Can Too Much Estrogen Cause Weight Gain

Estrogen Dominance And Weight Gain

So whats the connection between having estrogen dominance and weight gain? Its pretty simple.

Estrogen is partly responsible for keeping our metabolisms in good shape. It also helps to maintain fat loss in proper levels. Having too much can slow metabolism, as can having too little. So, youre more apt to gain weight, especially in the hips, thighs and back, as well as the belly. You might notice you started out as a pear shape, and have gained weight and now have an apple shape, with much of your weight in the belly area as time goes on.

Beyond this, estrogen dominance negatively interferes with thyroid hormone. The thyroid is the main controller of our metabolism, and of estrogen dominance is slowing our thyroid, our metabolism will slow and we will gain weight.

Many women with estrogen dominance also have some level of thyroid dysfunction.

The Science Behind Hormones And Your Weight

It can be easy to reduce your weight to something as simple as exercise and diet, but in reality its much more complicated than that. Hormones, the chemical messengers of the body, play a major role in weight and influence everything from your appetite to where fat is stored in your body. Hormones help regulate almost all of your bodys functions, including weight.

Hormones like insulin, leptin, and cortisol all play a role in appetite, fat storage, and stress levels that can affect weight regardless of gender. However, for women, the interaction between estrogen and progesterone also play a big role. Estrogen and progesterone work in tandem and balance each other out and help maintain a healthy weight. A woman needs healthy and normal levels of estrogen and progesterone to maintain a normal weight.

Estrogen is a growth hormone that works to make your cells bigger and promotes storing energy as fat. Whether thats your breasts and hips as you go through puberty, or your uterine cells during your cycle, the impact of estrogens make your cells bigger.

Diagnosis And Typical Estrogen Levels

Estrogen levels vary among individuals and according to a persons age and sex. These levels also fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle.

A doctor can check estrogen levels with a blood test. There are three forms of estrogen in the blood:

• estradiol
• estrone

Doctors measure these levels in picograms per milliliter .

Estradiol is the primary form of estrogen, while estriol and estrone are minor forms. Women who are not pregnant have very low levels of estriol.

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Obvious Signs Of Hormonal Weight Gain And How To Fix It

Weight Loss2

If you suspect that your hormones are making you gain weight, this article will show you signs of hormonal weight gain and how to fix it.

Hormones have a bigger impact on your body than you may realize. Unbalanced hormones can ruin your mood, cause fatigue, lower your libido, and trigger weight gain.

Dont be too quick to blame your hormones if the scale isnt budging. Most people fail to lose weight due to overeating. According to research, many dieters underestimate their calorie intake, which leads to weight gain.

However, hormonal imbalance can hinder weight loss, especially in women. Women experience more hormonal changes than men due to periods and menopause.

Men also struggle with hormonal weight gain due to poor nutrition, lack of sleep, excessive drinking, lack of muscle, and genetics.

Read on to discover the common signs of hormonal weight gain you should look out for. And then I will show you how to fix these imbalances.

Getting To Know Ghrelin

You can think of ghrelin as your hunger hormone. Like leptin, it communicates with the brain in this case, telling your brain to eat. Every time your stomach becomes empty, it naturally releases ghrelin into your bloodstream. Ghrelin levels are lowest just after youve finished a meal. Theyre at their highest when the stomach is empty and youre ready for your next meal. This scenario is normal when a person is healthy and maintaining optimal weight.

An overweight person, on the other hand, will find that like the other hormones weve explored ghrelin levels are typically out of whack. In healthy individuals, ghrelin levels decrease in a way that satiates them and signals their brains to stop eating. But in obese individuals, ghrelin levels dont decrease enough after eating, which fails to send the brain the signal it needs to stop eating and feel satisfied.

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Can Hyperplasia Become Cancerous

There is definitely a correlation between endometrial hyperplasia and cancer.

Endometrial hyperplasia with atypia can progress to cancer up to 27% of the time. Some doctors warn that these numbers may be underestimated, since 36% to 59% of women undergoing hysterectomy for atypical endometrial hyperplasia also have cancer at the same time.

Without atypia, cancer rates for endometrial hyperplasia are lower. Estimates are in the 1-8% range.

How Can Estrogen Exist In Men

Men obviously don’t have similar reproductive organs to women so they produce estrogen in a different way. Estrogen is produced through an enzyme known as aromatase. Aromatase transforms testosterone into estrogen in men. As men age, it is possible for the enzyme aromatase to cause estrogen to spike and testosterone to decrease in volume.

Medications, medical procedures, stress, and weight gain may cause a fluctuation in estrogen. While a certain level of hormones can be taken in through nutrition, this is a tiny proportion and there are no sole foods that can be clinically attributed to a drastic spike in estrogen or a loss of testosterone.

When it comes to the idea that your diet can modulate estrogen in the body, Dr. Bernstein says: “There have been many studies that have looked at foods that may be associated with increased estrogen levels but unfortunately none of them have shown any statistical significance and many of the studies done have been on animals, not humans. There can be higher levels of hormones in farm animals that are being raised to be used for food products for human consumption.”

