Leptin

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Leptin is the hormone that should be saving us from too much energy intake - from overeating.  It's a satiety hormone - basically the 'full' trigger.  Leptin and its correct functioning may be the key to a correctly functioning 'weight management system'.  

I believe that it is common sense to think that managing our weight was not meant to be difficult.  We aren't supposed to have to count calories and macros.  No other animal has to do that to maintain their ideal weight.  Sure, there are animals with metabolic challenges but in general, most are able to maintain a consistent weight naturally.  Humans are the ones that put huge amounts of measurement, thought and work into managing our weight and we by far are the most unsuccessful at doing it.  So - what gives?

If hormones allow a dog or a cat or a mouse or a bird to control their weight effortlessly, it would make logical sense that our seemingly inability to control our human weight is a hormone problem.  Since leptin is the hormone that should keep an individual from overeating, the first question that might come to mind if someone has obesity is "Why don't I produce enough leptin?".  However, not producing enough leptin is rarely the case.  The much more common scenario seems to be that your body is not 'listening' to it.  The leptin is there but cells are resistant to its normal effects.  This is called Leptin Resistance.

Several years ago I got some blood work done that showed that my leptin level was higher than normal.  This would make sense because at that time I was dealing with extra weight.  However, I knew from tracking my calories that my appetite was way more than normal.  Even if I ate 100% healthy - it was difficult for me to ever feel 'full'.  From this experience I have theorized that figuring out why my body isn't responding normally to leptin may be key to figuring out how to fix some of my issues.

Unfortunately there are many research studies but there is no cohesive solution yet to fix leptin resistance.  I'll expand on some of the current theories in a continued post.      

  

  


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