The Link Between Hormonal Imbalance and Weight Gain

There haven’t been any big changes in the way you eat or in your activity levels, yet you’re carrying a few extra, unexplained pounds these days. An imbalance in your hormones may be to blame.

You notice that your clothes are feeling a little tighter these days, and an uptick on your scale confirms a bit of weight gain. You haven’t really made any drastic changes to your diet or to your activity levels, so you’re wondering where the pounds are coming from.

We’re here to tell you that changes in your reproductive hormone levels might play a part.

Here at Virapel, we specialize in hormone imbalances, which can cast wide nets over your health and include side effects like weight gain. Under the guidance of Cheryl Felt, MSN, APN-C, and Erica Tsakiris, APN, WHNP-BC, we’ve pulled together a brief explanation of reproductive hormones' influence over your weight and how we can fight back.

Ladies, first

Since we’re discussing reproductive hormones, we’re going to split this discussion by gender because different hormones govern each.

For women, we’re referring to estrogen and progesterone hormones. These hormones fluctuate throughout a woman’s life, but one of the biggest changes occurs before, during, and after menopause.

During this time, a woman’s ovaries start to shut down, which means they no longer produce estrogen. This loss can lead to several issues that favor weight gain — the average woman gains about 1.5 pounds each year through her 50s.

Due to your age and the drop in hormones, fat tends to redistribute itself around your abdomen, and you lose muscle. As a result, not only can you gain weight, your body shape can change.

Other changes come with menopause, such as sleep issues, which can lead to weight gain.

Over to the men

While men may not experience a singular transition like menopause, they slowly lose about 1% of their testosterone production each year starting in their 30s. The cumulative effect of this testosterone loss can lead to side effects that favor weight gain, such as:

Loss of muscle (muscles burn more calories than fat)
Fatigue, which can lead to a lack of exercise
Sleep issues

The fat-testosterone equation is also a two-way street — 30% of men who have obesity have lower-than-normal testosterone levels.

Solutions for both genders

Whether direct or indirect, lower-than-normal reproductive levels can certainly have an effect on weight in both men and women. To fight back against this weight gain, we offer two key solutions:

With the first, we rebalance your hormones so that you’re better able to tilt the fat-muscle equation back toward calorie-burning muscle. This, in turn, will help you shed the extra pounds.

With the second — weight loss services — we provide you with critical tools to help you lose weight, which include nutritional counseling, sleep hygiene, exercise plans, and ongoing accountability.

Of course, these solutions are tailored to your specific needs, and we work with you until you reach your goals.

To fight back against hormone-related weight gain, we invite you to call our office in Voorhees, New Jersey, at 856-751-2100 or contact us on our website to request an appointment today.