something we really work towards helping clients get to, cause you have to work to get towards this place, especially if your body is just used to running off of whatever you put in it and not tapping into those fat stores. There's that. The next one is going to be ghrelin. This is your hunger hormone and it's released when the stomach is empty. And then it'll kind of stop being released when that stomach is stretched. So make sense, right? It's your hunger hormone because your stomach needs some food in it. It's also released when your blood sugar is low. And it's the thing that kind of gets your brain thinking like, okay, it's time to eat. It's kind of like what stimulates you to be like, okay, what I want for lunch today. You know, that's like grayling in your brain kind of like working together. So it's also stimulated with. Glucose, but like it's already kind of being stimulated, right? Cause you're hungry. But if you have like a little bit of like simple glucose, like white carbs, high sugar foods, you know, we're thinking like sodas, breads, chips, all the things that you have at a restaurant before you order the food, this kind of stimulates your hunger even more. So does that make sense?

Brianna 7:25

Yeah, and like your adrenaline levels, they are going to be, should be higher right before you start eating if you are listening to your body. And this is one of the, like, internal calorie counters, right? Because it's telling us when to eat type of thing. And it also is a hormone that can help us decide, are we eating off emotions or are we eating off calories? true hunger because it's going to kind of slowly tell you when you're about to eat type of thing like you're you're gonna start to feel oh i could eat feeling and then it could change into no yeah let's go eat and then it's like my stomach is growling and then it's like i need food now So it's that gradual progression as you release more ghrelin.

Baylee 8:13

and that's just like your biological response like your body being like well now you're gonna eat because I need energy So and I feel like this is one we've kind of been taught like Oh, curb your appetite or it takes away your craving or your hunger. Like Hughes, like we are so out of touch with our hunger and fullness cues. And that doesn't help us because then what does happen is people wait, they wait for it to be like, I'm hangry. Now my blood sugar is too low. I'm just going to eat whatever I want as fast as I can, because I'm starving.

Brianna 8:45

I do see it too where some people come and they're like, I'm just not hungry all day long. And that could be due to ignoring these hunger cues.

Baylee 8:55

Mm hmm.

Brianna 8:56

So then eventually your body kind of just stops talking to you. It would be, I always say it like this, it would be like talking to someone, And they just look at you, like, acknowledge you or anything. You're like, this

Baylee 9:08

you hear me? Did you hear what I was

Brianna 9:11

And like, that's what we do on the podcast. Like when we have funny internet and we notice the other person is just like staring, you're like, you're mean. They're like, no.

Baylee 9:21

No, I'm sorry. I was checked out. Like, I couldn't hear you.

Brianna 9:24

Yes. And that's exactly like what a very simple way of what can happen with your hunger hormones. So if you're someone who feels like you're just never hungry, or it's like you aren't hungry throughout the day, and then maybe at night you're hungrier. It could be, you've been so conditioned to ignore that hunger, but hunger is a normal thing. It's just another one of those body signalings that we get. It's like our body telling us we have to pee. We're not going to be like, oh, nope, you peed too much yesterday. We're going to slow you down today. Like that's not how our body works.

Baylee 10:01

Like, slow down on the breathing. You've had enough oxygen. It's exactly. It's like the only bodily, I don't know, like little message that we get that we're like, ooh, you know what? We're not going to listen to that. And so people are very out of touch with listening to this hunger hormone. Oh,

Brianna 10:20

hungry all day long. Then my question is, well, is your blood sugar balanced? What does that look like? That would be my first question. Like, is your blood sugar balanced? Are you eating throughout the day? There's so many other questions that come with it. So it's not that you can't trust it. It's that your body just needs a little bit of help to kind of get your hunger and satiety hormones in check.

Baylee 10:43

And this is like another little like sidebar about it, knowing that it's kind of stimulated a little bit more with those like simple carbohydrates and it's, it stops when your stomach is stretched. If you're constantly trying to eat really low calorie and you're choosing the foods that are like, you know, kind of simple carbs and like low calorie, you're never going to fully fill full. And maybe that's a reason why you're like, well, I can't trust myself. I'm just hungry all day. It's like, well, yeah, you're not. Doing enough to shut off that response of your body being like, I have enough, I have adequate energy right now.

Brianna 11:14

So then that part of it, that hormone is your leptin. That's kind of like your satiety or fullness hormone. And it's actually produced by your fat cells. So this one works by telling your hypothalamus that there is enough food and it helps prevent you from overeating.

