What Hormones Control Your Appetite?

Sometimes, whether you’re trying to lose weight or simply be mindful of your portions, it can feel like an uphill battle. You might feel like your body is working against you, or that there’s nothing you can do to control your appetite. 

The truth is that your body is responding exactly as it’s supposed to. We have certain hormones in our body that directly control appetite, designed to help us avoid under- and overeating. But sometimes with our stressful modern environment, the standard American diet, and less time than ever to focus on ourselves, those hormones may go a little haywire. They may even mistake what you view as new healthy habits as a diet akin to starvation instead. But not all is lost! There are ways to master your hunger hormones and help them work as they’re intended. 

Today, we’re talking all about the main hormones that control your appetite and how to reach your goals in a sustainable way.

Meet the Appetite Hormones

The truth is that there are at least 15 main hormones that have a role in appetite, from Neuropeptide Y to Cholecystokinin and Peptide YY. Even dopamine and serotonin play a role! But the two biggest, and best known, appetite influencers are leptin and ghrelin.

Ghrelin

Ghrelin is the “hunger hormone”, known as the only appetite-stimulating hormone in humans. That means it serves to make you hungry. It increases your desire for fatty and sweet foods, causes you to digest food more quickly, and decreases insulin secretion, among other things. When your stomach is empty, it releases ghrelin to signal the brain that it’s time to eat. Typically, ghrelin levels are highest before eating and lowest about an hour after eating. 

In those who are overweight, ghrelin levels are often lower than people that are a “normal” weight. (And look, we’re totally putting normal in quotations because we believe people can be healthy at any size. What does normal mean anyway?). If this is the case, ghrelin levels decrease only slightly after a meal, meaning the body doesn’t receive a very strong signal to stop eating. 

Leptin

On the flipside, leptin signals your body to decrease food intake and helps to regulate body weight. It’s considered the “satiety hormone” because it works to tell your brain that you have enough fat stores and aren’t starving. It has other functions in the body, but the main one is the long-term regulation of energy. It helps monitor how many calories you eat, how many calories you expend, and how much fat you store.

Leptin evolved to keep humans from going hungry or overeating, helping early humans survive. But as with many other hormones, leptin hasn’t quite caught up with our modern environment (and a surplus of available food). Leptin is produced by your body’s fat cells. The more fat your cells have, the more leptin they produce. High leptin tells your brain that there is plenty of body fat stored and you don’t need to eat, and low leptin signals the opposite. 

But sometimes, leptin signaling goes awry and you may develop leptin resistance. Despite the presence of ample body fat, leptin signaling may not work properly. Leptin may even be there, but the brain doesn’t see it. Without the proper leptin signal, the brain thinks it’s starving and changes its behavior, eating more and reducing energy output. This is why diets often fail or are incredibly hard to stick to. 

Influencing Leptin & Ghrelin Levels

We hope this context around leptin and ghrelin helps you see that even when we have the best intentions in our healthy habits, sometimes our hormones have other ideas. If you overeat or struggle in sticking to an eating plan you’ve been trying out, know that it’s often not a defect of willpower, but a hormonal imbalance instead.

Thankfully, there are ways to lower ghrelin and reduce leptin resistance. And many of them boil down to a healthy diet and lifestyle. 

Balanced Diet

The typical diet refrain of “eat less, move more”, while well-meaning, often results in your body entering starvation mode. Rather than drastically reducing calories, be mindful of the types of foods you’re regularly consuming and aim for a balanced plate. 

1. Eat more protein – when you’re eating enough healthy fats and protein, your body and brain will feel more satiated. Across the board, almost all of the hormones that regulate appetite are positively influenced by higher protein intake. When you eat protein, it increases satiety and decreases hunger, in part by decreasing ghrelin. It’s beneficial for leptin resistance, too. Along the same lines, eating enough fiber and decreasing your intake of processed foods is associated with improved leptin resistance. 
2. Lower your triglycerides – while these lipids might seem unrelated to hunger hormones, high triglyceride levels may prevent leptin from being transported to the brain. The best way to lower triglycerides? Decrease your carbohydrate and sugar intake. 
3. Calorie cycle – this simply means you should switch up how much you’re eating on a daily basis. Eating a little more some days (though not past the point of fullness) will reduce hunger hormones and increase leptin.

Regular Exercise 

So now that you’re eating balanced, it’s time to get moving. Moving your body on a regular basis may help improve leptin resistance, amongst a slew of other benefits. And the best part is, there’s something for everyone! Whether you enjoy hiking, swimming, weight training, or are interested in trying something else – the exercise will positively impact your body and hormone levels!

1. Get those gains – When you build muscle, ghrelin levels will often decrease. Immediately after an intense workout, when your body has shifted blood flow to your lungs and muscles, your digestive system is essentially put on pause, reducing your hunger.
2. Stabilize your weight – drastic weight loss, weight gain, or yo-yo dieting all disrupt your hormone levels, including leptin and ghrelin. Luckily, regular moderate exercise can help you maintain your weight and allow your body to re-calibrate your hormone levels.

Quality Sleep 

Are you tired of us telling you this? Then get some shut-eye! Poor sleep increases ghrelin, and it’s also linked to hunger and weight gain. While resting should be the simplest recommendation on this list, we know that it can be easier said than done. (Un-)Fortunately, you’re not alone if you struggle with sleep, meaning that plenty of research has gone into helpful strategies to optimize the quality of your sleep.

At the end of the day, your excessive hunger likely isn’t any fault of your own. Ensure that you’re eating enough food, particularly fat and protein, and focus on other pillars of health like sleep and movement. As you feel better and your energy improves, so too will your hormones.