Estrogen levels that are too high or too low can cause weight gain. High levels of estrogen in the body can irritate the cells that produce insulin in your body, making you insulin resistant and blood sugar levels rise, leading to weight gain. Low levels of estrogen can also cause a very stubborn type of weight gain.
Many women also notice an increase in belly fat as they get older — even if they aren't gaining weight. This is likely due to a decreasing level of estrogen, which appears to influence where fat is distributed in the body.
Signs and symptoms of high estrogen levels in women
In females, having too much estrogen may cause: weight gain, especially around the hips and waist. heavy or light periods. worse PMS than usual.
Some evidence suggests that estrogen hormone therapy increases a woman's resting metabolic rate. This might help slow weight gain. Lack of estrogen may also cause the body to use starches and blood sugar less effectively, which would increase fat storage and make it harder to lose weight.
Sex hormones
Women (and men) with high levels of estrogen experience weight gain and the inability to lose weight. Estrogen levels naturally shift during menopause, but they can also become irregular due to environmental toxins or a poor diet rich in alcohol, added sugar, and processed carbohydrates.
Estrogen helps protect the heart from disease, potentially by maintaining higher levels of good cholesterol, called high-density lipoprotein (HDL), in your blood. Lower estrogen levels, especially during menopause, can increase your risk of developing heart disease.
Hot flashes, flushes, and night sweats are the most common symptoms of low estrogen. At times, blood rushes to your skin's surface. This can give you a feeling of warmth (hot flash). Your face may look flushed.
The hormones leptin and insulin, sex hormones and growth hormone influence our appetite, metabolism (the rate at which our body burns kilojoules for energy), and body fat distribution. People who are obese have levels of these hormones that encourage abnormal metabolism and the accumulation of body fat.
As estrogen levels drastically change in perimenopause, high levels can cause bloating, breast tenderness, and heavy bleeding. Once these levels become more consistently low, that can cause hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes, changes in fat distribution (new or growing “spare tire”), insomnia, and fatigue.
Because estrogen affects how your body distributes fat, low estrogen levels can contribute to gaining fat in your belly area. However, estrogen replacement therapy can help your body redistribute this fat to different areas on your body, rather than your abdominal area.
Low estrogen levels also change where fat is stored. It's normally stored in the thighs and hips, but when estrogen production takes a hit, fat storage shifts to visceral fat in your belly. Not only is visceral fat deeper, but it's tough to remove and increases your risk for disease.
Estrogen is directly involved in metabolism and maintaining a healthy weight, including helping to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism. When your estrogen levels drop, your metabolic rate declines and your body begins to store fat. In other words, you gain weight.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.
Estrogen can reduce menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. If you have a uterus, you'll likely need to take progesterone along with the estrogen. Estrogen without progesterone increases the risk of uterine cancer.
Estrogen therapy can help decrease your risk of certain health conditions, including osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, dementia and mood changes.
Estrogen is good for your heart by keeping cardiovascular tissue healthy. It also helps with keeping your blood pressure stable. And when your estrogen levels are high, it helps keep blood triglycerides (a type of fat) low, increases HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and lowers LDL cholesterol (the bad kind).
“Women also become more estrogen-dominant as we move into perimenopause and beyond. Estrogen dominance promotes insulin resistance, which causes the belly fat build-up,” she says.
Leptin is the hormone that controls your appetite and tells you when you're full, and high leptin levels or leptin resistance can lead to overeating and weight gain. Ghrelin is the opposite of leptin. It tells you that you're hungry, but low ghrelin can make you feel hungrier and cause you to overeat.