Baylee 11:31

Mm

Brianna 11:32

Now, there is such a thing called leptin resistance that occurs when the signaling kind of no longer triggers the brain to call hunger hormones. So like I said, it's produced by the fat cells. So then you might be like, okay, well, if I have more fat mass on me, I should have more satiety signaling, but Not necessarily true because we develop that leptin resistance and this can be due to excess fat tissue. It can be due to inflammation, insulin resistance, genetics, dietary factors, like sleep deprivation. All these things can contribute to leptin resistance, which is, like I said, your body just becomes less responsive to the effects of leptin leading to Like you don't have, you don't have great appetite regulation essentially.

Baylee 12:23

Yeah. You just don't feel satiated. So it's like I'm never full. I'm never I could always like eat a little bit more. That is a real thing. And I feel like that's something that's not talked about enough either. And there really is people walking around with left and resistance feeling like I literally just think about food constantly all day. That's one of the things though. I feel like sometimes people might hear this and be like, that's me. That's me. I'm always thinking about food. And so it's like a, it's like a walking through, making sure we've like dotted all of our eyes, crossed all our T's and made sure like, okay, are you adequately actually eating enough to make yourself feel full? If you are, Okay. Yeah, that's, that might be something we can look into, but I do see some people being like, Oh, that's me. I just, I think about food all day. There's, I have left in resistance. I'm like, well, now you're still only eating 1200 calories. So that, that's the problem.

Brianna 13:11

Yeah. And like we said, there's things that you can do this because this is that second part of your internal calorie counters to get back in tune with the ghrelin and the leptin responses. So even to like help counteract the leptin resistance. This looks like adding in whole foods, not necessarily thriving off of protein bars and protein chips all day long, or like looking at your physical activity, getting enough sleep, managing your stress. These parts can help reverse this leptin resistance as well.

Baylee 13:42

And then that kind of brings us to CCK. So this is another satiety hormone, if you will. It's produced by the GI tract and the nervous system, and it stimulates the secretion of gastric and pancreatic acid. It slows gastric emptying and aids in digestion of different nutrients. It also increases the release of leptin. And this is important because if you are someone who has been struggling, maybe not eating a very balanced meal, maybe not eating enough protein and fat, you can really manipulate your leptin response by eating more protein and fat because studies do show that a high protein and high fat diet, especially, I don't want to say high fat diet, but high. Omega threes. So like what we think of as like that healthy fat, this can help stimulate CCK and help stimulate leptin and then be like, okay, I'm satiated. This is why I always tell people, if you're eating a higher protein diet, I don't mean like bodybuilder, but if you're eating a high protein diet, it is very hard to overeat because you were going to be so satiated. because of this hormone. You just, you feel full. So it's really hard to just like overeat protein and fat. and specifically here, the amino acid that it's really linked to is glutamine. This is interesting too, because some people will supplement glutamine to help lower like those sugar cravings. I don't know if any of you have heard that, but it's like, you know, if you're constantly thinking about sugar, try like a glutamine supplementation and that can help. It's because of this, but you can also get this from. eating glutamine, which is where I would recommend you start instead of just like, Ooh, let's supplement with something. Like you could just eat glutamine and it's high in like, you know, animal meats, cottage cheese.

Brianna 15:29

Like your dairy products,

Baylee 15:31

Yeah. Dairy spinach.

Brianna 15:32

Like nuts and seeds would be

Baylee 15:34

Yeah. Nuts and seeds. So you can, you're eating glutamine all the time and try it out if you're used to having like, you know, for example, if you have some quest chips and a cottage cheese cup, they're probably the same calories. You're going to still feel hungry. Most likely after like a bag of quest trips and not as hungry after like a little cottage cheese cup.

Brianna 15:54

It makes a difference. And that just goes back to those whole foods, even thinking of fiber. I mean, there's bagels out there with like 35 grams of fiber and maybe like, cool, I'm getting my fiber in for the day. But honestly, I don't love them because they're highly processed. It's a process form of fiber, usually to add, to have that much fiber in a bagel, like they're adding stuff in to it. They are highly processed items.

