In a Weight Loss Rut? It Could be Your Hormones!
How Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help Weight Loss –
Many men and women find that as they get older they gain weight – even though their diet or activity level hasn’t changed. For other people, their weight may stay the same but now they find fat or weight in different places – especially around the belly. One reason this happens is that a person’s hormone levels change or drop as they age.
The good news is that hormone level testing, and safe, 100% natural hormone replacement can help bring an individual’s body back in balance so that they can more easily lose those extra pounds – and even take it off from their midsection!
In this article Bloomfield Hills bioidentical hormone expert Dr. Nishath Hakim explains how hormone imbalance can cause weight gain in women and men – and how rebalancing your missing hormones may be able to help you lose weight and reduce stubborn belly fat.
Women’s Hormones & Weight Loss
As a women’s reproductive years draw to a close, she enters menopause. Her menstrual cycles stop – and her production of female hormones such as estrogen drops substantially. This hormone decline can cause a wide variety of symptoms – from hot flashes, to mood swings, and more. But perhaps the most frustrating side-effect of menopause is weight gain.
Fortunately, the annoying hot flashes and mood swings will eventually subside. But, unfortunately, the unwanted weight gain and accompanying belly fat of menopause often last for the rest of a woman’s life – no matter how much she diets or exercises.
The reason for this is that a woman’s levels of estrogen and testosterone help determine how the body burns energy or “calories”, as well as how and where the body stores fat. So, decreased levels of estrogen slow down a woman’s “metabolism” – which is the rate at which her body burns energy (calories).
As a result, even if she eats the same amount of food – and engages in the same amount of exercise – that she did before menopause, she simply doesn’t burn as many calories as she did when she was younger. And the body then stores the unused calories as fat – and especially as belly fat.
To complicate weight loss after menopause even further, estrogen is responsible for helping the body break down fat. So, as estrogen levels decline during and after menopause, the body can’t break down fat as well – further encouraging weight gain. Additionally, if a woman’s estrogen and testosterone levels get too far out of balance and there is an excess of male hormones (“androgens”) it can also increase her risk of obesity.
Finally, to add to the problem of female weight gain as she ages, a woman’s levels of the hormone leptin also drop after menopause. And since leptin is the hormone that tells the brain to feel “full” after eating, menopausal women actually do feel hungrier, which can lead eating more calories in order to feel “full.”
Men’s Hormones & Weight Loss
Many people do not realize that men also experience a type of “male menopause” called andropause. After the age of 30 men’s hormones also decline in production. If testosterone levels drop too, much the condition is sometimes referred to as “Low T.” Many men realize that lowered testosterone levels can lead to sexual performance problems and loss of libido. But low testosterone levels also make a man’s body less effective at building muscle and burning energy (calories) – which results in weight gain.
Additionally, when a man’s estrogen and testosterone levels become out of balance, a man’s body is more likely to store unwanted fat on belly and in some cases even the breasts (so-called “man boobs”). Low T levels in men can also cause loss of energy and fatigue, which makes them less active, also contributing to weight gain.
Changes in levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol can also cause weight gain by putting the body into a “survival mode” where it slows down metabolism – and packs on fat – in order to store energy for later use. And lowered levels of the growth hormone HGH, as well as decreased levels of thyroid hormones, can also cause a man’s metabolism to slow down with age.
How Hormone Replacement Helps Weight Loss
Hormone decline is why so many men universally start to develop softer “dad bods”, and why so many women start collecting extra weight and fat around their middle, as they pass the age of 40.
And while weight gain can lower a person’s self-esteem, is not just an aesthetic issue! Increased levels of body fat – especially around the middle – can substantially increase a man or woman’s risk for almost every major chronic disease, including: high blood pressure, heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, stroke, and even cancer.
Clearly, reducing calorie intake and increasing exercise is a healthy component of any weight loss plan. But when diet and working-out are simply not enough to lose unwanted fat, balancing and/or replacing a person’s declining or missing hormones can help provide the key to shedding pounds and inches.
Dr. Hakim is a biodentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) expert at Prosperity Health in Bloomfield Hills, MI. She can conduct thorough and comprehensive blood testing to identify your unique hormone levels and deficiencies. Then she will prescribe individualized hormone replacement therapy that is formulated and compounded in the exact doses that are needed to restore your hormone levels to perfect balance.
At Prosperity Health in Bloomfield Hills, we offer 100% natural, safe, bioidentical hormone replacements that are safer and more effective than synthetic lab-created hormones – to rebalance hormone levels and support weight loss after menopause or andropause.
In addition to being custom formulated for each patient, BioTe® hormone replacement offers the advantage of being administered via tiny, time-released pellets that can last up to six months with a single subdermal insertion. So, there are no daily pills to remember, no painful hormone shots, no patches to fall off and replace every few days, and no messy creams to apply!
Additionally, the time-released hormone pellets deliver bioidentical estrogen and testosterone consistently and evenly 24/7 as the body needs them – so there is not the roller coaster effect of pills and injections.
Hormone Replacement for Weight Loss | Bloomfield Hills
If you are a man or women who is frustrated by your inability to lose weight as you get older, it may be time to consider that declining or imbalanced hormone levels may be part of the problem!
In many cases, bioidentical hormone replacement can help return your metabolism to what it was you were young, so you can burn calories more easily and lose weight and body fat. BHRT can also help increase your energy and reduce fatigue, so you can continue to be as active as you ever were – helping you naturally lose weight!
If you live in the Bloomfield Hills area and are discouraged by the weight gain of female or male menopause, schedule a hormone replacement therapy consultation at Prosperity Health today – and let Dr. Hakim help you get your body back!