Summary. HRT does not cause weight gain. Side effects of HRT may feel like it but the reality is that bodies change in midlife. In fact, many women lose weight and feel considerably fitter on HRT.
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.
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.
Occasionally, patients gain weight at the beginning of HRT as their hormones get regulated. But this side effect generally subsides within weeks. And while some patients report losing weight with HRT, that's because the work they were already doing to eat a healthy diet and get exercise can finally pay off.
Hormone replacement therapy can help in many ways with your weight loss goals if you're suffering from symptoms of menopause. Several studies have found that menopausal HRT can have a big impact not only on weight loss, but also how much fat your body stores and where.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can affect weight loss in women. In addition to having less abdominal fat, the same study found that women undergoing HRT were almost one whole point lower on the body mass index (BMI) scale, and they had nearly 3 pounds less of fat mass.
While many people notice improvements in sleep or mood within weeks of starting HRT, changes like improved muscle mass or fat loss can take at least three to six months.
Another reason why some women may appear to gain weight occurs when background anxiety, with reduced appetite, keeps weight a little lower than it would be naturally. This anxiety is often reversed by the positive impact of HRT, which in turn can increase appetite and weight over time.
There also appears to be a redistribution of fat mass at the time of the menopause, with an increase in the waist-to-hip ratio. Although it is a common belief that HRT inevitably causes weight gain, available evidence suggests that this is not true.
It may take a few weeks to feel the effects of treatment and there may be some side effects at first. A GP will usually recommend trying treatment for 3 months to see if it helps. If it does not, they may suggest changing your dose, or changing the type of HRT you're taking.
You may feel bloated and uncomfortable like having trapped wind. This can be due to the progesterone and usually settles with time.
Progesterone is thought to cause an increased appetite. This is the reason why you may find yourself craving food,especially carbs, at certain points in your menstrual cycle. If you're taking HRT, your doctor will likely recommend that your prescription includes some form of progesterone.
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.
Weight gain
You might have more fat around the waist and less fat around the hips and buttocks. You may have water retention when taking HRT. This is when too much water builds up in your body.
Symptoms of a high HRT dose: Nausea and vomiting. Breast tenderness and enlargement. Spotting or heavy bleeding.
On average, women gain 5-8% of their baseline body weight during this time,” she says. For the sake of simple math, this means if you weigh 100 pounds, on average you will gain five pounds in the two years after your final period. If you weigh 200 pounds, you are expected to gain at least 10 pounds.
Progesterone side effects likely do not include weight gain. However, changes in hormone levels throughout your cycle can affect your appetite and make it feel as though you may be gaining weight. During the first half of your cycle, estrogen inhibits food intake and your hunger levels may be lower than normal.
HRT contains hormones that stimulate breast tissue and so breast tenderness and growth can be a side effect of your hormone therapy. Speak to your doctor if you have any concerns about this.
HRT is also known to help women maintain softer, smoother skin, resulting in a younger look. In addition to—and, often, as a result of—these physical changes, HRT often changes how you see yourself.
The body will begin to burn the fat located in the waist, shoulders and back. The majority of the fat will migrate to the hips, thighs and buttocks, which may result in a smaller waist and larger hips.
When starting HRT, it's very common to experience some initial side effects or start-up symptoms such as breast tenderness or breast size increase. Some women describe slight nausea, headaches or abdominal bloating. Light erratic bleeding is also quite usual.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
Systemic HRT can improve sleep quality, making it easier to get off to sleep, with less night-time waking; it has also been shown to improve chronic pain, mood and genitourinary symptoms. A 2017 study also demonstrated an improvement in hot flushes and night sweats.
The hormone leptin is produced by fat cells and is secreted into our bloodstream. Leptin reduces a person's appetite by acting on specific centres of their brain to reduce their urge to eat. It also seems to control how the body manages its store of body fat.
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.