No. The research shows that menopausal HRT doesn't cause weight gain. That being said, it's common to gain a small amount of weight during this time of life. Stopping HRT won't make much difference for your weight.
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.
What are some of the withdrawal symptoms that women experience? The primary symptoms are the ones that we called menopausal symptoms. So hot flashes, night sweats and disturbed sleeping, probably because of the hot flashes and night sweats, and vaginal dryness.
Contrary to popular assumptions, most women experience no changes in weight as the result of undergoing HRT. A systematic review of 22 high-quality randomized clinical trials concluded that there was no significant difference in weight between menopausal women who were treated with HRT and those who were not.
How Estrogen Replacement Therapy Can Help with Belly Fat During Menopause. Recent studies show that menopausal women on hormone therapy tend to have less body fat, especially visceral belly fat. Because estrogen affects how your body distributes fat, low estrogen levels can contribute to gaining fat in your belly area.
Many women believe that taking HRT will make them put on weight, but there's no evidence to support this claim. You may gain some weight during the menopause, but this often happens regardless of whether you take HRT. Exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet should help you to lose any unwanted weight.
Postpartum, menopause, and the premenstrual syndrome are all associated with decreasing estrogen and withdrawal syndrome-like manifestations (75, 76) (Table 2). These may include hot flushes and autonomic hyperactivity, but also fatigue, irritability, anxiety and depression, and even psychosis.
Some women take HRT for a few years to help improve their worst symptoms of the menopause. Some women find that when they stop taking HRT after just a few years, they have no more symptoms. Other women have a return of their symptoms when they stop taking HRT.
Additionally, improving dietary choices, increasing physical activity, getting more sleep, managing stress levels effectively, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol are all ways to decrease and avoid hormonal weight gain.
Estrogen
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.
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.
And how do you go about it? If you are healthy, most experts agree that HRT is safe to use at the lowest dose that helps for the shortest time needed. If you're 59 or older, or have been on hormones for 5 years, you should talk to your doctor about quitting.
The body usually takes approximately 11 to 13 hours to clear out estradiol from the estrogen patch. This time, however, might vary depending on factors like body weight.
One of the common treatment options for menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), supplementing your hormone levels to rebalance your system. However, you may prefer to move through menopause without using hormone treatments. And, women with previous hormone-dependent cancer shouldn't use HRT.
Going back on HRT
We don't recommend that you stop and start HRT repeatedly, as there's a small slight increase in the risk of stroke in women in the first six months of stopping treatment.
It is often used in HRT for women since an imbalance of progesterone causes women to overeat. DHEA: A hormone that promotes weight loss by increasing the body's metabolism, preventing fat storage, and decreasing the appetite for dietary fats.
There is no easy answer, but rebalancing the hormones, exercise routine and diet can help to increase your metabolic rate, which will ensure fat is burned more efficiently. Reducing overall stress in your life can help too, because stress can cause increased amounts of cortisol to be released.
In fact, a recent study found that women who used HRT had one point lower on the BMI scale and also about three pounds less of body fat compared to women who didn't use hormone replacement therapy.
A recent study of postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 80, found that those who took hormones had significantly lower levels of belly fat than women who did not take hormones.
“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.
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.
Your skin also becomes thinner, because the levels of collagen and elastin also dip along with estrogen. The hormone estrogen is responsible for making skin look younger due to the hyaluronic acid it produces. Estrogen not only affects your skin but also your muscle mass, metabolism, and energy levels.
During menopause, lower levels of estrogen have a big impact on your skin. Less estrogen makes you prone to thinning, sagging, and wrinkling. Fortunately, you can relieve some of the skin-related effects of aging by taking care of your specific skin care needs.
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.