In body weight regulation, two hormones take centre stage: ghrelin and leptin. Together, they play a pivotal role in our hunger signals, energy regulation, and fat storage.

Ghrelin: The “Hunger Hormone”

Ghrelin, often dubbed the ‘hunger hormone’, is produced primarily in the stomach. When the stomach is empty, ghrelin is secreted. When the stomach is stretched, secretion stops. It acts on the hypothalamus in our brain, signalling hunger. Simply put, higher ghrelin levels make you feel hungrier.

Leptin: The Satiety Hormone

Leptin, on the other hand, is produced by our fat cells and signals the brain when we have enough stored energy, thus suppressing appetite. Think of leptin as the hormone that tells you to put down the fork because you’ve had enough to eat.

The Crash Diet Catastrophe

Now, let’s introduce crash dieting into this equation. When you dramatically reduce your calorie intake, your body perceives this as a potential issue. In response:

Ghrelin Goes Up: Your body increases ghrelin production to encourage you to eat more, thus compensating for the perceived energy deficit.
Leptin Levels Lower: As you lose fat rapidly (and sometimes muscle), leptin levels decrease. This means the “stop eating” signal weakens.

The consequence? An increased appetite. This creates the perfect storm for an individual on a crash diet to binge eat. The body is practically screaming for more energy, and food – especially calorie-dense food – becomes almost irresistible.

The Vicious Cycle

It doesn’t stop there. Binge eating after crash dieting often leads to feelings of guilt and failure, which can, unfortunately, prompt further restrictive dieting. Thus, a vicious cycle begins: crash dieting followed by binge eating, then back to crash dieting again.

A Better Way Forward

Instead of going for extreme diet measures, adopting a sustainable, balanced diet and regular physical activity are key. This way, ghrelin and leptin levels are moderated in a way that supports stable weight management and overall health.

Quite often new clients come to me and they are beating themselves up, like they are weak as they cannot stick to a diet. More often than not though, they are just eating way too little and are just hungry and need to eat. You can eat more and still lose weight.