Throughout a man’s life, estrogen and testosterone levels rise and fall, if testosterone becomes lower than estrogen, or if estrogen spikes, physical symptoms may become apparent.

See also:How can you promote hormone balance?

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What Is A Hormonal Imbalance

Hormones play an integral role in maintaining many of the important processes within the body. Hormones are produced and dispersed by your endocrine glands. They act as chemical messengers, which travel through the body within your bloodstream. Hormones act as an important trigger for bodily functions such as metabolism and reproduction.

Hormonal imbalance occurs when you have too much or too little of a specific hormone. Even small changes in hormone levels can critically affect your health. Because hormones play a significant role in regulating your metabolism and the way your body uses energy, hormonal imbalance can cause weight gain.

Hormone disorders that affect your hormone levels such as Cushings Syndrome can lead to significant weight gain. Hypothyroidism is another condition that disrupts hormone levels and can lead to weight gain.

Other factors such as age may lead to a hormonal imbalance that causes an increase in weight. Hormonal imbalance can interfere with healthy food cues and regulate energy levels. This can eventually lead to significant weight gain and obesity.

Hormones And Weight Gain: How To Fix The Hormones That Control Your Weight

Did you know that your weight is directly related to your hormones? This is a fact many of us forget as we travel along the often slow and frustrating road to weight loss. To maintain a weight thats healthy for our unique bodily makeup, a delicate balance of hormones is required. If certain hormones are off-kilter, weight gain often results.

In order to lose weight and keep it off we must understand the intricate inner workings of our many hormones. Once we understand the relationship between hormones and weight gain, we can take the proper steps to balance these hormones and lose weight in a sustainable, healthy way.

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Combine Cruciferous Veggies With A Dim Supplement For Estrogen Dominance

Since estrogen dominance can be a major contributor to weight gain, eating more cruciferous veggies can really help control excess estrogen.

Cruciferous veggies contain a compound called I3C.

When you eat those veggies, your body converts the I3C into DIM .

And DIM is an antioxidant that helps the body restore balance to estrogen and progesterone levels .

When combined with a healthy diet, DIM supplements support in eliminating weight gain caused by hormones.

So, its a good idea to not only consume cruciferous veggies regularly, but to use a DIM supplement to boost the estrogen-regulating effects.

Genius Estrogen Balance from Amazon is an excellent DIM supplement to go with.

Does Estrogen Cause Weight Gain Estrogen Dominance And Belly Fat

Whatâs the deal with estrogen dominance weight gain? Are these really estrogen fat deposits? Does estrogen cause weight gain?

These are just a sprinkling of real questions Iâve been asked on this topic. Let me break it down for you.

Estrogen, in normal amounts, does not cause weight gain. In fact, it helps with weight maintenance throughout the years that a woman has a cycle. Estrogen actually benefits muscle mass, bone health and insulin sensitivity. When we lose estrogen production, through menopause, that may contribute to weight or fat gain. So remember that estrogen is good when itâs in balance.

When estrogen is out of balance and estrogen is clinically high, or high relative to progesterone, the relationship between estrogen and fat takes on a new challenge.

Estrogen is produced in the adrenal glands, brain, ovaries and also by fat tissue. Yes, you heard that right: fat increases estrogen. Estrogen also signals for fat storage, which makes sense because a woman needs a certain amount of fat on her body to be fertile. But, in certain cases, this cycle between fat producing estrogen and estrogen signaling for fat storage can become a cycle, and an unwanted situation if you are trying to lose weight.

I want to take an aside to mention that this is one of the reasons that exercising more and eating less doesnât work for weight loss, especially sustained long-term weight loss. Hormones play a huge role.

Also Check: Estradiol And Progesterone Side Effects

How To Test And Monitor Your Progesterone

Progesterone can be tested through blood or urine. Most blood tests involve a visit to a doctors office or lab, but there are a growing number of home options as well. Blood tests give a specific numeric value at the time of testing, but it only provides a snapshot rather than the bigger picture. Progesterone levels can vary greatly and have even been shown to fluctuate hour by hour.

With the Mira fertility tracker, measuring your hormone levels is easy and intuitive. Mira uses test wands to measure hormone concentrations in your urine. After inserting the wand into Mira, it reads your results and sends them to the Mira app, which graphs your exact hormone curve to give you insight into your menstrual cycle.

The app allows you to see your data over time, giving you a more complete picture of your levels rather than a one-time snapshot. You can use these results to determine if your progesterone levels are off and measure them over time.

Lose Weight This Year With The Help Of Hormone Replacement Therapy

If youre determined to lose weight this year, you should know that diet and exercise arent always the answer. Sometimes you can diligently exercise and watch calories, yet still fail to drop those pesky pounds.

Your struggle to lose weight may be the result of a hormone imbalance thats sabotaging your efforts. Here at BioAge Health, weve helped many patients in Eagan and the Twin City area of Minnesota successfully lose weight by restoring their natural hormones.

