Gained 7lbs (3kg) in 3 weeks on HRT 😳

[Flockameanie]

I’m 46. Peri. Haven’t had a period for 7 months. started HRT 3 weeks ago (2 pumps oestrogel + utrogestan for 12 days) and I’ve put on 7 lbs (over 3kg) in that time! I only just started the progesterone tablets 2 days ago. My diet hasn’t changed (I anyway already tracked what I ate) and I’ve actually upped my exercise in that time (but not to an extent that would affect my weight, I don’t think).

Is this normal?? Everything I read says HRT doesn’t cause weight gain. But surely my weight gain can’t be a coincidence? I worked really hard 2 years ago to lose about a stone and was the lightest and fittest I’ve ever been in my life. It’s massively depressing to see all that undone in a matter of weeks. I can’t even tell if the HRT is having any positive effect yet - my symptoms weren’t that bad (mostly mood/ rage related).

Has anyone had similar weight gain that then came off again once you adapted to the HRT? Is it worth sticking with it? The whole thing is making me fed up…

But ‘no science to attribute weight gain’ @JinglingHellsBells i think simply means they haven’t done those studies (surprise, surprise)

I’m going to stick it out for 3 months to see if the weight, which I suspect has to be fluid retention because how else can I have gained 7lbs in 3 weeks when my diet hasn’t changed, ‘settles’ (ie comes off again). But I feel like an inflated balloon, I’ve got a rounded lower tummy, which is also new as of starting HRT, and my boobs are bigger, which I hate. I just feel a bit ‘icky’.

I never had particularly bad bloating or weight fluctuations with my menstrual cycle, but I did gain a lot of weight on the pill in my 20s (so stopped taking that and had a copper coil instead).

I am wondering if I should drop down to 1 pump of the gel per night? I felt a bit jittery after putting it on last night and didn’t sleep that well, despite also taking utrogestan at the moment at bedtime…

@Flockameanie i think it has to be water. I teach and usually in a six week summer of hard core lunching and wine I gain about 3lb. 10lb in three weeks is (for me) bonkers. My tummy is like a drum, but it doesn’t look “flabby” if that makes sense?

Funnily enough I also did only one pump of gel this morning. Prior to the Mirena I was on the mini pill so I don’t think it is that as both are synthetic progesterone.

I read some research papers which were stating that in peri women are not low in oestrogen, it’s progesterone that goes down. So it would make sense it’s the oestrogen excess in peri that’s causing the weight gain

I know people think it’s due to changes in eating / exercising - is has to be?!! Mine honestly truly isn’t, I am very low carb pre and post HRT, I exercise more now than I did aged 40….it’s defo HRT and I suspect specifically too much oestrogen

You’ve only got too look at how much bigger middle aged men are than men in their twenties to know that it’s not really oestrogen or progesterone doing this. It’s a combination of factors for sure.

Do you have links to those papers @hamstersarse ? I’d be really interested to read them. I am wondering if adding more oestrogen to my life isn’t helping me? When I had a menstrual cycle I always felt best around the 2nd or 3rd day of my period - ie when hormone levels were at their lowest….

Maybe it isn’t low hormones that were causing my peri issues, but the fluctuations that occur??

Right, but I don’t think they gain half a stone in 3 weeks without eating more or moving less (of which I’ve done neither)…

I put on weight each time I tried different hrt regimes and lost it all each time I stopped!

I maintained the same weight for a couple of years which was about 1/2 stone more than wanted. I embarked on a healthy weight loss programme and lost it all in 5 months. I'm now pre-menopausal weight.

My best friend who has always been slim didn't put a pound on hrt despite being on a high dose of oestrogen. We're all different!

Same - I’d always have fluctuations of 3-4 lbs at indulgent times of year (summer hols, Xmas), but it came off again v easily. Now I’m gaining weight whilst being very disciplined about food and exercise!

I track everything I eat. I am more active than I was a month ago (weights + running/walking/cycling). I know this is not because I’m eating more and moving less.

Either my metabolism has ground to a halt over the past month or HRT is making me balloon. I guess it could be a combo of both as I haven’t had a period since Feb.

I certainly think water retention is playing a part. Probably not 7lbs of an explanation though. It’s certainly frustrating. I hate being bigger too.

I always thought it was unbalanced hormones that (at least partly) caused the weight gain whether it be just peri/menopause of when on hrt, it dies settle for a lot of women by the 3 month mark but not for everyone.
I bloat badly (not sure if theres any actual weight again alongside it, dont have scale) when my histamine goes too high, been a right pain last few months trying to balance O levels high enough to assist bone density but not too high to cause more histamine to be released on top of what hayfever already does. Splitting my dose with 2 in the morning and 1 in afternoon has helped.

