HRT has caused weight gain in about 50% of my clients.
On average it’s 4-8 pounds.
That sucks!
And I can predict who will gain weight based on the distribution of their body fat and hormone levels, especially if we do a saliva or DUTCH (urine hormones) test.
I’m the first to tell people that if your body isn’t metabolizing hormones well, progesterone can make you puffy and estrogen will cause breast tenderness and lower abdominal bloating, just like you were going to get a period.
Yet, one has to choose between the hormone help with hot flashes, insomnia, hair loss, and mental imbalances that come with low hormones versus a little weight gain.
The good news is the weight gain can be managed.
If you’re working on the hormone detox and a few other factors I outline in this email.
In my almost 20 years of working with hormones, I’ve found the best thing for women to be micro-dosing GLPs plus hormones, and now I’m pretty certain amino acids for the brain seem to be a great combo.
And remembering it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation! Ever!
I can tell if you’re getting a basic HRT protocol by what you’re put on.
200 mg of Progesterone and a 0.05 mg estradiol patch is a generic protocol, NOT precision hormone replacement therapy.
Being put on birth control or a Mirena IUD is also not hormone replacement therapy; it’s a lazy protocol for shutting your hormones down further.
Ok, off my soapbox and back to the details I want you to read.
You gain weight on HRT with estrogen because you become estrogen dominant.
Weight gain with progesterone is often due to water weight gain from fluid retention.
When you’re estrogen dominant, it’s not estrogen excess per se; it means the ratio of estrogen builds up compared to progesterone in your body.
In particular, estrone, the inflammatory estrogen, builds up as estradiol supplementation can cause back conversion to estrone.
Pair that with wine or alcohol consumption, plus just living in a toxic world filled with hormone disruptors, drinking unfiltered city tap water, and you have multiple sources of estrone.
Either way you look at it, it’s a detox issue.
I believe there’s a method to the body’s imbalance.
It’s trying to preserve your estrogen by storing it in fat, yet the toxic food, air, water, fascial restrictions, not breathing deeply, and negative social vibes you’re exposed to bog down your liver.
The liver and cells detox your hormones. If both are blocked from doing their jobs because your lymph isn’t moving from shallow breathing and fascial restriction, you have a problem!
Pair that with fatty liver being a big deal over 40 because of the drive to eat carbs and drink alcohol to manage living in a nutty world.
And the drive to eat carbs to store fat so the body has a place to store estrogen with age is a real thing.
Chips, kettle corn, and chocolate were my go-to’s, and dang, it’s tough to say no!
I just talked to a patient last week about the kettle corn at Costco, and she was expressing how she “just has to have it.”
I feel ya, sister!
Folks — this is a primal response; your body is sending you a signal!
Your body is trying to help you; it’s not the enemy.
What’s messing with its response is your environment that you can’t control and your thoughts, as well as your response to stress, which you can!
You have infinite wisdom in your body, and it’s trying to store some estrogen for you (or testosterone if you want to know what’s going down with guys over 40).
Trust what your body is trying to do and help it with a micro-dose of estradiol, go slow to increase it AND put your blood sugar and toxins in check.
Blood sugar and inflammation-boosting responses, including addictions, can be controlled with GLPs (glucagon-like peptides).
You can also do this with fasting, berberine, and milk thistle to detox the liver.
Below is my checklist of everything I’m now recommending to help HRT work smoothly to prevent weight gain, or at least keep it to a minimum, during the adjustment phase of starting HRT.
- Fasting — at least 12-14 hours between dinner and breakfast. Mindy Pelz, ND’s book “Fast Like a Girl” does make sense. If your adrenals are really shot, then you may want to stick with the 12-14 hour time frame until you can work on your stress response.
- 36-72 hour fast quarterly
- Detox your liver daily: Cruciferous veggies (or take a supplement), radishes (or take a Spanish Radish supplement), supplement with milk thistle, artichoke, and NAC
- Microdose a GLP like Retatrutide or Tirzepatide, or take Di-hydroberberine twice a day with food
- Magnesium — topical or oral – I love Sahale Botanicals’s Magnesium (code: DOCJ15) and Living the Good Life Naturally (code for $ off: healthfix or thehealthfix)
- Fiber to keep the bowels moving – ground psyllium or flax
- Breathwork + fascial release — I love Block Therapy & GST Body
- Dial in your hormones with regular testing of saliva. Know how you detox your hormones with a urine test like the DUTCH — blood testing isn’t sufficient to know what’s up!
Here’s to detoxing on the daily to help your body balance hormones better at any age,
Dr. J
PS: If you didn’t catch my workshop with Deanna Hansen on releasing your upper body to help with weight loss and shoulder mobility, you have to see it. She blew my mind on so many things. Here’s the Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEwO1EaugA
Here’s her other offerings:
1) Free Sampler Program Trial – https://kd167.isrefer.com/go/sampkrause/docjkrause/
2) Starter Kit – comes with the block for her specific “Block Therapy” along with the Foundations Starter Program and an intensive seated block therapy program – https://kd167.isrefer.com/go/sampkrause/docjkrause/
