Does cortisol cause weight gain?

It can contribute, especially when cortisol stays high for a long time. Cortisol helps your body mobilize energy during stress; when that stress signal keeps firing, it can nudge appetite, cravings, insulin signaling, and fat storage in the direction of weight gain - often around the abdomen. But cortisol and weight gain is not a one-cause story. Your weight is also shaped by genetics, sleep, food access, activity, medications, other hormones, and health conditions. Dramatic cortisol-driven weight gain is more suggestive of Cushing's syndrome, a rare condition caused by prolonged excess cortisol or glucocorticoid medication exposure.

What does cortisol weight gain look like?

Everyday stress-related weight gain is usually slow and nonspecific: your waistband feels tighter during months of poor sleep, high pressure, less movement, and more cravings. The more distinctive medical pattern is different - rapid central weight gain, a rounder face, more fat at the upper back or between the shoulders, thinner arms or legs, easy bruising, and purple or pink stretch marks. That pattern needs a clinician's evaluation, not a cortisol blocker.

Do cortisol supplements or cortisol blockers help with weight loss?

There is no strong evidence that over-the-counter cortisol supplements produce meaningful, lasting weight loss. And supplements are not reviewed like prescription medicines: in the U.S., the FDA regulates dietary supplements as food, not drugs, and does not approve most supplements for safety or effectiveness before they reach the market. If stress is affecting your weight, the better-supported path is less glamorous but more real: protect sleep, reduce chronic stress load where you can, move regularly, and ask a clinician to rule out medical causes if the change is sudden, severe, or paired with Cushing-like symptoms.

How is high cortisol tested?

Clinicians do not usually diagnose high cortisol from one random number, because cortisol follows a daily rhythm and rises with illness, stress, timing, and some medications. For suspected Cushing's syndrome, standard first-line tests include 24-hour urinary free cortisol, late-night salivary cortisol, and a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test with a blood cortisol check afterward. Hair cortisol can reflect longer-term cortisol exposure and is being studied or used in some specialist contexts, but it is not the usual first step for self-testing.

Does poor sleep make weight gain worse?

Yes. Short sleep is linked with higher odds of obesity in adults, and sleep loss can also disturb the stress system - including cortisol timing - so the stress-sleep-weight loop can become self-reinforcing. When you sleep poorly, your body is not just tired; it is more likely to run on stronger hunger signals, lower impulse control, and a metabolism that is dealing with more strain.

Can medication cause weight gain?

Yes. Steroids, some antidepressants, antipsychotics, antiseizure medicines, diabetes medicines, and some beta blockers can contribute to weight gain, and antipsychotic-related weight gain may reverse only partly after dose reduction, switching, or stopping. If your weight changed sharply after starting a new medication, that is worth discussing with the prescriber. Do not stop a prescribed medication on your own - the safer move is to ask about alternatives, dose timing, monitoring, and ways to protect your metabolic health.

Is weight gain about willpower?

No. Body weight is regulated by biology, not character. Leptin, insulin, ghrelin, cortisol, sleep timing, genetics, medications, stress physiology, and environment all feed into the brain systems that manage hunger, fullness, energy use, and fat storage. That does not mean habits are irrelevant; it means habits happen inside a body that is constantly adapting. Treating weight as a moral failure is inaccurate - and it usually makes the stress loop worse.

Pub. September 14, 2026Upd. September 15, 202616 min read

5.0

Cortisol and Weight Gain: What the Stress Hormone Really Does to Your Body

Chronically high cortisol can make weight regulation harder, but it is rarely the whole story — weight reflects genetics, sleep, stress, hormones, medications, and environment working together.

Jane Smorodnikova

Founder & CEO

Kseniia Iaroslavtseva

COO & Strategy team teamlead

Anna Elitzur

Medical Advisor

Cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, can contribute to weight gain — pushing toward abdominal fat storage, stronger cravings for calorie-dense foods, and worse sleep — but for most people it is one signal among many rather than the sole cause. The dramatic version is Cushing's syndrome, a rare condition (NIDDK estimates about 40 to 70 people per million) from prolonged cortisol excess. Everyday 'stress weight' is better addressed through the stress–sleep–appetite loop than through 'cortisol-lowering' supplements, which NIH describes as lacking meaningful, reliable weight-loss evidence. Prescription weight-management options and surgery exist and can help some people, but they are clinical decisions with real benefits, risks, and costs. Welltory tracks stress and recovery signals — not hormones, body composition, or weight — so the useful frame is noticing a poor-recovery, short-sleep stretch early, not reading a number as a verdict.

