Help - gaining weight on hrt - oestrogel and utrogestan

[cheeseomelette]

Started in January and have gained 8 lbs I really don’t need. It’s amazing for my symptoms but I’m really hungry on it. Have been intermittent fasting for years and suddenly can’t do without breakfast so have reintroduced that. I am craving carbs.

my diet is vegetarian and generally healthy - I am low alcohol, eat a range of vegetables, salads, nuts etc. I know what to avoid and have minimal junk.

will this stop? I’ve started tracking calories to keep an eye on that and have upped protein. I already walk 10-15k steps a day, go to the gym 3 times a week and drink water and black coffee so I’m at a loss. Hrt is the key difference here.

ive been doing 2 pumps and a tablet each night but ChatGPT suggests moving the gel application to the morning so I’m going to try that.

i’m 50 and just about to hit 12 months without a period, for context.

i didn’t lose weight in a year of regular cardio - I now go to the gym every other day but only do either strength training or things like 20 minutes of walking quickly on the treadmill on an incline. After 4 weeks of this I’m already more toned - I was already fairly fit though and have always done 10-15k steps a day.

the good thing about hrt is that I feel I have more energy to work out- I didn’t before. If i can get my weight down another stone, I’ll carry on as I am.

Yeah I gained loads of weight on HRT and had to come off it.

Good luck op 🙌

My understanding is that the main sources of stress and high cortisol are lack of sleep and other lifestyle pressures, on a long term basis.

Gum disease is partly down to loss of estrogen - causes gums to shrink and dry out, like all mucous membranes in women's bodies, and can become inflamed.

My specialist dentist told me that cortisol 'attacks' the gums.

The main source of raised cortisol is stress or an unhealthy lifestyle, not exercise.

The Connection Between Stress and Gum Disease
Emotional stress and anxiety can lead to less-than-healthy behaviors. Neglecting oral hygiene, making poor diet choices, and using unhealthy coping mechanisms like smoking can be considered risk factors contributing to gum disease.

Combine those unhealthy behaviors with a lowered immune response (stress has been shown to weaken our immune systems) and increased inflammation in the body, thanks to elevated cortisol (cortisol is a hormone that controls our stress levels), have the potential to increase risk for gingivitis and bleeding gums.

There is no science showing that doing cardio exercise raises cortisol= weight gain- because it falls to normal quickly.

Lack of sleep etc and stress/ poor diet contributes to overall inflammation in the body and is the main source of raised cortisol which is why trying to lose weight / not gain weight if you have poor sleep (ie night sweats and hot flushes) is an issue.

Yes bloated up quickly .
Went up two bra sizes and stomach was like I was six months pregnant
Couldnt bear any clothes that were in any way fitted.
Constipated too
Size 8-10 around 8/10 my whole life and went to nearly 10 stone in two months.
Felt I jumped into HRt too quickly mainly issues were poor sleep and anxiety .
Came off it
Weight gone within a few weeks
Took natural route .
HRT wasn’t for me

I think I’ve put on weight since I started HRT, I’m on Evorel Conti patches but I’m also/was also on antidepressants anti anxiety tablets which also put on weight. For me the upsides of HRT managing menopause are why I stay on it.

Weight gain is often because of the wrong type of HRT or the wrong dose. Many women start on too high a dose of estrogen, mainly because GPs don't individualise it , and starting women low, so their bodies get used to it.

You're the expert. I expect my dentist who specialises in gum disease is wrong.

This has been my experience too. I had to go on it immediately because I had a full hysterectomy in my late 40s. I’ve gone from a size 12 to a 16 with no changes in my diet (healthy) and am on oestrogel purely to fight against an early heart attack and osteoporosis. This is my sixth year of the gel and I’d love to know what the natural route is that you speak of, please can you explain? 🙏🏻

In no way an expert and it’s each to their own and finding what works for you .
For me magnesium and more exercise helped the sleep. Still have good and bad nights but accepting that was in itself helpful . Also I now choose my office days so knowing I don’t have to drive in the morning lessens the whole anxiety of no sleep .
Cleaned up my diet
Low sugar - alcohol weekends only. More salads adding fibre into soups casseroles etc . I suppose you’d call it old fashioned eating . Try to eat more protein but struggle with that .
Yoga helps with flexibility and the anxiety. Journal writing and accepting we can’t control everything you also stops me spiralling .
I do take some vitamins
Evening primrose for breast tenderness
Cod liver oil
Magnesium sleep & bowels
Spatone iron as not a great meat eater
Hair and nail supplement
Walk aim for 15000 steps a day don’t always achieve it .
The flushes still come but more sporadic these days -
It’s not perfect and I’m 60 now having some issues with uti s so suspect may have to revisit localised oestrogen .

Thank you @FredaMountfitchet that’s really helpful.

