You do everything right. You sleep reasonably well, eat carefully, try to exercise. But the weight doesn't budge, your mood swings randomly, your energy disappears by mid-afternoon. Most women spend years trying to solve this with extra effort. The problem, almost always, lies in the hormones. How the hormonal system works Hormones are chemical messengers produced by glands such as the thyroid, adrenals, and ovaries. They regulate metabolism, sleep, appetite, mood, libido, an