5 Metabolic Hormones You Need to Know

When it comes to weight loss, we’ve all heard the mantra: eat less, move more. But if that really worked long-term, wouldn’t we all be at our goal weight by now?

The truth is, your body isn’t a simple calculator. It’s a finely tuned, adaptive biological system—and at the heart of this system are hormones that regulate how you store, burn, and use energy. These aren’t just “background chemicals”—they’re the bosses of your metabolism.

Here are the five key hormones you need to understand for long-lasting weight loss and metabolic health—and how to bring them back into balance using real food, gentle fasting, sleep, stress support, and gut care.

#1 Insulin: The Master Fat Storage Hormone

Insulin is made by your pancreas. Its main job is to move glucose (sugar) out of your blood and into your cells—either to be used for energy or stored for later.

When insulin is elevated—like after eating processed carbs or sugary snacks—your body switches into fat storage mode. It also blocks fat burning. Over time, consistently high insulin levels lead to insulin resistance, where your cells stop responding properly. This makes your body pump out even more insulin, leading to a vicious cycle of weight gain, especially around the belly.

✅ Lowering insulin through a low-carb real food approach, intermittent fasting, and cutting snacks is key to unlocking stored fat and reversing insulin resistance.

Read journal article here - Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance in Patients with Obesity

#2 Leptin: The “I’m Full” Signal

Leptin is made by your fat cells. It sends a signal to your brain—particularly the hypothalamus—to say “we’ve got enough energy stored, you can stop eating now.”

Sounds ideal, right? But here’s the catch: when insulin is high and body fat increases, the brain becomes resistant to leptin’s message. That’s called leptin resistance—and it means even though your body has plenty of fat stored, your brain thinks you’re starving. So you feel hungrier, store more fat, and crave high-calorie foods.

✅ To restore leptin sensitivity, focus on whole meals (not grazing), avoid ultra-processed snacks, and be cautious with extra fats between meals (like fat bombs or creamy coffees).

Read journal article here - The Leptin System and Diet: A Mini Review of the Current Evidence

#3 Ghrelin: The Hunger Hormone

Ghrelin is produced by the stomach and signals hunger to your brain. It rises before meals and falls after eating. But if you’re sleep-deprived, chronically stressed, or eating at erratic times, ghrelin can stay elevated—making you feel hungry even when your body doesn’t need food.

It also increases growth hormone and fat storage in certain conditions, especially when insulin is high.

✅ Consistent meal timing, 7–8 hours of quality sleep, and stress management techniques (like deep breathing or Tapping) help keep ghrelin in check.

Read journal article here - Ghrelin in the regulation of body weight and metabolism

#4 GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1): The Satiety and Blood Sugar Hormone

GLP-1 is released in your gut when you eat. It slows gastric emptying (so you feel fuller for longer), enhances insulin release after meals, and improves blood sugar control. It also acts on your brain to reduce appetite and food cravings.

Some weight loss medications (like Ozempic and Mounjaro) mimic GLP-1 because of these effects—but your body can make it naturally too.

✅ You can boost GLP-1 by eating real, unprocessed meals—especially ones rich in fibre and protein, which stimulate GLP-1 release and promote satiety naturally.

Read journal article here - Satiety: a gut–brain–relationship

#5 Cortisol: The Stress Hormone That Messes with Metabolism

Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress (whether it’s emotional stress, illness, poor sleep, or even under-eating). In short bursts, it helps your body respond to challenges. But when cortisol stays high for too long, it raises blood sugar, increases insulin resistance, and signals your body to store fat—especially around the middle.

It can also blunt the effects of other key metabolic hormones, including leptin and GLP-1.

✅ Sleep, gentle movement (like walking or yoga), time in nature, and practices like meditation or Tapping can lower cortisol and support better metabolic function.

Read journal article here - The Stress Axis in Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus: An Update

What You Can Do to Rebalance Your Hormones

The good news is, your hormones are not set in stone. They’re dynamic—and you can influence them every day through the choices you make.

Here are some of the most powerful tools for restoring hormonal balance:

• Low-carb real food: Reduces insulin spikes, supports leptin and GLP-1, and helps regulate ghrelin.
  
• Safe intermittent fasting: Helps lower insulin, improves leptin sensitivity, and brings hunger and satiety signals back into alignment.
  
• Sleep: Supports the natural rhythms of ghrelin and leptin, and helps keep cortisol in check.
  
• Stress management: Lowers cortisol, supports insulin sensitivity, and improves your body’s ability to burn fat rather than store it.
  
• Gut health: A thriving microbiome improves insulin sensitivity, lowers inflammation, supports GLP-1, and even plays a role in mood and motivation.
  
  

But the real key to lasting change?

👉 Mindset.

Because knowing all of this is one thing—but implementing it in your real, everyday life (with work, kids, family demands, and hormones!) is another.

That’s where support, strategy, and self-compassion come in. Your mindset is the bridge between knowing what works—and actually doing it consistently in a way that feels realistic, sustainable, and empowering.

Take-Home Points

• It’s not just about calories—it’s about hormonal balance.
  
• You don’t need blood tests to get results—but a fasting insulin test can be helpful if you're curious. We'll talk more about this in upcoming lessons.
  
• The root cause of modern weight gain is often chronically high insulin.
  
• Hormones like insulin, leptin, ghrelin, GLP-1, and cortisol drive hunger, energy, cravings, and fat storage.
  
  

You have the power to influence these hormones through food, fasting, sleep, stress care, gut health—and most importantly, mindset.

With love and great health

Dr Lucy and Dr Mary XX 
 

P.S. Ready to go beyond just knowing and start doing—with support?

We’d love to welcome you into our Momentum Inner Circle. It’s our monthly membership where we help women just like you make healthy changes feel simple, doable, and long-lasting. You’ll get coaching, real-world tools, a supportive community, and the mindset work that makes all the difference.

👉 Click HERE to learn more about our Momentum Inner Circle — and let’s make this the year you take back your health for good.

Dr Mary Barson and Dr Lucy are the founders of Real Life Medicine. They help women who have been on every diet under the sun, optimise their health and achieve long lasting weight loss without feeling miserable or deprived.

They do this with their 3 step framework that

• Improves metabolism
• Develops mindset skills
• Provides tools to implement it easily into busy lives

With this comes increased energy, vitality and confidence.

You can avoid chronic disease and stop living life on the sidelines!