Many people turn to natural supplements for support when it comes to weight loss.
Ashwagandha, a powerful adaptogen, is often praised for its stress-relieving properties—but can it also help with weight loss? The answer is yes, but indirectly, and the side effects of ashwagandha are minimal when used appropriately.
While Ashwagandha isn’t a traditional weight loss supplement, its effects on stress, hormones, and overall well-being can create the right conditions for weight management.
This article will explore how ashwagandha may support your weight loss journey by reducing stress, balancing hormones, and boosting energy, highlighting the ashwagandha benefits.
How Ashwagandha Can Support Weight Loss
Ashwagandha doesn’t work like a fat burner or appetite suppressant, but it addresses key factors that can influence weight gain, especially when stress plays a significant role.
Here’s how Ashwagandha can help with weight management:
Reduces Stress-Related Weight Gain: Ongoing stress is one major factor contributing to weight gain, particularly in the middle.
Your body releases cortisol during stress, encouraging fat storage around the abdomen (1).
Elevated cortisol levels can trigger desires for unhealthy foods and make sticking to a balanced diet more challenging, impacting overall stress and anxiety levels.
How Ashwagandha Helps: Ashwagandha is known to lower cortisol levels, helping reduce the impact of stress on weight gain.
By minimizing stress, you may find it easier to control cravings and avoid emotional eating, which is one of the benefits of ashwagandha.
Hormone Balance: Ashwagandha root extract's advantages contribute to preserving hormonal balance, which is critical for overall health.
Hormonal imbalances, especially those that impact hunger or metabolism, may make losing weight challenging. Ashwagandha supports healthy thyroid function and balances hormones like cortisol and insulin, crucial in how the body stores or burns fat.
By balancing hormones, Ashwagandha is considered especially beneficial for people struggling with weight gain due to hormonal imbalances related to stress, thyroid issues, or adrenal fatigue (2).
Boosts Energy and Physical Performance
Staying active is essential for weight loss, but the activity of ashwagandha can help lower stress and fatigue, making it easier to find the energy for regular exercise.
Ashwagandha supports adrenal function, reducing fatigue and increasing stamina.
Ashwagandha helps you stay active and burn more calories, essential for weight management because it increases energy and endurance (3).
Improves Sleep Quality
Because sleep deprivation can disrupt hormones that regulate hunger and metabolism, it is often linked to weight gain.
Ashwagandha helps improve sleep quality by reducing stress and promoting relaxation (4).
This allows your body to recover and maintain a healthy balance of hunger-regulating hormones like ghrelin and leptin.
Better sleep supports appetite regulation, reduces cravings, and aids in the metabolic processes essential for weight loss, which can help you lose weight.
Scientific Evidence Supporting Ashwagandha for Weight Management
Although Ashwagandha is not a weight loss pill per se, research shows that it can help maintain healthy weight control by lowering stress and boosting energy.
Stress Reduction and Weight: A 2019 study in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine found that participants who took Ashwagandha experienced a significant stress reduction, leading to improved eating behaviors and less emotional eating (5).
Energy and Performance: Ashwagandha's health benefits include enhanced energy levels and performance. Another study showed that It improved physical performance and stamina in active adults, allowing for increased activity levels that support weight loss.
How to Use Ashwagandha for Weight Loss
To incorporate Ashwagandha into your weight loss plan, follow these tips:
- Dosage: Daily 300–600 mg of standardized ashwagandha extract is advised for general health and stress relief. Daily Nutra’s Ashwagandha Gummies provide a convenient way to experience weight management benefits. Provides a clinically effective dose of ashwagandha supplement to help manage stress and support your wellness goals.
- Timing: Take Ashwagandha in the morning to help manage energy and stress throughout the day. If stress impacts your sleep, try sleeping in the evening to understand how ashwagandha can promote better rest.
- Mix with a Healthy Lifestyle: Ashwagandha is also known to help people lose weight, but it is most effective when combined with a balanced diet and regular exercise. Use it as part of an Ayurvedic holistic approach to weight management.
Will taking Ashwagandha capsules alone make you lose weight?
It’s essential to remember that Ashwagandha is not a magic solution for weight loss.
Although it has many advantages, like lowering stress, enhancing sleep, and balancing hormones, it works best when paired with other good lifestyle decisions, like eating a balanced diet and exercising.
By addressing underlying factors contributing to weight gain—such as stress, fatigue, and hormonal imbalances—Ashwagandha can help create a more balanced environment for natural, sustainable weight loss.
Final Thoughts
Ashwagandha could benefit your wellness regimen if stress, exhaustion, or hormone imbalances prevent you from achieving your weight loss objectives.
Ashwagandha helps create the conditions necessary for healthy, lasting weight loss by reducing cortisol levels, boosting energy, and supporting hormonal balance, which are critical factors in managing body fat.
Try Daily Nutra’s Ashwagandha Gummies and experience the natural benefits of this powerful adaptogen for yourself.
FAQs
Can Ashwagandha help with weight loss efforts?
Yes, Ashwagandha may help with weight loss by reducing stress, decreasing cortisol levels, and enhancing energy levels, which can improve overall physical activity.
How does ashwagandha help lower body weight and support muscle mass?
Ashwagandha supports weight loss by lowering cortisol, the stress hormone, which can reduce cravings and belly fat, and boosting metabolism and energy levels, which aid in more active lifestyles.
Is Ashwagandha effective in managing stress-related weight gain and promoting the benefits of body fat reduction?
Yes, ashwagandha effectively manages stress-related weight gain by significantly reducing serum cortisol levels and stress, potentially preventing stress eating and weight gain while also helping you lose body fat.
What are the benefits of Ashwagandha for metabolism? Studies have shown that ashwagandha can enhance metabolic function, making it a valuable addition to weight loss efforts.
Ashwagandha increases the body's metabolism by promoting thyroid function, which is essential for controlling metabolism and preserving a healthy body weight; an overview of ashwagandha can provide more insights.
How should I take Ashwagandha for weight loss?
For weight loss, 600 mg of Ashwagandha daily, ideally 30-60 minutes before meals or bedtime, should be taken as part of a consistent health regimen that includes diet and exercise.
Related Studies
- Title: Ashwagandha Root Extract Therapy for Chronic Stress-Related Body Weight Management in Adults
This Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine study demonstrates that Ashwagandha root extract significantly aids body weight management among adults experiencing chronic stress, primarily by reducing cortisol levels and improving stress-related eating behaviors.
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871210/
- Title: Effects of Ashwagandha on Thyroid Function and Insulin Regulation: A Systematic Review
This systematic review by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism highlights the positive effects of Ashwagandha on thyroid hormone levels and insulin sensitivity, suggesting its potential role in hormonal balance and metabolic health.
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8006238/
- The randomized controlled trial demonstrated significant benefits of ashwagandha supplementation in the ashwagandha group. Title: Effects of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) on Physical Performance
This clinical trial by Frontiers in Nutrition indicates that Ashwagandha supplementation significantly enhances physical performance, including strength and endurance, in healthy adults, which can aid in reducing body fat.
Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1439294/full
- Title: Effect of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) Extract on Sleep
This Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine meta-analysis reveals that Ashwagandha extract improves sleep quality and reduces sleep onset latency, contributing to better sleep health.
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8462692/
- Title: Ashwagandha Root Extract Therapy for Chronic Stress-Related Body Weight Management in Adults
This Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine study provides comprehensive evidence that Ashwagandha supports weight management through stress reduction and improved energy levels in individuals under chronic stress.
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871210/