Baylee 16:20

Yeah, exactly. food quality is very important and we, I feel like we talk about that. Maybe we don't talk about it enough, but this is where it comes into play. Like, You can eat the same calories and with a highly processed diet and a more whole foods diet and you're going to feel completely different and your body is going to store fat differently. I'm not going to go into that, but calories don't always matter. It's more of the quality of your food because what's going on with your absorption and your hormones and digestion and all this, it's different depending on what you have,

Brianna 16:51

and I think that is a good point too. Like how you mentioned the supplement, like, yeah, you could supplement with it. And I feel like that is everyone's kind of like, first, Oh, I'll just add a supplement. That's easy. You know, what's also easy grabbing some cottage cheese, eating some chicken, eating a handful of walnuts

Baylee 17:09

Eating food.

Brianna 17:11

like you're going to get a bigger bang for your buck and you have to break down that mindset barrier of, I'm just going to throw in a supplement because. You don't need to do that. You can get this through your food.

Baylee 17:23

And you should be because you're lacking on there's so many other things that these glutamine containing foods have in them that you're not getting from a supplement. And also, I don't know why we are like so fixated on fixing all of our problems by learning how to eat less food. Like that's it. The problem is we eat too much. I'm like, no, that's not the problem. That's not the

Brianna 17:44

That's a whole nother story

Baylee 17:46

Oh yeah. I won't go there. Figure out what else do we have? Yeah.

Brianna 17:50

that'd be another one cortisol is a stress hormone produced by your adrenals when your body just senses stress and what's really Unique about your body is it doesn't classify stress as being unique It's not like You know, like sometimes we get stressed out we come into work monday morning and it's like Holy crap, we got quite the day. Emails piled up from Friday. We, we have a stress response. Sometimes we see a snake and we jump and run and scream and we feel like we're about to get, you know, attacked by a snake. Or I have an irrational fear that it's like going to wrap around my neck and just kill me. I don't know why.

Baylee 18:37

it's gonna kill me.

Brianna 18:39

That's what I would think when I see a snake. I'm like, it's just going to wrap around my body and just squeeze me to death. Like.

Baylee 18:43

This is a constricted contact snake.

Brianna 18:46

Terrible. That's all I can think about. Like it's just going to wrap around me and just squeeze me.

Baylee 18:51

That'll be the end of it.

Brianna 18:52

I've seen snakes do it to themselves. Can you imagine doing it to me?

Baylee 18:56

No, that would be horrible. So yeah, but it's funny because your body is going to recognize that fear of the snake wrapping around you and killing you. It's the same as those emails. You're just like, well, we're in a stress response. We need to do this. It doesn't know whether you are truly in a life or death situation,

Brianna 19:16

Yeah. Think about it. Yeah, as like a time like maybe your kid fell off the monkey bars or something and your automatic response like you go over there you grab them, or it's like those moments when you have that super strength when something happens you're like, I don't know where that comes from. You're having a stress response and it's not just cortisol I mean you have adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine like you have all these other hormones. But you're having a stress response. Basically what we're saying is your body senses stress as stress and that's it. And what happens is so cortisol impacts your appetite because this hormone is triggering your heart rate and energy levels to increase and adrenaline is being released. This is your fight or flight mechanism happening. It keeps us very safe and it keeps us from getting killed by a snake wrapping around us.

Baylee 20:06

yes.

Brianna 20:08

And like, this is super beneficial when people are like hunters and gatherers, because they literally had to have this stress response happening. I don't necessarily need that as much in our everyday life. We have more stressors coming from bills, relationships, all these areas. And I feel like we just don't recognize that as much, or I feel like we also normalize stress in a way that it's like, you're a weirdo for not having stress. We classify everything as stress, and it's like, are we actually stressed, or are we overwhelmed? Are we stressed, or are we just not managing our time wisely?

Baylee 20:50

Yeah.

Brianna 20:51

What's really happening?

Baylee 20:53

But all of this increased cortisol, it can lead to being overweight can lead to weight gain, excess body fat. And then in turn, the body fat that you have. It plays a part in how much cortisol you release and what that's like. So again, this is where it's not calories in, calories out. How are you utilizing that fuel in your body? Are you storing it all as energy to be used as later? Or, you know, that's, that's a bigger, it's a bigger part of the picture. So stress.

Brianna 21:25

and especially belly fat is the big thing that happens, because stress is a major contributor to weight loss resistance and linked to belly fat accumulation, especially in women. And I see this, it's, I have so many women that are like, I just can't get rid of this belly fat. And they're also very high stress running individuals. And maybe it's not so much high stress, like lifestyle type things. Like you could have a great marriage. Like kids are amazing. You love your job, but are you working out six times a week? Are you under eating? Are you doing too much high intensity? Like, what do those areas look like? Because that is going to contribute to stress on the body.

