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Am I Leptin Resistant?
Sometimes this question comes up in my clinic so I will attend to it now. There are two points to make here. The first is – maybe you are, but it doesn’t matter, you still need to apply the relevant knowledge and practice in this course and you can lose weight. So don’t get hung up on these things and search for excuses that will take the power away from you.
The second is the biology. Leptin is a hormone, or signalling molecule, produced by your fat cells. The more fat, the more leptin you produce. We think its normal role is to go to the brain and signal that you are full and do not need to eat more hence it reduces the amount we eat and increases energy use. So some of my patients ask me to test their leptin levels to see if it is high. The reality is if you are overweight it will be high and you may well be leptin resistant but it doesn’t change anything. Because you can still lose weight effectively regardless and when your fat cells reduce, your leptin normalises and the resistance may normalise. So, yes if you do have it it may make it a bit more challenging but every person on their journey has challenges and there are ways around these. My advice here is to not get distracted or look for ways out – you can reach a healthy weight.
If you really want to nerd it up, you can read these:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2967652/