IT’S NOT WILLPOWER. IT MIGHT BE YOUR HORMONES.
Insulin resistance, cortisol, oestrogen, and thyroid all affect your weight. Here's how to work with your body, not against it.
You've counted the calories. Done the diets. Moved your body. And still, the scales barely budge, or worse, the weight creeps back.
And then someone, possibly your GP, suggests you just need to "eat less and move more."
Let's talk about what's actually happening.
Why Hormones Drive Weight
When hormones are out of balance, insulin resistance, elevated cortisol, low thyroid function, oestrogen dominance, or any combination, your body holds onto weight as a protective mechanism. It's not broken. It's responding logically to signals that something is dysregulated.
Your body is not your enemy. It is trying to protect you with the information it has. The problem is the information it's working with, and that's what we can change.
For Black British and African-Caribbean women, there are additional layers to this picture. Higher rates of insulin resistance in our community mean that standard dietary advice (low fat, high carb) may be actively working against us, not for us. Chronic stress and systemic inequality elevate cortisol, which drives fat storage, particularly around the abdomen. And hormonal conditions like PCOS/PMOS and hypothyroidism, which directly cause weight gain, are frequently missed or undertreated in Black women.
This is not about willpower. It is about having the right information and the right support.
Where to Start
Balance Blood Sugar First
This is foundational. Protein, fibre, and healthy fat at every meal. Never eat carbohydrates alone. When blood sugar is stable, insulin stays lower, and lower insulin means your body is less likely to store fat and more likely to burn it.
Stop Skipping Meals
Skipping meals raises cortisol, crashes blood sugar, and sends your body into fat-storage mode. Regular, balanced meals communicate safety to your nervous system. That signal matters.
Incorporate Strength Training
Muscle is your metabolic engine. It's what determines how efficiently you burn energy at rest. Lifting weights, even bodyweight exercises, improves insulin sensitivity dramatically, and the effects are cumulative over time.
Prioritise Sleep (7–9 Hours)
Sleep deprivation elevates hunger hormones (ghrelin) and suppresses satiety hormones (leptin). You cannot out-diet poor sleep. This is not optional, it's physiological.
Check Your Hormones, Not Just Your Weight
A complete hormonal panel can reveal what your scales cannot: insulin resistance, thyroid dysfunction, elevated cortisol, oestrogen dominance. These are treatable. But you can't treat what you haven't identified.
Working With Your Body
The diet industry has spent decades telling women that smaller is better and that struggle means you're not trying hard enough. That narrative has caused enormous harm, particularly to Black women who were already working against additional physiological and systemic barriers.
You are not failing. You may simply never have been given the right tools.
The Support You Deserve
My online courses include specific modules on weight, hormones and blood sugar, with practical meal plans designed to support your body, not punish it.
Join the Membership for ongoing accountability, community, and monthly resources to keep you consistent.