So you’ve been exercising regularly and eating healthy but you continue to gain weight or find it increasingly difficult to lose weight. No amount of journaling, calorie counting, positive thinking, or muscle building can help you if you’re suffering from one of the hidden causes of weight gain outlined below. The good news is that there’s plenty of expert advice on how to deal with these situations.

Sleep Deprivation
Studies show that getting less than 8 hours of sleep a night impairs your ability to process glucose and could make you insulin resistant; a condition that is closely tied to obesity. Not getting your sleep decreases your levels of leptin, the satiety hormone, and increases your level or cortisol, the fat storage hormone. This leads to intense cravings for starchy carbs and sweets that end up getting stored as fat. To make matters worst sleep deprivation also affects growth hormone levels, which regulates your body’s muscle to fat ratio. If you want to prevent this experts suggest you get at least 30 min. a day of sunlight, which resets your inner alarm clock to fall asleep at the right time. You should also cut out caffeine, nicotine, chocolate, and alcohol in the evening and make your bedroom comfortable and dark. These conditions are much more conducive to getting the sleep you need in order to lose weight.

Stress
Research findings suggest that women under high levels of stress were more likely to have extra fat around their midsections, which has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and certain types of cancer. This is because stress triggers the flight or fight response that increases levels of cortisol, which stimulates deep abdominal fat cells to accept and store fat. Cortisol also increases appetite especially for sweets and carbs. So not only does stress make you eat more but what you do eat gets stored as fat deep in the belly. Experts say that good ways to control stress include exercising on a regular basis, getting enough sleep, getting a massage, yoga, having fun with your family, and laughing often.

The Body Blues
According to Marie-Annette Brown, Ph.D. at the University of Washington, and author of When Your Body Gets The Blues, 1 out of 4 women suffer from a syndrome she calls The Body Blues. It’s a problem that is brought on by light deprivation (yes you read that right) and low levels of estrogen, progesterone, and/or testosterone. The primary symptoms include a tendency to overeat, especially carbs and sweets later in the day, and weight gain. Other symptoms include:
· lack of energy
· irritability or tension
· difficulty concentrating
· sleep problems
· daytime drowsiness
· decreased interest in sex
· mild anxiety
· mild depression
· heightened sensitivity to rejection or criticism
There is no medication you can take for this but the Levity Plan outlined in her book which recommends getting more bright light, going for a brisk 20 minute outdoor walk 5 times a week, and taking a combination of 6 common/inexpensive vitamins and minerals reverses the effects of hormonal imbalances and light deprivation that causes so many women to overeat and gain weight despite their best efforts.

Recommended Reading for for women who are tired of being dominated by mood swings, fatigue, emotional eating, weight gain and stress.
When Your Body Gets the Blues

Medications
According to Catherine Clifford, a freelance writer for Shape magazine, a plethora of medications can cause weight gain. Of the worst offenders are steroids, which are often prescribed for asthma, arthritis, lupus, and inflammatory bowel disease. Anti-diabetes drugs, the ones prescribed for type II diabetes also have a tendency to make people gain major weight. Other medications that contribute to weight gain are anti-depressants, and birth control pills but the later is not as much of a problem as some women like to believe. If you think this is the cause of your weight gain or inability to lose weight, you should talk to your doctor about other options. In most cases you can switch to other medications that won’t hinder your weightloss efforts.

Thyroid
"A February, 2000 research study found that the estimated number of people with undiagnosed thyroid disease may be 10 percent -- a level that is double what was previously thought. This may mean as many as 13 million Americans are currently undiagnosed. Women are at the greatest risk, developing thyroid problems seven times more often than men. A woman faces as high as a one in five chance of developing thyroid problems during her lifetime. That risk increases with age and for those with a family history of thyroid problems" reports Mary Shomon, thyroid disease host for about.com. The symptoms of low thyroid or hypothyroidism are too many to list but can include weight gain (or great difficulty losing weight), depression, fatigue, bloating, lack of energy, and cold hands. If you even suspect this may be a problem get it checked out or look into alternative therapies found on her site.