Baylee 22:07

The next one as dopamine. So this is your reward hormone. It's released when we eat food. It's also released with any type of addiction. And I think this commonly gets misconstrued as like, Oh, people are just super addicted to food. Like, well, yeah,

Brianna 22:23

We all get a dopamine

Baylee 22:24

we all, yeah. When we need food, it's probably because it's like, our body's like good for you. You ate excellent. We need, we love that we survived today. Right. but this is where I feel like people kind of struggle because the process carbs and extra sugar and all of that, it really does create this large spike in dopamine. And then it's consistently something that you want to do. This is where people are kind of feeling like I'm an emotional eater. I don't really know how to handle this. And so it's like. Let's find a way to manage our emotions that feel good during and after. And it's probably not with food and it's probably not with alcohol. And it's probably not with a lot of the things that you do for that in the moment reward, but it does play a part in how someone is feeling, how someone is eating, how someone is craving food. That a lot of people don't realize,

Brianna 23:15

this is a big reason to why we focus on in Metabolism Makeover. We ask you about your wins every week when we do check ins. Because we want to give you these quick little, we want to give you these dopamine hits that are going to last. Where a lot of times, like when it comes to diets or workouts. workout plans or whatever it is that you're doing for weight loss or Anything like that like we see the scale if it goes down we do get a quick dopamine hit and it does feel good And that's why oftentimes we think if I just lose the weight then I will be happy but we have Like a baseline happy, we're going to go higher. Some days we're going to go lower, but we're always going to come back to baseline. And I think that happens with dopamine is that eventually we kind of down regulate dopamine receptors. So now it's like we need more to get that same feeling. So it all comes back to even life things where it's like, maybe it's something that used to make you super happy and get the feel good feelings. But now you're like, I don't really care anymore type of

Baylee 24:16

I need more of it. That's.

Brianna 24:18

Same thing that can happen with like processed foods, especially carbs, sugar. Think of, I mean drugs, that it's part of that addiction type thing because you need more to get the same effect. You need more to get a reward type of feeling.

Baylee 24:34

Mm hmm. Exactly. And so this is why, you know, it's important. I feel like to really look at your overall reward system and how you're doing it and, you know, just think about it. Yes. You know, it's not all food, but this is where the whole, like I'm addicted to sugar, it comes from. And then there's people who are like, there's no way to be addicted. And I feel like there's like a medium. There are people who are very like, this is how I make myself happy, you know? And it's, You're addicted to making yourself happy. And so it's like, what channels you use to do that.

Brianna 25:04

You find you're happy.

Baylee 25:06

Yeah. It's important. So,

Brianna 25:07

And starting your day with a blood sugar balancing meal plus a dopamine hit can be super beneficial and like, take a minute to think about your morning. Like, what is the first feeling you feel? What's the first thing you do? Like, if you wake up and the first thing is like, Oh, my alarm's going off and I get the kids up for running late where it's like chaos. Then you're it's normally that your day is gonna feel that way. But if you're like, all right Let's have a good day We're gonna wake up on time. We're gonna get breakfast in that's gonna

Baylee 25:40

few things that make me feel good. I'm setting myself up for the day. I'm making myself good. Yeah.

Brianna 25:48

Like thyroid hormones. So, we've kind of mentioned these before. And, so your thyroid hormones are T3 and T4. They are produced by the thyroid gland. And they essentially help regulate your metabolism by influencing nearly every function within your body. So, I feel like hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism is very Thank you. Common like people hear a lot about it But it is super important to note because even like hypothyroidism If you're not eating enough carbs Like that's going to be super important, carbs are important, and the process of converting T3 and T4, and support your thyroid. If you're not supporting your thyroid, then we have more of a low thyroid function. It can lead to weight gain and difficulty losing weight because you're down regulating your metabolism. So, we have to support the thyroid. It's going to be a regulator for all things when it comes to your metabolism. Awesome.

