Why do health professionals still reject idea that HRT makes you gain weight?

[MotherMary14]

Every doctor/expert article I've read states HRT won't make you gain weight and in fact you're more likely to lose it, because the lifting of brain fog/more energy makes you want to eat better and exercise more.

Yet if you read menopause forums so many women anecdotally say the opposite. I'm 53 and I've just come off HRT after being on it for four years. At the beginning it did help with brain fog and other symptoms but I also gained 2.5 stone and felt constantly bloated, particularly during the 12-day oral progesterone cycle. My boobs became so dense, in fact, that the breast clinic had trouble doing a mammogram and so I decided to come off it because I was worried about the breast cancer risk.

Since stopping last month I've lost 8lbs without trying and my appetite has reduced massively. Before, I felt hungry all the time. Now I get that the chances are my medication had become unbalanced and I may have developed a sensitivity to progesterone, but the only thing I've done to change my diet to lose weight is come off HRT. Yet according to health professionals HRT wasn't responsible for me gaining weight in the first place.

Why do they make out there's no link between weight gain and HRT when there's so much anecdotal evidence that says otherwise? Is it because they know women might baulk at taking it if it was a listed side effect?

I’ve been on HRT for 7-8yrs. No change to my weight (I’m naturally slim) until around 18 months ago when it started to pile on. I’ve gained a stone in that time while still keeping up my fairly demanding fitness regime. I can’t live on 1200 cals per day, but can’t lose an ounce unless I do. I’m being really strict and have started taking berberine supplements and have managed to stop further gain, but lose- nope.

Sure but if my weight gain was middle aged spread it’s a bizarre coincidence i only had it in the 2 weeks I was on HRT. Not before and none in the 18 months since I stopped taking it.

A nurse practitioner I worked with used to say about women claiming oral contraceptives made them gain weight. She said it can increase your appetite but it doesn’t mean you have to eat more. I haven’t gained weight on HRT but I’m definitely bloated. I take the progesterone vaginally.

My GP warned me I might well put on weight with hrt. She is my age so maybe it was the personal experience of her and her friends.

Please let us know what you find! I have looked at medical papers I found via Google and the consensus was still that there is no link.

She’s right that you don’t have to gain weight but my appetite was insatiable! It’s like I had hollow legs and if I tried to diet I would end up falling off the wagon v.quickly and would binge.

Then this answers your question. Health professionals are guided by the research.

That's not what I'm saying. Even if the research says there is no link, there will always be personal experiences which don't match the research. It doesn't make the research wrong.

I see what you're saying but my question is why is personal experience so overlooked? If you ask online the question "does taking HRT make you gain weight?" the response across the board is no, ignoring vast anecdotal evidence.

I haven't gained weight on HRT, in fact the opposite. Getting my focus and energy back has made it much easier to stick to eating well and exercising. I was gaining weight before I started on it though.

Middle age makes you gain weight, unless you make big changes to stop it.

Sure but if my weight gain was middle aged spread it’s a bizarre coincidence i only had it in the 2 weeks I was on HRT.

The guides do say that there may be some weight gain at first but it's mainly water and the guidance also says stick with it for 3 months , when the weight may return to normal.

I'm not disputing some women gain weight , but at the same time it can be HRT dose and type related.

If HRT makes you hungrier and the response is to eat more food, it's the food not HRT causing weight gain.

There are many drugs that can increase appetite- anti depressants are one of them that's well known- but it's not the drugs, it's the food increase.

HRT didn't make me gain weight. I put on a bit when I came off it.

@JinglingSpringbells fair enough, but I’m not going to take a drug which potentially makes me more likely to eat more due to hunger or cravings.

I haven’t gained weight on HRT. Since adding testosterone, I have actually found it easier to maintain/ lose weight. I am not and have never been overweight and I do strength training with heavy weights 4-5 days a week, have done for about 15 years. I’m a small uk Size 10.
I should also add that I feel so much better in myself for taking HRT.

I have put on weight, on HRT a few years. Always been normal BMI, now can be 26, but I cannot shift it and it’s getting me down so much I’m considering trying to get micro dosing mountjaro or similar

Those that came off hrt, how did you do it? I’d like to stop

That's exactly how I was feeling, right down to wanting to start WLI! I saw my GP and she was in agreement about me coming off it and I just stopped overnight.None of my pre-HRT symptoms have returned thankfully and I actually feel better mentally for coming off it. I am going to get a bone density scan though to make sure I'm okay.

Because the patriarchy likes to blame us for everything - it is totally our own personal fault that we are fat. We should be whatever they say, so slim & forever youthful. Bastards, the lot of them.

I haven’t gained weight on HRT

I didn’t put on weight on HRT but I did need to change my diet and exercise somewhat to meet the different needs of being in my 50’s.
You will naturally gain a little weight at this time of life and taking HRT is not going to stop this.

I think the issue is that there is so much variation between women on how hrt can affect us.

If in a clinical trial in both the control and treatment groups 30 gain weight, 30 loose weight and 30 stay the same do they conclude it has no impact on weight overall when it may have at the individual level? I think research on women's hormones is still pretty limited and there are a lot of unknowns.

I struggle to gain weight on hrt, not sure if I would have the same issue without it or not.

For some women the cravings are the effects of progesterone causing PMS - same as in a normal cycle, without HRT. Cravings for carbs or sweet stuff is well known as a PMS symptom. How much everyone experiences this is individual.

Exactly this. I am now 15lbs lighter since coming off and removing my Mirena. The progesterone element definitely increases hunger and bloating and the patches/gel made my breast swollen and dense.

Oral progesterone is horrible for weight gain IME. I have a Mirena coil and that is much better. I wouldn't take oral progesterone again - horrible stuff!

I agree fully with this. Taking utrogestan made me feel like I had horrific PMT for three weeks each month, exhausted, hungry and crying - even when used vaginally. (took the tablets for 2 weeks, it took 3 to leave my system).

Changing to the Mirena removed all the cravings.

I think it does, but when the levels are not quite right and/or the medication doesn't suit.

I am proof that it does in some instances. I went off the patch which I was on for 2 years with hardly any weight gain. I then went on to Tibolone as an alternative, and absolutely piled the weight on. And I had no change in eating habits or activity levels from when on the patch.

I stopped taking the Tibolone and lost 1.5kg in 3 days! It was water weight for sure, but still weight.

I am not bloated now, fit into most of my clothes again and just feel better.

But it is listed as a side affect for Tibolone, says minority will gain weight, but I don't believe that really.