Short Answer

Chronically high cortisol — your body's main stress hormone — can make weight regulation harder in three connected ways. It can push the body toward more abdominal fat storage, make high-calorie "comfort" foods feel more rewarding, and interfere with the sleep–recovery rhythm that helps appetite and metabolism stay steady. That does not mean every pound of weight gain is "from cortisol." In real life, weight usually reflects a mix of genetics, sleep, stress load, food environment, medications, insulin, leptin, thyroid function, sex hormones, and life circumstances working together — not willpower alone. Stress-related eating is especially biological: chronic stress can shift appetite toward energy-dense foods, while leptin signaling helps the brain track energy stores and regulate hunger and body weight (central control of body weight and appetite review, PMC).

The dramatic version of the cortisol–weight-gain connection is Cushing's syndrome, where the body is exposed to too much cortisol for a long time. That pattern can cause central weight gain, a rounder face, thin arms and legs, a fatty pad around the upper back or neck, purple stretch marks, easy bruising, high blood pressure, blood-sugar problems, and muscle weakness. It is uncommon: NIDDK describes endogenous Cushing's syndrome as rare, citing estimates of roughly 40 to 70 people per million (NIDDK: Cushing's Syndrome). If your body shape is changing quickly or you have several of these signs together, that is a reason to talk with a clinician rather than trying to "balance cortisol" on your own.

For everyday "stress weight," the more useful target is usually the stress–sleep–appetite loop, not a cortisol supplement. Short or disrupted sleep is consistently linked with higher adiposity and obesity risk in population research, and poor recovery can make cravings, late eating, and lower activity feel much harder to resist. Supplements marketed for weight loss or "cortisol control" are not a reliable shortcut; NIH's supplement guidance notes that many weight-loss supplements have not shown meaningful long-term benefit and some carry safety concerns (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Dietary Supplements for Weight Loss).

Among Welltory users, we looked for a way to put a number on the day-to-day link between stress load, poor recovery, and weight. We do not have a weight or BMI cohort we can stand behind, so we are not reporting a weight statistic here — what we can say qualitatively is that stretches of sustained high stress load and lower overnight HRV recovery tend to cluster with the disrupted-sleep and irregular-routine patterns this article describes. Welltory tracks stress and recovery signals; it does not measure hormones, body composition, or weight, and it does not diagnose any condition.

Cortisol and weight at a glance

Question	Short answer	Notes
Does cortisol cause weight gain?	Cortisol can contribute to weight gain, especially around the abdomen, because stress biology can push your body toward energy storage, stronger appetite, easier cravings, and poorer sleep. But for most people, cortisol is not the single cause. Weight usually reflects several signals working together: sleep, food access, medications, genetics, mood, activity, medical conditions, and stress load.	Think of cortisol as a contributor, not the whole story. The American Heart Association describes chronic stress as one pathway linked with sleep problems, appetite changes, and weight gain; Cleveland Clinic makes the same point in patient-facing terms: long-term stress can make healthy routines harder to keep and can amplify cravings (American Heart Association: how stress affects the body).
What does "cortisol weight gain" look like?	In everyday stress, there is no single guaranteed "look." People often talk about belly-weight gain because cortisol biology is tied to central and visceral fat storage, but that pattern is not specific enough to diagnose anything by sight. In medical cortisol excess, the pattern can be more distinctive: more fat around the trunk, face, and upper back, sometimes with thinner arms and legs.	The classic "moon face," upper-back fat pad, and trunk-weight pattern belongs to Cushing syndrome, a rare hormonal condition caused by too much cortisol over time — not to normal day-to-day stress alone (glucocorticoids and central obesity review, PMC).
Can high cortisol be measured?	Yes. Clinicians can measure cortisol in blood, saliva, or 24-hour urine, and hair cortisol can estimate longer-term exposure in some research or specialized contexts. But a single cortisol number rarely tells the whole story, because cortisol normally rises and falls across the day and changes with sleep, illness, medications, and stress.	For suspected Cushing syndrome, guideline-based testing usually uses 24-hour urinary free cortisol, late-night salivary cortisol, or dexamethasone suppression testing; random cortisol checks are not enough to diagnose it. Hair cortisol can be useful for longer-term cortisol exposure, but it is not the usual first-line test for most people (Endocrine Society Cushing's diagnosis guideline, PMC).
Do cortisol supplements cause weight loss?	There is no strong evidence that over-the-counter "cortisol blocker" or "stress hormone" supplements produce meaningful, reliable weight loss. Some products may contain common weight-loss-supplement ingredients, but that does not make them proven cortisol treatments.	Marketing is far ahead of the science. NIH supplement reviews describe the evidence for weight-loss supplements as generally inconclusive or unconvincing. If a product promises effortless fat loss by "balancing cortisol," that is a red flag (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Dietary Supplements for Weight Loss).
Can low cortisol cause weight gain?	Genuinely low cortisol — adrenal insufficiency, including Addison's disease — more typically causes weight loss, fatigue, dizziness or fainting from low blood pressure, low appetite, stomach symptoms, salt cravings, and weakness. Weight gain is not the usual low-cortisol pattern.	If someone has confirmed adrenal insufficiency and is gaining weight, the explanation may be something else, such as sleep, thyroid disease, medications, fluid shifts, or steroid replacement that is higher than the body needs. New or unexplained weight change with suspected cortisol problems deserves clinician review (Mayo Clinic: Addison's disease).

