Can Hormones Cause Weight Gain?

Can hormones cause weight gain? Yes, if they’re out of balance.

Hormones are essential to life. But when they’re out of balance, your metabolism is affected. And that means you can gain weight.

First, Unopposed estrogen can cause water weight.

Especially if you’re using hormones for birth control or replacement therapy.

Some women are so sensitive to bloating that they will put on 8-10 pounds of water weight. They will blame it on salty foods, poor circulation, their period. But it is hormonal.

Your Estrogen is out of balance with your Progesterone. You need to make 10-50 times more progesterone than estrogen in order to stay in balance. If you are stressed, your progesterone is used by your adrenals to fuel the stress response. Meaning your estrogen becomes unopposed. If this lasts a long time, you become estrogen dominant. Not that you make too much estrogen. The problem is  . 

Second, Estrogen also stimulates your insulin receptors.

Which is a good thing because that allows your cells to make more energy. But it is a bad thing if you do not expend that energy. Remember, you are going to have to store that energy somewhere, and your fat cells are where you store it.

That is where exercise comes in. You need to expend more energy than you consume. I know you wanted a magic bullet to blast that fat. Well, balancing your Hypothalamus is the only magic bullet that I know of. If your Hypothalamus is functioning optimally, your hormones stay in perfect balance and you age gracefully. And stay fit. And more importantly, you don’t have to be an exercise fanatic to keep that extra body fat off. 

Too much estrogen causes hormonal weight gain in men too. Testosterone can be converted to estrogen by an enzyme in your fat cells called aromatase. The more fat you have, the more aromatase you have, and the more estrogen you make. It’s a metabolic issue. Supporting your hypothalamus nutritionally will help by raising your metabolism, burning that belly fat, and preventing your testosterone from converting to estrogen.

Third, cortisol can cause weight gain.

You may have heard of the “pear-shaped” body versus the “apple” body. If you have a pear-shaped body, you can thank Estrogen. You may not appreciate your curves, but your heart does. Hip, butt, and thigh fat is not inflammatory and does not adversely affect your heart. If you have an apple-shaped body, you can blame Cortisol. Yes, blame, because cortisol-induced fat is super inflammatory contributing to cardiovascular disease.

Cortisol is part of your body’s natural stress response – fueling your fight or flight response. When you first become stressed, you may actually lose weight. That is because cortisol is catabolic, meaning it breaks down tissues. At first, just releasing sugar stores, then fat stores which might seem good but then cortisol starts breaking down muscle and bone which lowers your metabolism contributing to fat storage. 

That’s because if the stress never lets up, your Hypothalamus perceives that you are not safe. So it tells your body to store whatever calories you’re eating. That way, when you finally get treed by the “tiger”, you can last a while. Your Hypothalamus is just trying to save you. Thank you, Hypothalamus!

But guess where all that fat gets deposited – All around your middle from your neck down to your hips. Your legs and arms may be thinner because you’ve lost muscle mass. But you develop a layer of fat like a buoy right around your body. You look like an apple with limbs.

So how are you going to lose that fat?

First, you must support your hypothalamus. If you don’t, you’ll develop adrenal fatigue. Do you already have adrenal fatigue? Even more reason to support your Hypothalamus with Genesis Gold.

If you have any questions regarding hormonal weight gain, please join us in our Hormone Support Group. You’ll have access to that when you sign up for my free Hormone Reboot Training. I’d love for you to join us. When your hormones are out of balance, it’s hard to avoid packing on the pounds. Check out my next video for how to lose hormonal weight gain.