As a board-certified bioidentical hormone specialist and weight loss specialist, Dr. Catherine Kodama works closely with each patient, providing support and exceptional help with hormone deficiencies that contribute to weight gain.

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/65 Hormones That Are Related To Weight Gain And How To Maintain Them

Hormonal imbalance can be a result of various factors, such as puberty, pregnancy or certain medication. Impacting our mental and physical health, imbalanced hormones can also lead to weight gain. And losing weight when your hormones are not in balance can even be harder. Hence, its important to keep a check on such hormones that are responsible for gaining weight. So, how you can do it and what can be done to avoid it? Following is the list of such hormones and how you can manage their levels in your body.

Want To Learn More About Your Weight And Hormones

To make an appointment with Drs. McDonald or Wilson at OB/GYN Specialists, call 940-202-0566 today. You can also send us a message here on our website.

Our Denton, Texas, office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm to offer our patients the chance to ask questions, get informed, and start living the lives they most desire.

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What Does A Serum Progesterone Test Involve

Your doctor may collect a sample of your blood in their office or send you to another site to have your blood drawn. The person drawing your blood will start by cleaning an area of your skin directly over a vein.

Next, they will insert a needle into your vein. They will draw blood through the needle into a vial or tube. Then they will send your blood sample to a laboratory for testing.

What Does Estrogen Do To A Man

Estrogen has a number of functions in men. Traditionally, it has been solely associated with sexual function but estrogen also plays a large part in regulating mood, and in particular promoting a good mood.

Estrogen promotes the stimulation of serotonin and beta-endorphins that are known as the “feel-good” neurotransmitters and is said to play a part in maintaining one’s verbal and spatial memory in men, especially in later life.

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Should I Have A Hysterectomy For Endometrial Hyperplasia

Your doctor should review your lab findings and personal history to help you understand if a hysterectomy is the best course of treatment for you. If you have complex hyperplasia, especially with atypia, your doctor may recommend a hysterectomy.

A hysterectomy is a surgery to remove the uterus. Sometimes, other reproductive organs are removed along with the uterus, including the ovaries, cervix, or fallopian tubes. Since there is a risk of developing endometrial cancer for women with endometrial hyperplasia, sometimes removing the uterus and cervix is the safest option. Approximately 25% of premenopausal women with uterine cancer also have cancer cells in their ovaries, so removing them as well may be deemed the safest option.

A hysterectomy is generally reserved for post-menopausal women, women at high risk of endometrial cancer, or who do not wish to have children.

Even though endometrial hyperplasia is most common in postmenopausal women, its still possible for women who are of childbearing age to develop it. Those who still desire to have children may not want to resort to hysterectomy surgery before exploring other treatment options first.

How You Take Progesterone Matters

Remember there are really only two ways you should be using progesterone:

• Bioidentical progesterone cream
• Bioidentical oral progesterone

You should NOT confuse these types of progesterone with synthetic or fake pharmaceutical forms of progesterone that most physicians prescribe.

Pharmaceutical companies don’t like to make bioidentical hormones because they can’t patent the medication and therefore they can’t make very much money.

Instead, they slightly alter the progesterone molecule and brand it with a new name.

But you want to stay away from these types of progesterones because they are NOT metabolized in the same way as normal progesterone.

These synthetic and fake types of progesterones are responsible for a lot of weight gain that many people experience as well.

In fact, some studies have shown that some women may gain several pounds while taking progestin-only birth control medications.

So we know that taking fake and synthetic progesterone is out of the question, but what about taking bioidentical progesterone pills? Is that okay?

Whenever possible it’s always best to mimic nature when you are replacing hormones.

For progesterone that means the following:

If you aren’t following these guidelines, even if you are taking bioidentical progesterone, your dose may be simply too high or you may be taking it the wrong way.

It’s important to discuss these nuances because it might just be that progesterone isn’t your problem, but it’s more about how you are taking it.

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What Is Estrogen Dominance And How Does It Impacts Body Fat

Have you ever experienced tender breasts and irritability before your period? What about heavy bleeding and pain with menstruation? Chances are, that at one time or another, youâve experienced these â and other uncomfortable symptoms associated with your cycle. We often think of these symptoms as ânormalâ and just par for the course when it comes to being a woman. Although common in our society, Iâm here to tell you that these symptoms are not normal and a sign that hormones are out of balance.

In my hormone series, Iâve already covered the stress hormone cortisol and the relationship between cortisol and progesterone. Today, in Part 3 of this series, I will cover estrogen and specifically an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone known as estrogen dominance. This is one of the most common hormonal imbalances among women in my practice.

Many women desire to lose weight and estrogen levels, among other hormones, may play a role. Keep reading to learn more about the estrogen and fat connection.

In this article, you will learn more about:

• What estrogen dominance is and what causes it
• Signs and symptoms of estrogen dominance
• The relationship between estrogen and body fat
• Simple lifestyle changes to support estrogen balance

So pull up a chair letâs dive in!