Baylee 26:51

Yeah. It's like the thermostat, you know, it's how well or how not well am I like using this energy? Because again, carbohydrates help the conversion of T3, T4. That is really what helps your thyroid run. And again, it impacts your metabolic rate. So if your thyroid is sluggish, you are not burning that energy as effectively. As you could be because your thyroid it's sluggish. It's not working as well as it could. And so this is where this is why you will see, you know, an underactive thyroid weight gain and overactive weight loss because it really is manipulating how much energy you use, how quickly and that's calories. That's a unit of energy. So, Again, this is why you could eat the same amount of calories as somebody else and be the same build and the same everything and the same body fat and all the same, but you guys look completely different or you metabolize nutrients different. Your thyroid plays a huge role in that. So

Brianna 27:53

And when we say your metabolism. It's not just about weight loss and weight gain. Your metabolism is basically how you take the foods you eat and use those nutrients to make your body work. So it goes far beyond just

Baylee 28:09

How many calories am I burning? Yeah, no, it's like your whole machine. How is your whole machine running? That's what we're talking about. Yeah.

Brianna 28:16

And then estrogen and progesterone. So these ones, again, I feel like we've heard a lot about but just to touch base on them, these are your sex hormones that influence your body composition and fat distribution. So we did dive into these on our episode on your metabolism with aging. But so you can go back and listen to that one for more detailed information, but basically changes in estrogen and your progesterone levels, such as what happens during menstruation, pregnancy, menopause. That is what can affect your appetite, your metabolism, weight regulation.

Baylee 28:51

And for women, we have it a little bit different than men. If you're still menstruating, these fluctuations and these two hormones really manipulate how you're storing and burning fat, how your energy is, everything throughout the month. And it's different, which is why also just plugging numbers into a phone and using that as a guide may not be working for you because you have different needs at different times of the month. your hunger is regulated differently, your fat storage, all this because of these hormones. And then on the flip side, what? No, go ahead.

Brianna 29:23

There's some things I've been seeing because my pages are just filled with pregnancy information nowadays. But it can take like two, like after you have a baby, it can take two years for your hormones to regulate again. Which I think is super interesting because We are so focused on, we got to lose that postpartum weight right away. And I already know, even for me as a dietitian, like I do kind of have thoughts around that, I'm like, okay, what is that going to look like for me? And it is a little nerve wracking, but your body's going through lots of changes. I mean, you just took nine months to build a whole freaking human. And then you. Like you birth it and your hormones just plummet, but yeah, I can take two years for them to get regulated again. So it's really normal to feel a little off.

Baylee 30:13

Yeah. And it can be even a little bit longer than that if you breastfeed for a certain duration of time. So yes, I know it's frustrating and I, yeah, we all have this like measurement of success. Like how fast can I bounce back? You know? And it's like, Hey, let's give ourselves a break. I mean, all human. Okay. That will one day be walking around. Okay. So go me. Let me give myself a break. But yeah. And then on the flip side, we have testosterone. This is, although it's primarily like the sex hormone, women also produce testosterone. They have it too. They just have it in smaller amounts. This helps.

Brianna 30:50

can do that out as male sex hormone.

Baylee 30:53

We primarily, we think about like, Oh, males have testosterone. Like women still have them too. Just like men have some estrogen and, you know, progesterone. Yeah. It's just, so testosterone helps to regulate muscle mass, fat distribution, metabolism, et cetera. This is why men can get bulky. Women cannot, it is this hormone that's going to dictate that. This is also why men have an easier time building muscle and losing fat. And usually they don't see issues usually, but they don't see issues with losing body body muscle or in like having a hard time losing weight. Until they're a little bit older when their testosterone is naturally just starting to drop more, you know, like the late 40s and 50s and 60s. And then you see men being like, I can't lose weight. It's never an issue before. I'm like, yeah, just your testosterone.

Brianna 31:40

And I do work with a lot of couples together. I'm always like, that's going to be the most annoying part is that your husband is probably going to lose weight quicker than you. And it's always that he can literally stop drinking soda and he's lost 40 pounds type of thing.

Baylee 31:55

100 percent it's always that, or it's like he went to, he goes to the gym once a week now and suddenly he looks ripped and I've been working out four or five times a week. Yeah. So just that's

Brianna 32:06

It's just part of it. Like, don't let it be something to just piss you off all the time. Maybe, yeah, let it, but light a fighter under your rear end. And let it be something empowering. Be like, okay, well, I am a woman. You know what? He can't grow a human, but I can. Or he doesn't have these cycles that go through days, weeks, months. Men have a 24 hour cycle. Women don't do that. You think the men can handle it. Sorry if you're a guy listening, but

Baylee 32:39

They can't. They know. My husband is now, like, he's dropped his pride enough to be like, yeah, I couldn't do it. I'm like, well, you're welcome. Just over here, shouldering the world.

