Sometimes weight loss success requires more than just diet and exercise. We often see in our patients that they’ve tried many diets without the results they seek, and exercise often leads to frustrating plateaus.
In patients like these who come to us defeated and frustrated with their previou attempts at weight loss, we find that more often than not hormone imbalances are the underlying cause for their weight gain and inability to shed pounds easily.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons hormones play a role in weight gain, and how hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can help patients overcome the biochemical obstacles standing in the way of weight loss success.
What is Hormone Replacement Therapy?
Hormone Replacement Therapy, commonly known as HRT, is a medical term for a process that involves supplementing or balancing the body’s natural levels of a few specific hormones.
Hormones play a critical role in regulating metabolism, fat storage, and appetite. Our hormone levels naturally fluctuate as we age—for example, we all experience changes in hormones during puberty. Women also experience menopause later in life, signaling the end of their peak reproductive years. Men also naturally experience a decrease in testosterone as they age.
These are examples of perfectly normal hormonal shifts that happen throughout our lives. Unfortunately, for some people these fluctuations are troublesome, and can affect the way they store and burn fat.
The process of hormone therapy comes in many forms—pills, injections, creams, and pellet therapy—but the process remains the same. During hormone replacement therapy treatments, a medical provider first takes a sample to analyze in a lab to get a clear picture of hormone levels in the blood.
Once your provider has a good understanding of which hormones are out of balance and which ones may be contributing to weight issues, they’ll prescribe a treatment plan and a delivery method to help restore balance.
After you begin treatment, your provider will regularly monitor your hormone levels to ensure that they’re in the optimal range for your body.
What happens to my weight after hormone therapy?
Once patients begin HRT at Blue Sky MD, we tend to see patients lose weight more effectively and with less effort. However, HRT is best combined with a healthy diet and exercise for long-term weight loss.
By balancing key hormones like testosterone, for example, we see patients regaining energy levels, gaining muscle mass and strength, and feeling more active in general. This greatly impacts weight loss, as having more muscle burns more fat and increases metabolism.
The cognitive benefits of HRT, like improved mood, better quality sleep, and better focus also provides patients a boost of motivation and confidence that can help them be more active in their daily lives, which in turn burns more fat and aids in the weight loss process.
At Blue Sky MD, we typically see that our male patients lose 20-25% more fat with our TRT program when combined with our medical weight loss program. Our female patients also see about 10% more weight loss with the HRT+Medical Weight Loss combination program—which really adds up month over month.
What are the top 4 HRT treatments for weight loss?
Hormone composition is unique to each and every patient we see in our offices. As such, there are no “top HRT treatments for weight loss”, as each has its benefits, depending on the individual patient’s needs. Additionally, some patients have imbalances in more than one specific hormone at a given time.
However, the majority of people we see struggle with similar hormones, and there are a few common HRT treatments that the majority of people receive. If you’re struggling with weight loss, then more often than not the culprit is one of the following hormones.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT)
Testosterone is important for muscle growth but it also directly influences metabolism and fat storage. For men, low testosterone levels can slow muscle development and increase body fat. Testosterone Replacement Therapy for men replenishes testosterone levels to what is considered a normal range for an individual patient (somwhere between 300 to 1000 nanograms per deciliter, depending on the individual).
Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT)
During menopause, women naturally experience a decline in estrogen levels. This loss of estrogen can cause weight gain, particularly around the belly or abdomen. Estrogen replacement for women helps reduce additional symptoms of menopause, like hot flashes, and may help with regulating weight and fat storage.
Thyroid Hormone Replacement
Hypothyroidism is a condition that’s characterized by an underactive thyroid gland. This health condition can cause weight gain, fatigue, and sluggishness. Thyroid hormone replacement therapy can treat deficient thyroid hormones, which in turn boosts metabolism and energy levels, which can contribute to more effective weight loss.
Growth Hormone Therapy (GHT)
Growth hormone (GH) is crucial for regulating body composition and metabolism. Patients with insufficient GH levels often gain weight easily or have a hard time growing and sustaining muscle mass. HRT can help balance GH levels, improving development of muscle and increasing fat loss.
Just to reiterate, every patient has a unique hormone profile, and often times a patient will need more than one type of hormone therapy to achieve hormone balance. This is precisely why testing is so important to get to the root cause of weight gain or difficulty losing weight.
Finding your path to weight loss success with HRT
Even with the help of hormone replacement therapy, weight loss is a difficult process that requires diligence, patience, and in some cases medical assistance. That’s why we see the best weight loss results in our patients who participate in our combined hormone replacement therapy and medical weight loss program.
Most importantly, HRT is not a silver bullet‚ and hormone replacement therapy cannot magically overcome a poor diet or sedentary lifestyle by itself. The key to successful weight loss is and always will be a balanced lifestyle.
However, it can help treat the root causes of biological resistance to weight loss. If you’ve tried every diet out there and still haven’t found any luck losing weight, hormone replacement therapy can help you feel like your optimal self again, and give you the boost you need to regain control of your life.
Schedule your first visit at Blue Sky MD today, or take our free online health assessment to find out if HRT, medical weight loss, or a combination approach is right for you.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
In most cases, HRT does not make you gain weight. In fact, HRT typically helps patients lose fat, depending on individual factors and the type of HRT treatment used.
HRT can potentially help patients lose belly fat, depending on the hormone being replaced. In men, fat is more commonly stored in the belly. For men, testosterone replacement therapy can increase muscle mass and metabolism, therefore reducing fat.
For women, menopause and estrogen imbalances can create belly fat. Estrogen therapy can help reduce this fat.
An increase in belly fat is common for post-menopausal women. HRT can help restore balance to the hormones and reduce belly fat.