What cortisol is — and why it gets blamed for weight

Cortisol is your body's main glucocorticoid stress hormone. Your adrenal glands release it under control of the brain's stress-response system, and your body uses it to help regulate blood sugar, inflammation, blood pressure, metabolism, and your sleep-wake rhythm. It is supposed to rise and fall: for most people, cortisol is lower in the evening and peaks in the early morning, right before waking. In a short stress response, that rise is useful. Cortisol helps make glucose available so you can meet a demand. It is a survival signal, not a character flaw (Cleveland Clinic: Cortisol).

The problem is not one stressful afternoon. It is the body being pushed into a repeated, unresolved "stay ready" state — especially when that stress is paired with poor sleep, irregular meals, low recovery, and easy access to highly palatable foods. In that setting, cortisol can make weight regulation harder by nudging several systems at once: more available glucose, more pressure on insulin signaling, more pull toward calorie-dense comfort foods, and more vulnerability to abdominal fat storage. Human stress research links chronic stress plus high-sugar/high-fat foods with greater abdominal adiposity and metabolic risk, while sleep restriction can shift appetite hormones and increase calorie intake. So yes, there is a real cortisol-and-weight-gain connection — but it is usually indirect, layered, and very rarely about cortisol acting alone (chronic stress and diet-related abdominal fat, PubMed).

The most visible medical example is Cushing's syndrome, where the body is exposed to too much cortisol for a long time. As the clinical literature puts it, "Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a group of diseases that lead to multi-organ damage and even life-threatening conditions due to prolonged exposure of the organism to high cortisol levels" (Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2025). In Cushing's, weight gain can be part of a broader pattern that may include central body fat, a rounder face, thinner arms and legs, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, bruising, muscle weakness, and other system-wide changes.

But Cushing's is not what most people mean when they search for "weight gain from cortisol." Endogenous Cushing's syndrome is rare — NIDDK cites estimates of about 40 to 70 people per million — and it has an identifiable medical driver, such as a tumor that increases cortisol production. Cushing's can also happen from long-term, high-dose glucocorticoid medications, which are cortisol-like drugs used for some inflammatory and immune conditions. For most people, everyday stress-related weight change is subtler: cortisol may be one part of the biology, but sleep, appetite signals, medications, thyroid and reproductive hormones, pain, alcohol, depression, food environment, and genetics can all matter too (NIDDK: Cushing's Syndrome).

The three ways stress actually moves the scale

Stress rarely changes weight through one clean "cortisol makes you fat" pathway. It works more like a loop: your brain asks for quick energy, your hormones change hunger and fullness signals, your sleep gets lighter or shorter, and your body may become more likely to store extra energy around the waist — especially when stress is chronic.