I have put lots of weight on my stomach and boobs since starting HRT in January this year. It has been a shock, however, I couldn't return to the sleepless nights and achy joints again, so I am going to stick with HRT.

I am so sensitive to oestrogen

also could never take pill as would balloon up like did the minute I get pregnant !

def sounds like too much oestrogen - as someone said it’s progesterone that drops off first in peri

I have the gel and a coil. No weight increase.

That’s interesting about progesterone. I was on the pop before getting the Mirena and the consultant said to keep taking it until I get an abdominal scan to check the coil is in the right place - I have a tilted uterus so she couldn’t find it with the vaginal probe scan. I stopped taking it on the basis I can feel the coil strings, and also am not much interested in sex at the mo anyway (sorry, DP) but maybe should restart it.

I seem to be back to having periods now which is PoP had stopped complexly, although it’s only six weeks since I got the Mirena.

@hamstersarse It's not just as simple as women are low in progesterone and therefore estrogen is the culprit for weight gain. If this was so, all women who had a hysterectomy and use only estrogen HRT would all gain weight, and they don't. The only reason we need progesterone post menopause is to protect the womb.

What I think you have read is that in peri, there can be incomplete cycles where progesterone is not produced in a cycle as there is no ovulation. Estrogen starts to build in the first half of a cycle but no egg is released so the next phase when progesterone would be produced doesn't happen.

Usually with HRT it's synthetic progestogens that can cause fluid retention and carb cravings. This is why women on combined continuous HRT may have more side effects than using it in a cycle.

Unfortunately, most HRT via a GP follows the prescribed dose of 2 weeks of estrogen only followed by estrogen + progesterone for 2 weeks.

Meno consultants have more freedom to tailor it. I was started on a very low dose of estrogen only for several weeks, to see how much I needed, before adding in progesterone.

If it's any consolation, I can't take HRT and I'm definitely getting weeks where I gain weight for absolutely no rhyme or reason and all of it is round my middle. I can eat the same, exercise the same but end up 1.5kg heavier than the week before.

I find I get some fluid retention at first when I've raised a patch, but it does go eventually and then I start to loose weight by around the 2-3 month mark.

I've had insatiable hunger since starting HRT - worse in the no-progesterone weeks. Feels like the day before period comes - a bottomless pit of carb craving, with blood sugar all over the place. Needless to say I've piled on about half a stone since starting it 2 months ago.

I've been on Everol Conti for 2 years since I was 41 and haven't gained weight.

I started Testogel last week - so will be monitoring my weight closely

I have been on HRT for 16mths and have slowly gained 16lbs. I have changed nothing- diet tracked as before. -activity same (3x 5k run, 3x resistance, walk dog 1hr everyday) GP insistent NOT HRT. Although I'm not happy as such to read it's not just me, I do feel less frustrated at myself for gaining weight. I have debated stopping, but I was a forgetful, angry, sweaty mess before HRT. If anyone ever finds a solution please post it.

When I started on HRT 18 months ago I also put weight on and also freaked out. It was definitely water weight and settled after a few months to about 6lb above where I was before, which was still not ideal but ok. This year I set out to lose that and I’m now about 2lb over my pre-HRT weight BUT I’ve been doing loads and loads of heavy weight training and have visibly put on muscle and I’m still at the lower end of a healthy weight range (BMI sub 20). It’s a long game I reckon.

I’ve also stopped having periods so am taking the progesterone continuously at a lower dose which has definitely helped with the annoying cyclical fluctuations.

HRT GEL weight gain!

I've read through a few of the posts, looks like the majority of us are experiencing weight gain since starting HRT.
Some have suggested going from 2 pumps of the gel to one - has anyone tried this and noticed a difference?
Also the tablet we take for 12 days supposedly makes you drowsy, but I'm have worse sleep than before!

So pleased to find company with my weight/ HRT relationship.
I'm 5'7" and now 13.5 stones but around the waist I'm anything up to 44in. I've always been an hour glass but am now a sphere in just a few years.
I can't work out whether this is what 'overweight ' should fell like or if it's a distinctly hrt distribution.
I'm now staring at similar aged women in the streets!

Started one pump of oestrogel in the summer didn't notice any real weight gain. Dr kept me on the pill until I got back from Florida last week but put me up to 2 pumps 3 weeks ago. I have gained 6lb in 3 weeks!! I started taking utrogestan 3 days ago and have been told to take it continuously.
Could my weight gain be water weight (breasts feel huge and heavy) should I drop back to one pump oestrogel to see if that makes a difference?
Absolutely gutted as lost a stone for Florida and it's all piling back on

I'm starting to think as I went on higher oestrogen patches I gained more water retention. I moved to 25/3 regime for Utrogestan (from 2 weeks vaginally) and do feel it helped. But getting the timing of the utro with your bleeding cycle when you first start can be tricky.