I put on 6 kilos ( a stone ) during my worst phases of perimenopause, the weight gain started before I went on HRT, it then plateaued once I was on sequential HRT.
I’ve been in post menopause for 9

months and the 6 kilos has fallen off.
My appetite post menopause has gotten very small, I’ve no desire for cakes, biscuits or even bread. All the carbs I used to love I no longer have any desire for.
2/3 times a week of strength exercise, and a varied diet and I’ve really toned up and look and feel a hell of a lot better than I did in the thick of peri.

I came off as I thought it was making it harder to lose weight and it did seem to be the case, I lost most of my weight after HRT.

It’s a struggle because I have terrible hot flushes, particularly at night but I can’t risk weight gain, I’m the happiest with my weight that I’ve been for many years. My joint pain has mostly gone too which has been great.

Those quotes are from a professional dental site. Click on the links and they take you to scientific research.

They are not my words. That's why they are quotes and have links.

Update - I’m stuck at 2lbs above my starting weight but am trying to persist and be patient. 10-15k steps per day, a load of protein and fibre and strength training. I am more toned at least but would love to get at least a stone off. I have always worn a 10-12 but gave in and bought some size 14 jeans at the weekend, just so something feels loose.
sequential hrt was not for me. The progesterone phase made me feel terrible, I’m going to keep going with continuous and see if I can get used to it. The hunger is ridiculous though. I can totally see why I put on weight.

How much food/ protein are you eating?

If you're hungry all the time it suggests either you aren't eating enough protein or your brain clocks 'hunger' when maybe it's just getting used to you not eating so much. There is a difference between real hunger and an empty stomach which is normal 2 hours after eating.

My weight just seems to be going up, regardless of exercise and food intake. I don’t know how there is time in the day to do over 10k steps and everything else. I feel like a hamster permanently running in a wheel and the more exercise I do, the hungrier and fatter I get 😑 It’s all in the boobs and tum! Nowhere else!

@cheeseomelette

I feel your pain. Unfortunately decrease in estrogen during peri/meno kills our metabolism and losing weight becomes so much harder than before. I have always had a good diet and exercised. Weight sometimes went up - but doing a bit of low carbing always moved it back. Having two kids shifted it up a bit - but again with time, exercise and upping protein it eventually normalised....
And then - late 40s and my weight went up and nothing would move it. Not the usual low-carbing, not the upping of exercise.

I have been on HRT for several years now. And have friends who are on it - and those who are not. And I can see that the only way to keep weight down is to eat very little, and that's it. Our metabolism is the main reason for for weight gain, and difficulty for losing it. The typical menopausal weight gain around midriff is very easy to see on my friends. For those on HRT - it normally means they are not on right dose.

So - for people who are convinced that HRT itself caused the weight gain - it is simply not true - it is the timing of when we take it, that makes it seem that way. We start HRT at the age when estrogen plumets - and voila - no metabolism and weight gain.

The only solution is simply low-low calory diet. Obviously with exercise, etc. But eating a lot less than ever before.

Or - as some of my friends are doing - micro-dosing on Ozempic.

Im using an app to track intake of protein, fat, veg, fruit and carbs. Currently it’s telling me to have 7 helpings of protein a day, 0-2 of carbs depending on whether I weight train that day, 3 fat, 3 veg, 2 fruit. I feel emotionally low without any carbs, so I still eat something on a non-training day. But I am feeling great and not hungry, and when I track my calories I’m usually slightly under my daily allowance and I sometimes have to have some more yogurt to get enough calories.

It’s quite hard to eat 7 helpings of protein but I’m losing weight and have tons of energy for exercise. I’m also taking creatine. I’ve lost 1.5kg in a fortnight - obviously not all of it is fat, but this is in contrast to the scale creeping up 10kg over the last couple of years, since starting on HRT (edited post to include this important info!)

What I’m saying is that diet and exercise MAY still be the answer, just not in the way that women our age have grown up believing.

Actually when I was first on HRT I didn’t gain weight or not much. But on fluoxetine and was on an anti psychotic which put on weight. So now I kind of blame the HRT.

It's not a given - op is saying she is eating more. Other poster is saying they put it on with HRT but came off and didn't lose it - surely if it was HRT rather than calories and you stopped you'd lose the weight?

I've been on it for a few years - no weight gain, nor do I feel more hungry. I do gain weight if I eat more. Perhaps if op was really anxious she wasn't eating as much and is now more relaxed and so her appetite is better.

Thanks all. I track calories and protein and am hitting about 90gms most days. I’m veggie so it does take some effort but fortunately I love eggs and Greek yoghurt.

I easily walk 10-15k steps a day consistently despite an office job. I just never sit down. That’s what’s quite annoying as it’s not easy to up it more.

I think I need to go back to the equivalent of 2 meals a day and possibly split the first one over 2 sittings so I don’t get ravenous. I’m obviously eating more than my body needs to maintain weight.

@cheeseomelette in case it’s helpful, I’m eating 130g-160g a day and it seems to have made a real difference. I’m not veggie any more, but my meat consumption is minuscule - eggs and Greek yogurt are my go-tos too. I seem to be fuller for longer and when I’m hungry it’s much ‘quieter’ than in the past when I’ve relied more on carbs.