Appetite and food choice. When you're stressed, your body is trying to keep you fueled and alert, not help you follow a meal plan. Cortisol is part of that stress-response system, and research on stress eating shows that many people shift toward highly palatable, calorie-dense foods — the "comfort food" pattern — even when total appetite varies from person to person (stress exposure, food intake, and emotional state, PMC). Fullness biology can also get noisier. This is where leptin matters: leptin is supposed to tell the brain that stored energy is available and appetite can ease, but in common obesity that signal often stops landing clearly. As a leptin-resistance review summarizes, "leptin or its analogs usually fail to produce the expected weight-loss effect in individuals with overweight or obesity" (Endocrine Connections, 2025). In plain English: "just eat less because you're full" may not feel simple because the fullness signal itself can be dampened. That is biology, not a character flaw.

Sleep. Stress hormones and poor sleep can reinforce each other. Cortisol normally follows a daily rhythm — higher around waking, lower in the evening — and it helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle; when stress keeps your body activated at night, sleep can become shorter, lighter, or more fragmented (Cleveland Clinic: Cortisol). Short sleep then adds its own pressure on weight regulation. In a cross-sectional analysis of 27,473 adults, "Short sleep duration was linked to 21% greater odds of obesity than adequate sleep (OR 1.21; 95% CI, 1.15-1.29)" (Scientific Reports, 2025). That does not prove that one bad night causes weight gain, and because it is a snapshot rather than a follow-up study it cannot establish cause and effect. It means chronic short sleep is one more metabolic stressor in the same loop: more fatigue, more cravings, less recovery, and a harder time regulating appetite.

Fat storage location. Cortisol also affects adipose tissue directly. Human studies of 11β-HSD1 — an enzyme that converts inactive cortisone into active cortisol inside tissues — show that cortisol can be regenerated within fat tissue, increasing local glucocorticoid signaling; this is one proposed mechanism linking cortisol biology with body-fat distribution (cortisol release from adipose tissue, PMC). The pattern people often recognize as "cortisol weight gain" is central or abdominal weight gain, because chronically high glucocorticoid exposure is associated with more visceral/abdominal fat (glucocorticoids and central obesity review, PMC). That is why waist changes can matter even when the scale is slow to move: waist circumference reflects belly fat risk more directly than weight alone, and too much belly fat is linked with higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke (CDC: healthy weight).

What "cortisol weight gain" looks like — and what it doesn't

When people say "cortisol weight gain," they're usually describing one of two very different stories. The everyday story is slower and messier: a high-stress season changes your sleep, appetite, cravings, energy, and routines, so weight may creep toward the middle without cortisol being the only cause. Research reviews link stress with overeating, calorie-dense "comfort foods," shorter sleep, and abdominal obesity, which is why this pattern is real — but still multifactorial, not a simple "your cortisol is high, therefore you gained weight" equation (stress and eating behavior review, PubMed).

The medical story looks more distinctive. Cushing's syndrome means prolonged exposure to too much cortisol, and it can cause rapid or unusual central weight gain, a rounded "moon" face, extra fat at the back of the neck or between the shoulders, thin or fragile skin, easy bruising, poor wound healing, and pink-purple stretch marks. Endogenous Cushing's is rare — NIDDK estimates about 40 to 70 people per million — but that pattern deserves medical evaluation, especially if it's new, fast, or paired with high blood pressure, diabetes or prediabetes, muscle weakness, or menstrual changes. It is not a "try a cortisol supplement" situation (Cleveland Clinic: Cushing syndrome).

The reverse search — "can low cortisol cause weight gain?" — usually points in the opposite direction. Adrenal insufficiency means your body is not making enough cortisol; common symptoms include long-lasting fatigue, muscle weakness, low appetite, weight loss, abdominal symptoms, salt craving, and low blood pressure that can drop when you stand. So confirmed low cortisol plus genuine weight gain is not the usual textbook pattern. If you suspect it, the safest next step is a clinician's workup, not a self-diagnosis based on body shape, a wearable stress score, or an at-home hormone narrative (NIDDK: adrenal insufficiency and Addison's disease).

Do cortisol supplements cause weight loss?

Short answer: the evidence doesn't support it. "Cortisol blocker," "cortisol detox," and "cortisol-lowering" supplements are usually selling a clean story: stress raises cortisol, cortisol can affect appetite and fat storage, so a pill that lowers cortisol should melt belly fat. Your body is not that linear. NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements says there's little scientific evidence that weight-loss supplements work, and its clinician fact sheet notes that studies of these products are often small, short, low-quality, or hard to interpret because many formulas combine several ingredients and don't clearly define the active compounds. NCCIH reaches a similar bottom line: most supplements marketed for rapid weight loss are ineffective for long-term weight control, and some come with real safety concerns (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Dietary Supplements for Weight Loss (consumer)).

