Many women struggle with weight gain. This might be because you ate too much pizza, or because you always skip out on your 7am spin class, but it also might be due to a more complicated reason: your hormones.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at how your menstrual cycle and the related hormones affect your weight. The menstrual cycle has been shown to impact eating habits, exercise performance, and mental health; all factors that influence successful weight loss, all of which we will cover today. So buckle up! And share this with a friend if you found this helpful!
How do Hormones Affect Me?
Hormones in the human body are integral for a number of vital processes including body weight regulation, hunger and fullness signals, food cravings, mood, and energy levels. So now, to get to the nitty-gritty: how do your hormones affect your weight?
Let’s take a look at one example – cortisol. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, meaning it is involved in muscle tissue breakdown and is associated with feelings of stress. It’s a hormone that also promotes fat storage and increases appetite and cravings. As you may have guessed, elevated cortisol levels are not good if you want to lose weight.
What About Estrogen?
Estrogen is also associated with weight changes. Estrogen is responsible for controlling blood cholesterol levels, promoting bone health, and regulating emotions. Imbalanced levels of estrogen (either too high or too low) can lead to weight gain, particularly around the hips and waist. Progesterone is associated with body weight regulation, and higher levels of progesterone are associated with lower body weight.
Estrogen and progesterone play a role in fluid regulation, as shown in a 2010 study published by the Exercise & Sport Science Review journal. As these hormones fluctuate during your menstrual cycle, so does the amount of fluid retention. This can make you feel and look visibly larger and weigh more, despite no extra fat being gained – it’s just water.
This affects an estimated 92 percent of women. Similarly, bloating increases prior to and during your period, because the hormonal flux increases gas in the gastrointestinal tract, causing a swollen and bloated appearance. However, again, no fat is gained, only bodyweight.
What About the Menstrual Cycle?
That being said, the menstrual cycle can also affect your weight by inhibiting weight loss efforts. This is because the hormonal changes can result in an increased appetite. In the week prior to your period, progesterone levels increase. Studies show that progesterone stimulates the appetite, causing you to eat more than usual, particularly higher-calorie choices.
When estrogen is higher, food intake is lower, as shown in a 2011 study, that found that estrogen modulates the central processing of the appetite-stimulating and satiating hormones. In essence – progesterone spikes make you hungry, estrogen spikes regulate your eating patterns.
As you can imagine, when estrogen drops, hunger increases. This is partially because we become progesterone dominant, and partially because estrogen regulates serotonin – a hormone associated with feeling good.
Lower serotonin is associated with a bigger appetite, specifically sugary foods, that are known to boost serotonin (in the short term). If you are particularly sensitive to these changing hormonal levels, or you have an imbalance, you may be more likely to significantly overeat and cause weight gain.
If you want to learn more about how you can naturally rebalance your hormones and what types of exercise put you in an optimized environment for fat loss, check out the blog. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for weekly posts with everything you need to know about hormones and how they affect us!
See you next time!
Meet Emilina
Emilina is a clinically trained nutritionist turned health writer who has worked with top health and wellness brands including the National Football League (NFL), Muscle & Strength, Breaking Muscle as well as manages written content for many professional athletes. She currently lives in Orange County, California.
More about Emilina