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Effect of Losing Weight on Hormone Levels

by Jo
(Denver)

I have been researching on this site for nearly a decade, yet I have never seen any info on what happens to hormones when we *lose* weight -- specifically, what happens with estrogen.

There is a lot of talk here about how certain foods increase estrogen, how we should stay away from certain foods/substances, etc. to prevent estrogen dominance, and so on. Which is all good advice.

Wray once said: "Even after menopause we are still making oestrogen, as our fat cells are a source. No matter how many or few we have!" (Wray Whyte, 2010)

However, my husband and I were discussing this and realized Wray's comment is unfinished.

Logically, the MORE fat cells we have, the MORE estrogen our bodies are producing (and the opposite has long known to be true: gymnasts who go below a certain weight/fat percentage stop having periods). When we decide to lose the weight (i.e. reduce the number of fat cells), it would logically follow that our bodies would produce less estrogen (which does not mean we should stop using progesterone; it just means "less estrogen" produced by our bodies).

This site says that progesterone dosage is "not dependant on a given 'dose' or on size, weight, height or sex, but on symptoms" (https://www.progesteronetherapy.com/how-to-use-progesterone-cream.html)

Yet doesn't it logically follow that if we weigh more, we have MORE fat cells producing MORE estrogen and would therefore require MORE progesterone to counter it?

Example: If the fat cells are like little factories, a skinny person may have 10 fat-cell factories producing estrogen, but a heavier person would have 100 or 1000 fat-cell factories producing estrogen.

The real crux here is what I have not found anywhere here on the site:

When you lose weight, the ESTROGEN that has been stored in your fat cells is RELEASED INTO THE BODY -- in other words, a temporary increase in estrogen.

This is a source of excess estrogen no one seems to be talking about.

Curious to know if we were onto something, my husband and I did a search: Yes, indeed, estrogen is released into the body when fat cells are burned.

"...Adipose cells release all the other molecules they’ve hoarded, too. That includes key hormones like estrogen, along with fat-soluble vitamins and any organic pollutants that found their way into your bloodstream as you gained weight." https://www.popsci.com/when-you-lose-weight-your-fat-cells-release-more-than-just-fat/#:~:text=But%20adipose%20cells%20release%20all,bloodstream%20as%20you%20gained%20weight

"Women with higher initial body fat percentages may experience more significant hormonal changes compared to those starting with lower body fat." https://leafybark.com/can-weight-loss-cause-low-estrogen/

"Because excess fat cells produce extra estrogen, losing belly fat will release the excess estrogen, resulting in a more hormone-balanced body." https://www.livestrong.com/article/380208-is-estrogen-released-when-belly-fat-is-lost/

Even Reddit has a post titled " Does losing fat release excess estrogen, or am I just going crazy?"

To which Redditor @lisassy commented:
"My Dr told me that estrogen hangs out in fat cells so when you lose fat the estrogen gets released. Idk if it's that simple, but that's what he told me. I thought I was going to need to be medicated lol it was bad. But it's evened out now. Took a while though.. And my weight loss had to slow down."

Ultimately, losing weight will be a GOOD thing, since there will be fewer fat cells to produce excess estrogen, but the missing link here seems to be that, in the meantime, burning those fat cells will temporarily release the stored estrogen into the body. Which would imply possibly triggering Estrogen Dominance, at least in the short term.

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