Ashwagandha is a good example of the gap between a stress signal and a weight-loss claim. Some randomized-trial reviews report modest effects on perceived stress, anxiety, or serum cortisol, while a newer review found cortisol reduction without a clear perceived-stress benefit. One small 8-week trial in chronically stressed adults measured body weight and BMI as secondary outcomes, but that still does not prove that over-the-counter "cortisol supplements" produce meaningful, lasting fat loss for most people (ashwagandha stress and anxiety review, PubMed).

There's also the safety and regulation piece. Supplements are not regulated like medicines: the FDA does not approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they're sold, and companies are responsible for making sure their products are safe and their claims are truthful. The FDA also warns that many products sold for weight loss — including pills, "fat burners," supplements, and teas — may contain hidden dangerous ingredients and are not guaranteed to work (NCCIH: using dietary supplements wisely).

If stress is genuinely driving weight changes, the higher-yield moves are less flashy but more evidence-based: protect sleep, reduce the stress load where you can, move regularly, and build a sustainable eating pattern — not because weight is about willpower, but because sleep, stress, activity, environment, and metabolism all talk to the same appetite and energy systems. The CDC includes healthy eating, physical activity, optimal sleep, and stress reduction in healthy weight management; NIDDK also lists sleep, long-term stress, medications, medical conditions, and daily activity as factors that can affect weight. If your weight is changing quickly, unexpectedly, or along with symptoms like weakness, new stretch marks, easy bruising, menstrual changes, high blood pressure, or blood sugar changes, it's worth asking a clinician to rule out a medical cause instead of trying to "block cortisol" on your own (CDC: healthy weight).

The medical treatments people ask about — briefly and honestly

When weight itself is being treated as a medical condition, obesity is often defined by body-mass index: "Obesity, defined as a body mass index ≥30 kg/m²" (Journal of Surgical Research, 2024). BMI is useful because it is quick, cheap, and consistent enough for population screening, but it is a blunt tool for one body. It does not directly measure body fat, does not separate fat mass from muscle or bone, and does not show where fat sits on the body. That matters because abdominal fat distribution changes metabolic risk. WHO describes BMI as a surrogate marker and notes that waist circumference can help with diagnosis; NICE similarly recommends using BMI alongside waist-to-height ratio in many adults and interpreting thresholds with clinical judgment, including lower BMI thresholds for some ethnic backgrounds because cardiometabolic risk can appear at lower BMI. In other words, BMI is a screening starting point, not a verdict about any individual body.

Prescription options exist and can help, but they are a medical decision, not a lifestyle purchase, and everything below is class-level information rather than a recommendation. Incretin-based medications — including semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, and tirzepatide, a GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist — can produce substantial weight loss for some people and may improve weight-related conditions, but they also carry side effects, contraindications, monitoring needs, and real costs. FDA prescribing information and FDA safety communications list important risks for semaglutide, including gastrointestinal side effects and warnings such as pancreatitis, gallbladder problems, kidney injury, increased heart rate, diabetic retinopathy concerns, and monitoring for suicidal thoughts or behavior; FDA labeling for tirzepatide also describes safety considerations and drug-interaction issues, including delayed gastric emptying (FDA prescribing information).

Weight also tends to come back when anti-obesity medicines are stopped, because the biology that defended the higher weight has not simply disappeared. A meta-analysis found "weight regain is common and drug-dependent following the discontinuation of anti-obesity pharmacotherapies" (Cureus, 2025), which is why clinicians increasingly frame obesity as a chronic, relapsing condition that may require long-term treatment rather than a short "course" of willpower.

Older options such as orlistat work differently: instead of acting mainly through appetite and incretin signaling, they reduce fat absorption from food, so their trade-offs and side-effect profile are different. NIDDK describes prescription weight-management medications as tools used with lifestyle and behavior changes, not replacements for eating, movement, sleep, and medical follow-up (NIDDK: prescription medications to treat overweight and obesity).

