Many women struggle to shift stubborn fat from their thighs despite exercising hard and eating healthily. It’s not uncommon for women to have been on a diet or exercise program where they have lost weight from, literally, everywhere else BUT their hips, butt and thighs. And when they put weight back on…it goes STRAIGHT back to their butt.
Sound familiar?
‘Thigh-Mone’ Problems
Recent studies have shown that a specific hormone imbalance could hold the answer to why some women store more fat in this area than others, and why fat stored in this area can be more difficult to shift: hence ‘Thigh-monal’.
Hormones, while essential for the healthy operation of bodily processes, can become imbalanced. And those imbalances can cause issues with how the body stores fat.
The main culprit in this particular scenario is estrogen. Estrogen is vitally important for, among other things, fertility, childbirth, bone health, mood, and libido. But estrogen can wreak havoc on the body if it’s not in balance with another important hormone, progesterone, leading to a state known as estrogen dominance.
Estrogen dominance doesn’t necessarily mean having too much estrogen, but rather that the ratio of estrogen to progesterone in the body is off. That said, high levels of estrogen are the number one reason for estrogen dominance.
Among its many jobs, estrogen creates a signal for the body to store fat. When in balance, estrogen does not cause excessive weight gain. But when estrogen is high in relation to progesterone, problems can start.
Fat tissues absorb and store estrogen circulating in your bloodstream. If the body is in a state of estrogen dominance your liver can struggle to process the excess and so it gets stored. Unfortunately for our body shape goals, the fat cells in your hips, butt and thighs are the number one destination. To make matters worse, the more body fat a person has, the more estrogen their body creates, as fat cells produce estrogen. So, we get stuck in a vicious circle of estrogen dominance leading to further weight gain and other health concerns.
Thigh-Monal Signs
There are various signs that could indicate that the ‘thigh-monal’ balance may be off. Here’s a quick list that is by no means exhaustive:
- excess weight in the hips, butt and thigh area
- PMS symptoms
- hair loss
- headaches/migraines
- bloating, water retention
- abnormal periods (irregular or heavy)
- depression/anxiety
- infertility
What You Can Do About It
Losing lower body fat is extremely difficult when those ‘thigh-mones’ are working against each other.
The good news is that there are plenty of things that will help get those hormones back, unlocking the stubborn fat found in the lower body and boosting health and well being at the same time. Some of which include:
- Reduce toxic food
- Drink filtered water
- Eat more green veggies
- Use non toxic beauty products
- Reduce stress
- Better sleep
- Reduce alcohol intake
