Hurricane-prone states The day in pictures Get the USA TODAY app Start the day smarter ☀️ U.S. Elections Sports Entertainment Life Money Tech Travel Opinion ONLY AT USA TODAY: Newsletters For Subscribers From the Archives Crossword eNewspaper Magazines Investigations Podcasts Video Humankind Just Curious Best-selling Booklist 24/7 Live Stream Legals OUR PORTFOLIO: 10Best USAT Wine Club Online Sports Betting Online Casino Reviewed Homefront Blueprint Southern Kitchen Best Auto Insurance Best Pet Insurance Best Travel Insurance Best Credit Cards Best CD Rates Best Personal Loans Home Internet FACT CHECK fact-checking Add Topic # Fact check: Experts say diet, exercise – not hormones – are primary drivers of weight gain Valerie Pavilonis USA TODAY ![\\"\\"](\\"/gcdn/-mm-/b2b05a4ab25f4fca0316459e1c7404c537a89702/c=0-0-1365-768/local/-/media/2022/01/23/USATODAY/usatsports/imageforentry5-vmx.jpg?width=660&height=371&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\\"/) PlayPause Sound OnSound Off 0:00 1:07 AD SKIP ClosedCaptionOpen ShareEnter Full ScreenExit Full Screen ## The claim: Hormones are the \'true culprit\' behind weight gain for women Myths about health are common online, from how coffee can help you lose weight (it’s complicated) to how protein shakes are necessary to build muscle (they’re not). A Feb. 4 Facebook post adds to the noise, promoting via video the idea that hormones are the primary driver of weight gain in women. “Most women are told to exercise to get rid of weight,” the post reads. “This is often bad advice. Exercise plays only a tiny percentage of our daily calorie burn. Hormones are the true culprits behind weight gain.\" The post claims \"most women constantly fight against their Hormones,\" causing their \"metabolism come to a standstill.” The video has been viewed more than 600,000 times in two months. Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks But the post’s core claim – that hormones are the “true culprits” behind weight gain – isn’t true. Multiple factors can contribute to weight gain, and while there is an ongoing debate about the role that hormones play, experts agree lifestyle is the key factor. USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for comment. ## Diet, exercise primary contributors to weight Calling hormones the “true culprit” behind women’s weight gain isn’t correct, according to Susan Davis, a professor of Chronic Disease & Aging at Monash University in Australia. If they were, Davis said, “everyone would be fat.” Instead, she said diet is the primary culprit. According to the National Institutes of Health, people gain weight when they take in more calories than they burn, and this imbalance is “the greatest contributor to weight gain.” Davis added that diet is a crucial part of weight loss, as exercise alone doesn’t always burn calories at the rate some might expect. “Twenty minutes of exercise is a glass of orange juice and three hours of exercise is a Big Mac,” Davis said. “And most people who eat a Big Mac don\'t go out and do three hours of sustained exercise to follow that.” That isn’t to say exercise is ineffective. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, physical activity is “one of the most important things” a person can do to improve their health. Regular physical activity is also associated with reduced weight gain and weight loss – especially “when combined with reduced calorie intake.\" Fact check roundup:What\'s true and what\'s false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine Davis recommends those who try to lose weight do so slowly. For example, she said someone can think of one thing they eat on most days, and then cut that out of their diet. ## Hormones incidental in weight gain According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, hormones can control everything from metabolism and energy levels to growth and development. Hormones play a role in weight, experts told USA TODAY – but they are not the primary driver of weight gain, as the post claims. Dr. Artur Viana, clinical director of the Metabolic Health & Weight Loss Program at Yale University, said that while hormones are involved in obesity, they are not the sole cause. Robert Lustig, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of California-San Francisco, told USA TODAY there’s an ongoing debate in the nutrition field over the extent to which hormones contribute to obesity. “Is obesity a problem of energy balance, or is obesity a problem of energy storage?” he said. “If it’s a problem of energy balance, it’s all about calories. If it’s about energy storage, then the question is: What’s storing it? And the answer is one of two hormones: insulin and cortisol.” For example, when blood sugar rises, the hormone insulin goes up, allowing sugar to exit the blood and enter cells where it is needed. But when cells receive more sugar than they need, fat begins to accumulate. However, insulin itself doesn\'t cause weight gain. Lustig\'s recommendation for people looking to lose weight is simple: Stop eating sugar. “That’s numbers one, two and three,” he said. “Get rid of the sugar, get rid of the sugar, get rid of the sugar.” ## Hormones and women’s weight Since hormones regularly fluctuate in women – and since those fluctuations can cause a variety of symptoms – Davis said that hormones are often implicated when other health problems arise, sometimes without justification. Some hormone-related disorders can cause weight changes. Hyperthyroidism, for example, occurs when the thyroid gland produces too much of the hormone thyroxine, according to the Mayo Clinic. That can result in weight loss or gain. But that doesn\'t establish hormones as a driving factor for all weight gain. Fact check:False claim that Chris Rock apologized to Will Smith after Oscars slap Pregnant women also gain weight in part due to the release of hormones that encourage fat deposits, Davis said. But she said pregnancy is not a woman’s general state, and therefore the “rich hormonal milieu” of pregnancy can’t be implicated in all weight gain, either. ## Our rating: False Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that hormones are the “true culprits” behind weight gain in women. While certain conditions involving hormones can affect a woman’s weight, those conditions aren\'t responsible for weight gain in all women. And though there is an ongoing debate over the role hormones play in obesity, experts agree that lifestyle, especially diet, is the main factor affecting weight. ## Our fact-check sources: * USA TODAY, July 16, 2021, Does coffee help you lose weight? Stunt your growth? Here\'s the truth behind coffee myths * USA TODAY, July 16, 2019, Crunches will give you abs and other fitness myths you need to stop buying into * Dr. Susan Davis, Feb. 23, Zoom interview with USA TODAY * National Institutes of Health, accessed Feb. 28, What causes obesity & overweight? * Healthline, Jan. 18, 10 Leading Causes of Weight Gain and Obesity * U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, accessed March 2, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition * Dr. Robert Lustig, March 7, Phone interview with USA TODAY * Missouri Medicine, November/December 2020, Obesity and the Western Diet: How We Got Here * Mayo Clinic, accessed March 9, Insulin and weight gain: Keep the pounds off * Healthline, June 3, 2017, How Artificial Sweeteners Affect Blood Sugar and Insulin * Dr. Artur Viana, March 7, Phone interview with USA TODAY * The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed Feb. 28, Hormone Disorders * Johns Hopkins Medicine, accessed Feb. 28, Hormones and the Endocrine System * Mayo Clinic, accessed Feb. 28, Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) * Mayo Clinic, accessed Feb. 28, Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) * American Thyroid Association, accessed Feb. 28, General Information/Press Room * United States Census Bureau, accessed Feb. 28, U.S. and World Population Clock * Healthline, Feb. 11, 2021, Metabolic Renewal Review: Pros, Cons, and Effectiveness * The Washington Post, Aug. 5, 2019, What are ‘hormone diets’ — and can they really help you lose weight quickly? 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Hormones are the 'true culprit' behind weight gain for women