It's important to tell your doctor if you have other symptoms besides difficulty controlling your weight. Your weight problem might be part of another medical condition.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Bray GA.
The syndromes of obesity: an endocrine approach.
In: De Groot L (editor). Endocrinology. 3rd edition. WB Saunders, Philadelphia, U.S.A.; 1995.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Tell your doctor if you feel:

If you're a woman, tell your doctor if:

A condition called Cushing's syndrome can make you gain weight, especially on your face and around your waist. It means your body is making too many corticosteroids. These are chemicals that control how your body uses fat and sugar. If you have too many corticosteroids, you can feel tired, hungry and bloated.

It might happen when a lump grows in your

 

 

 

 

 

adrenal glands
You have two adrenal glands. They are on top of your kidneys. Your adrenal glands make hormones that help control your blood pressure, how fast your heart beats and the way your body uses food.

 

 

 

 

 

adrenal glands. These

 

 

 

 

 

gland
A gland is any group of cells in the body that makes and releases something for use by another part of the body. For example, the thyroid gland makes a hormone called thyroxine. This acts on receptors within cells. By acting on the receptors it gives the cells a message to speed up their metabolism and work harder.

 

 

 

 

 

glands lie on the surface of your

 

 

 

 

 

kidney
Your kidneys are organs that filter your blood to make urine. You have two of them, on either side of your abdominal cavity, toward your back.

 

 

 

 

 

kidney. Your adrenal glands make corticosteroids. The lump makes your body produce extra corticosteroids. Cushing's syndrome can also happen when lumps grow on your pituitary gland or another part of your body.

This means that your

 

 

 

 

 

thyroid gland
Your thyroid gland is a small organ that sits in your neck, just in front of your windpipe. It sends out a hormone called thyroxine. This acts on receptors within cells. By acting on the receptors it gives the cells a message to speed up their metabolism and work harder.

 

 

 

 

 

thyroid gland is not working properly. Your thyroid gland is a small gland at the front of your neck. It makes a chemical that helps to control how much energy your body uses (it changes your metabolic rate).

If you have hypothyroidism, your thyroid gland doesn't make enough of this chemical. This means that your metabolic rate slows down. So you burn fewer calories, and you're more likely to gain weight.

To read more, see our information on Underactive thyroid.

Only women can get this condition. It's often called PCOS for short. It means that small cysts (small bags of fluid, like blisters) might grow in the

 

 

 

 

 

ovaries
Women have two ovaries, one on each side of their womb. They are small glands that store eggs. Inside the ovaries are millions of pre-eggs, called follicles. Some of these grow into eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

ovaries. Women who have PCOS don't release eggs (

 

 

 

 

 

ovulation
To get pregnant, a woman needs to release an egg from one of her ovaries. This is called ovulation. It normally happens once every month. The egg leaves the ovary and moves toward the womb.

 

 

 

 

 

ovulate) regularly. It happens because of an upset in the balance of certain

 

 

 

 

 

hormones
Hormones are chemicals that are made in certain parts of the body. They travel through the bloodstream and have an effect on other parts of the body. For example, the female sex hormone estrogen is made in a woman's ovaries. Estrogen has many different effects on a woman's body. It makes the breasts grow at puberty and helps control periods. It is also needed to get pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

hormones.

About half the women with this condition are obese. But we don't know which comes first: the condition or the obesity. If your periods stop or become irregular and you put on weight at the same time, it's important to tell your doctor. Lots of unwanted hair on your body or face can also be a sign of polycystic ovary syndrome.

This condition is caused by a lump (tumor) in your

 

 

 

 

 

pancreas
Your pancreas is an organ that's behind your stomach. It makes several different chemicals. Some of the chemicals help your body digest food. Your pancreas also makes a chemical called insulin, which helps your body use the sugar in your blood.

 

 

 

 

 

pancreas. The tumor makes your pancreas produce extra

 

 

 

 

 

insulin
Insulin is a hormone that helps your body use glucose, a type of sugar that gives you energy. Insulin keeps your levels of glucose steady. It also helps glucose get into your cells from your blood. People who have diabetes do not have enough insulin or do not react to insulin strongly enough. This leads to too much glucose in their blood.

 

 

 

 

 

insulin, a chemical your body uses to control the amount of sugar in your blood.

The extra insulin changes sugar into fat. And you might not have enough sugar left in your blood. So your brain tells you that you feel hungry and you might eat more.

If a tumor grows in the parts of your brain that control your appetite and the amount of energy your body uses, your brain won't do its job very well. So you might gain weight. But it's not likely this would be the only symptom.

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