Bariatric, or weight-loss, surgery is another option for some people living with significant obesity or obesity-related disease, but it is also a clinical decision, not a shortcut. NICE recommends specialist multidisciplinary assessment before surgery and discussion of potential benefits, long-term requirements, and risks, including surgical complications and perioperative mortality (NICE NG246: medicines and surgery).

This article does not give doses. Which option, if any, fits your body — and at what dose — is decided with a qualified clinician based on your medical history, current medicines, weight-related conditions, pregnancy plans, mental health, access, preferences, and follow-up capacity.

A calmer, more useful way to think about it

Blaming a single hormone — or your willpower — for weight change is both inaccurate and unhelpful. Your body weight is shaped by a whole system: sleep, stress, food access, medications, health conditions, genes, activity, and the environment you have to live inside every day. That is why "weight gain from cortisol" is usually a better question than "is cortisol making me fat?" Cortisol is one signal in the system, not the whole system. Long-term stress can nudge appetite and energy-balance hormones, and poor sleep can make hunger stronger and higher-calorie food harder to resist (NIDDK: factors affecting weight and health).

A more useful frame is the stress → poor sleep → higher appetite → easier fat storage around the middle loop. When your nervous system is stuck on high alert, sleep often gets lighter or shorter. When sleep is short, your brain has to run the next day with less recovery, stronger hunger signals, and less capacity for planning. Then food choices can become more reactive, movement can drop, and waist gain may become one of the visible signals — not because you "failed," but because your body is trying to get through strain with the tools it has (MedlinePlus: stress and your health).

That reframe matters because it points toward things you can actually observe and adjust: sleep timing and quality, stress recovery, daily movement, meal rhythm, alcohol, late-night scrolling, and whether a new medication or health condition entered the picture. It also leaves room for medical reality. If weight gain is rapid, unusual, centered in the trunk or face, or comes with symptoms like easy bruising, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, purple stretch marks, or very thin arms and legs, it is worth asking a clinician about causes such as Cushing syndrome rather than trying to "lower cortisol" on your own. Cushing syndrome is caused by long-term exposure to too much cortisol and needs proper testing and treatment (MedlinePlus: Cushing's syndrome).

So the goal is not to obsess over cortisol. The goal is to notice the loop early enough to interrupt it gently. More sleep when possible. More daylight and movement. Less all-or-nothing dieting. More recovery after hard days. And, when the pattern looks medical or out of proportion, a real evaluation instead of a supplement hunt. This is where day-to-day tracking can help: Welltory's stress-load and HRV-recovery signals can let you notice a stretch of poor recovery and short sleep early — as a prompt to adjust routines or talk to a clinician, not as a measure of weight or a diagnosis.

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This article is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Weight is one health signal among many, not a measure of a person's worth or willpower. Body weight is shaped by genetics, hormones, sleep, stress, medications, and environment. Prescription weight medications and surgery are clinical decisions made with a qualified clinician. If your weight is changing quickly or unexpectedly, or you suspect a medical cause such as Cushing's syndrome, talk to a clinician rather than trying to 'balance cortisol' on your own.

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Written by Jane Smorodnikova

The founder and CEO of Welltory. A recognized tech leader with two Master's degrees and experience at MIT, she has scaled Welltory to over 17 million users.

Written by Kseniia Iaroslavtseva

She reviews scientific research and turns it into structured, readable insights.

Reviewed by Anna Elitzur

With her medical degree, Anna reviews Welltory's health content for medical accuracy and alignment with current clinical guidelines and research.

Weight & Metabolism

References

Cushing's syndrome and hemoglobin glycation index: Relationship between hemoglobin glycation index and Cushing's syndrome: a cross-sectional study in Chinese populations, Frontiers in Endocrinology (2025), PMCID: PMC12554553.
Leptin and leptin resistance in obesity: Leptin and leptin resistance in obesity: current evidence, mechanisms and future directions, Endocrine Connections (2025), PMCID: PMC12486228.
Sleep duration, dietary patterns, and obesity: Interactive effects of sleep duration and dietary patterns on obesity moderated by age, Scientific Reports (2025), PMCID: PMC12494787.
Machine-learning weight-gain prediction and BMI ≥30 definition: Using Machine Learning to Predict Weight Gain in Adults: an Observational Analysis from the All of Us Research Program, Journal of Surgical Research (2024; available in PMC), PMCID: PMC11911080.
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Healthy weight, waist circumference, sleep, and willpower framing: CDC healthy-weight guidance.
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