Hormones Come First - Because You’re Not a Calculator

We’ve been told for decades that “calories in vs calories out” is the holy grail of weight loss and health.
But here’s the truth: You’re not a calculator, you’re a hormonal being.

How your body responds to those calories depends entirely on your hormones.

Let’s look at two examples:

• A can of V vs a steak.
  Both might have a similar calorie count, but one spikes cortisol and adrenaline, while the other supports muscle growth and satiety. One sends your body into “stress and survival mode,” the other signals “repair and rebuild.”

• A cup of coffee vs scrambled eggs.
  Now look, we all know coffee is my life. It always has been.
  I was a barista for twenty years, worked for a coffee company, coffee’s my thing.
  But here’s the deal: Coffee on an empty stomach isn’t doing your hormones any favours.
  It gives you the illusion of energy, but what it’s really doing is firing up your stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline while your blood sugar takes a rollercoaster ride.
  Scrambled eggs, on the other hand, deliver protein and fat that keep blood sugar stable, support your thyroid, and actually help build your hormones.

Your body isn’t tracking calories, it’s listening to chemical messengers.
Hormones like insulin, cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, leptin, and thyroid determine what your body does with the food you eat:

• Do you store it or burn it?

• Do you crave more or feel satisfied?

• Do you have energy or crash mid-afternoon?

And for women especially, hormones shift across the month. That means your metabolism, hunger, and energy needs aren’t static, they’re cyclical.
What works one week may feel impossible the next.

That’s not lack of willpower; that’s biology.

When we start with hormones first supporting blood sugar balance, reducing stress load, and aligning food timing with your cycle the body naturally finds balance. Fat loss, energy, mood, and focus all follow.

Calories are data.
Hormones are the decision-makers.

So before you start counting anything, start listening.
Your body’s cues hunger, cravings, energy, and mood are hormonal feedback. And once you work with your hormones instead of fighting against them, everything else gets easier.