How to Control Your Hunger Hormones

Unfortunately, weight is mainly controlled by hunger hormones. Studies show that hormones influence how much fat you store, how much sleep you get each night, and your appetite.

The ability to influence and control those hormones is extremely beneficial when trying to accomplish a weight loss goal. But first, you have to understand just how these hunger hormones work.

Hunger Hormones—Leptin and Ghrelin

The hormones leptin and ghrelin work together to keep your body at a healthy, sustainable weight.

Leptin is the “I’m full” hormone. It basically tells you when to stop eating and makes you feel full. It reduces your appetite as you eat, and when your stomach hits capacity, it tells your brain you no longer need to eat.

Ghrelin does the opposite in your body—it is the “I’m hungry” hormone. Your body makes and releases this in your stomach. So when your stomach rumbles, it’s making you aware that you haven’t eaten in a while.

These hunger hormones theoretically work in tandem, so when one level rises, the other lowers in order to keep a level of homeostasis throughout your day. Unfortunately, there are a few factors that create issues when your body tries to tell you you’re hungry or full. Leptin levels heavily fluctuate depending on how much fat you are carrying on your body. With this in mind, if you have a higher percentage of body fat on your frame, your leptin levels will be higher, which creates issues with your ability to feel full. It’s also possible to create what’s called leptin resistance. If you constantly overeat at every meal, you can develop leptin resistance. This hinders your brain’s ability to register the circulating leptin that is trying to tell you to stop eating. You don’t even know you’re full.

Another complication arises as you lose weight. When you drop the pounds, your leptin levels also drop. This means you also won’t be able to feel full during this phase, either. You end up feeling extremely hungry more often and tend to eat more, potentially causing you to put back on the weight you just lost. Losing weight slowly over a long period of time helps leptin stay stable. It also allows time for your body to adjust to the changes—patience is key!

How to Control Your Hunger Hormones

Managing your hunger hormones as part of your weight loss strategy might seem overwhelming, but I’m here to reassure you that it’s probably more simple than you think. Sticking to a weight loss program that keeps you losing at a moderate pace will help you keep that leptin from dropping. There are certain ways to manipulate leptin and alter your diet to keep your hormones stable and control those hormones that let you know when you’re hungry.

1. Eat small portions every 2–3 hours to make sure you keep those empty-tummy-grumbling ghrelin levels low.
2. Eat protein! This keeps ghrelin levels low, too. Adding fiber each meal will also slow your digestion, which keeps you full longer. Look for whole grains, veggies, and fruit to get your fiber in.
3. Exercise also helps you control your hunger hormones as you are trying to lose weight. Staying active actually helps your ghrelin levels stay low so you aren’t as hungry throughout the day.

How to Control Eating

In order to help your body control leptin and ghrelin, which in turn controls your eating, it’s important you begin to change certain bad habits. This is the trickiest part of your weight loss journey—your hormones will shift as you lose weight, so being aware of this fact as well as implementing the tips below will help you control your eating and lose weight.

Avoid sugar. Sugar impairs ghrelin response after eating, which leads to overeating and overconsumption of calories. If you consume more calories than you need, you will gain weight.

Studies show that getting enough sleep will also help stabilize your hunger hormones. Have you ever slept poorly and then the only thing that sounds good the next day is junk food, carb-loaded food, or sugar? This is because, with lack of sleep, those high-fat, sugary foods affect your brain’s reward center the same way as marijuana does—giving you a case of the munchies.

While avoiding inflammatory foods is great for your overall health and weight loss journey,  this also improves leptin sensitivity specifically. Eating foods like fatty fish and limiting your gluten intake is a great way to do this.

How to Stop Eating Too Much

If you consistently fill your belly to the brim, this is called overeating. You’re not alone in your struggles to stop binge eating to help your hunger hormones. This is an important habit to master in your weight loss journey in order to begin to mindfully eat and balance your overall diet.

Using smaller plates is your first step to control your meal portions. Studies show that using a smaller plate leads to a 30% reduction in the amount of food consumed. It tricks your body into feeling satisfied because you cleaned the entire plate, but your portion size was smaller, so you consumed fewer calories. America is notorious for over-serving food at restaurants, so if you eat out quite a bit, don’t consume everything on your plate. Try to eat half of what is served to you and take the rest home (You get a 2-for-1 meal deal!).

Another habit you can get into is to drink a full glass of water before eating. Water benefits your body in many ways, and one of them is to give you a sense of fullness. So, drink water before meals, and the likelihood of overeating decreases exponentially.

Being 100% honest with yourself is the first step in getting rid of your bad habits. You cannot address them if you don’t know they’re there. Part of your weight loss journey is becoming aware of your body and its biofeedback. Training mindfulness with an app may help you learn to listen to your body. Remember to fuel your body with whole, nutritious foods, and try not to drink calories. Changing these habits will make your weight loss process much more efficient.