Brianna 32:49

yes, women's hormones are completely different. And again, like we've talked about, don't use that as a crippling thing. Use it to educate yourself more. Use it as a, more of a reason to balance your butcher. Balance your butcher can help with your hormones. Oh

Baylee 33:07

yeah. Like we, we were talking, when were we talking about this, about how we should have labeled certain episodes as like, you're not doomed. Don't look at it like that. Yeah. You're not doomed just because you're a female and you have these hormones and this is going on. Yeah. You know, start really thinking critically about like, okay, what is everything doing in my body right now? What do I really need to lose weight? Because if you are, you know, in your thirties and you're trying to lose weight the way you did in your twenties, well, everything is a lot different. And now you know why. So it's like, maybe I need to do something else. Cause I hear that constantly with women. Like, this is how I've always lost weight. And like, now I can't and I'm broken. I'm like, you're not broken. It's just, that doesn't work for you anymore.

Brianna 33:44

And it could have been the buildup of all the different diets that you've tried in the past. Maybe they've wrecked your metabolism a little bit and now your body just needs some love. And that's okay too. It's not your fault. But it's time we just support your body more. This actually reminded me, so speaking of cortisol, so I got my ID renewed and my last one I think would have been six years ago. I was drinking more, I was in college, like things did not look the same as they do now. And I didn't realize like how much I've changed, but I put my pictures side by side and Like Josh was like, I don't know. He was like, I don't know really how to say this without offending you, but your faith looks less round.

Baylee 34:28

You're like, That's because I managed my cortisol better.

Brianna 34:31

Yes. So, and I, I never even realized it, but I do know that I've been trying to put in more work to decreasing stress, like bouncing out my cortisol levels. And I haven't necessarily tested them, but I can feel the difference. And I was able to literally see the difference in my face from those pictures at the age I am now compared to six years ago, which was crazy. And at first I was, I was super annoyed that my ID expired right now as I'm. Pregnant. I was like, yeah,

Baylee 35:02

a lot. It says like, Oh my gosh, my face is slimmer now when I'm pregnant than it was then. I can always tell in my face, like right now I'm in a very stressful time in my life. I always tell like, I'm like, okay, my face feels puffy. That is like my telltale sign of like, am I managing my stress? No.

Brianna 35:19

and something we don't think about, but that is something I noticed, even like looking back at some of my high school pictures, my face was rounder, but I was super inflamed. And I've always been a very stressed person that I'm a type a dietician. That's just how it's always been. And I mean, I didn't find out I was allergic to dairy until I was 18 years old. I had lots of inflammation going on in my body. yeah, I always just had a rounder face.

Baylee 35:46

And honestly, that's something I see too, like with clients when they really start to, okay, ignore calories. We're not looking at calories. We're not looking at how little we can. And they start focusing on more like full foods and a whole food diet. They lose a lot of inflammation and it's like, Oh, the scale hasn't gone down, but I'm noticing like my face is less puppy. My arms are less puppy. Like I just feel less inflamed. I'm like, Yeah. That's a huge one. There's a lot of people walking around with a lot of inflammation thinking, Oh God, I have to lose 30 pounds. And it's like, wow, a lot of that might just be inflammation.

Brianna 36:19

And it makes a huge difference in even how you feel, how you look, so it's not something you should just stop brushing off the stress, basically.

Baylee 36:28

yeah, exactly.

Brianna 36:30

Oh, I don't know if we ever gave it an update, because we talked about how my element, I've increased my sodium.

Baylee 36:37

Oh yeah.

Brianna 36:38

It worked like my ankles were less swollen with doing more sodium and that's on experimenting with electrolytes and it's fine.

Baylee 36:46

That's fun. See when every, I mean, there's probably a lot of doctors who would have been like decrease your soul.

Brianna 36:54

But I did it like the next day, like two days in a row, and I felt a little tingly. So I'm like, okay, I think I need to find a balance between 200 and 1000. So

Baylee 37:03

Yeah.

Brianna 37:04

that's what information I gather.

Baylee 37:07

So far this is where I'm at so far, but

Brianna 37:12

But it did help. So basically, it tells my body that will tells me that I need a little more sodium right now. And that's okay. And that's just What it looks like to listen to your body. Just a little side note.

Baylee 37:23

love that.

Brianna 37:24

Yes, that is all we have today for you. Your basics on hormones and your metabolic health. Again, you are not doomed. We hope you found this episode helpful and we'll be coming back next week.

Baylee 37:38

All right. Bye.

Brianna 37:40

Bye everyone.