How does oestrogen dominance cause weight gain?

If your body tends to carry more fat around the belly, hips, bottom and thighs, this is your body telling you that a family of hormones are unbalanced (read on...) Before perimenopause and menopause, in your 30s and early 40s, women tend to become oestrogen-dominant.

This is where your levels of oestrogen are too high in relation to progesterone.

Oestrogen dominance can make women more prone to weight gain, especially around their belly, hips, bottom and thighs.

Why does oestrogen dominance cause weight gain?

Too much oestrogen in relation to progesterone causes the body to produce more insulin and insulin is your fat-storage hormone.

Naturally, anyone who wants to lose weight begins by cutting their calories and/ or upping exercise…

Problem is, a surplus of calories isn’t the true driving force of weight gain/ stubborn weight in this instance…

And taking yourself into too much of a calorie deficit could put your body into a stress response (because it’s essentially starving) and your body starts holding onto fat reserves by releasing the hormone cortisol.

Guess what a major side effect of raised cortisol is… Suppression of progesterone…

Worsening the degree of oestrogen dominance > increasing the level of insulin > weight gain and so on…

A vicious cycle.