Weight gain with HRT?

[HormonalHeap]

About to start with bio identical HRT gel. Have been told I will retain fluid for 6 weeks, then back to normal. Annoying for me as have just managed to lose a stone! Does anyone have any experience of this?.

What really odd advice!
Who told you this?
Personally, I'd ignore it.

Are you also using a progestogen - or have you had a hysterectomy?
If you are also using a progestogen ( every month or long cycle) then you may find you get the usual PMT bloating for a few days each month, but that's all.

I've used gel for over 6 years, never gained weight and my BMI is still around 19- same as all my life.

Thank you Pinfrocks, very much. My meno consultant told me this when I asked her if I would gain weight. She said just water for six weeks. I have a Mirena coil, which after insertation dos cause me to bloat for a number of weeks. She did say that after this period I would go back to 'normal'.

Did not dos!

It's a really weird thing for her to say.
I've not known anyone describe that.

Good as I've just rubbed in my first dose

I am blaming my hrt for my 1/2 stone weight gain this past month. It happened the last time I tried hrt, this time I hoped it wouldn't on oestrogel/Utrogestan.

I have piled weight on in the last three to four months since I've been on HRT. I know the official line is that it will not be the cause, but as I am suddenly a whole stone heavier with no obvious change in lifestyle or diet I am finding that a little hard to swallow.

The thing is......taking HRT usually coincides with a change in metabolism which we all experience in mid life ( even men.)

I can't eat the same amounts as I could when I was younger because the weight just piles on (even though I am not overweight) so I have had to cut back on all carbs and really focus on having a really 'clean' diet all the time. It is a real constant effort and takes me a huge amount of discipline!!!
I suppose what I am saying is that in your 40s and 50s and beyond you actually need less food than when you were younger, regardless of HRT.

I find I don't want to eat anything like the volume in one sitting that I used to when I was younger anyway, and I do try to keep the carbs down, but anything less than very strict absinence seems to have no effect.

I have to go with very strict abstinence I'm only 5 3" and any indulgences show.

I'd like to blame my weight gain on HRT.

Snag is, I'm not using it, but am finding it much harder to shift excess poundage that creeps on.

It is much harder. Before, I could lose a couple of pounds in a week no problem at all. Now I can only do that if I stick to the 5:2 diet, which I hate, or cut back very hard and do more exercise for two weeks or more.

Nope no change of metabolism here I can blame it on. When I came of the last hrt attempt 3 years ago after 6 months on it, that 1/2 stone came off just like that! And stayed off too. I've with great difficult lost a further stone and maintained a steady weight within a 4lb range for the last 18 months too. So I KNOW it's the HRT that's causing this.

sometimes women find they lose weight which actually makes more sense because we tend to put weight on post meno- so having our hormone levels at the same stage as when we were younger ( not quite as high) can actually aid weight loss and keep us from laying down fat around our middles.

some weight gain is fluid due to the progestogens if you take them daily or every month, other women grow much bigger boobs.