How do you combat too much estrogen in a woman?

[AMGETR]

I have a friend with a family member in their mid 30's that lives in a country where the medical system isn't as good as in North America.

She's producing too much estrogen, and has gained roughly 30kgs in the last 12 months.

How could she control this? Proviron or another anti-estrogen? What about HGH?

 

[Bikini Mod]

Where did the diagnosis come from that her weight gain is based on estrogen production alone?

 

[Tatyana]

Where did the diagnosis come from that her weight gain is based on estrogen production alone?

Yes, I would like to know that as well.

Oestrogen is not responsible for weight gain, too many calories are.

You can't take 1000 kcals and make it 2000 kcals out of nothing even if oestrogen is high.

1 lb fat = 3500 kcals

30 lbs fat = 105, 000 kcals

Divide that by 365 days in the year, she was eating an excess of 287 kcals/day every day for a year.

That is more or less a chocolate bar.

To take the weight off, she had to create a calorie deficit.

To lose 1 lb/week, she would have to eat 500 kcal less every day.

It is that simple.

The composition of your body (fat to lean tissue) will vary with what you eat more of and if you exercise or not, but that is it in a nutshell.

Eat too much = get fat

Eat less = lose weight





Also, messing with someone's hormone levels when you are not an endocrinologist could set them up for further medical issues in the future, like osteoporosis, which is a hideous deteriorating disease and the number one killer of women.

That is what low oestrogen will do.

It is something like less than 2 % of people that are actually obese because of any metabolic condition, hormones included.

I would look at her diet.

Eat less, move more.

 

[Tatyana]

From the physiologist Lyle Macdonald:

Fat cell overview/review

One of the points I've tried to get across is that fat cells are not the same, different depots have different functional characteristics in terms of how easily they store fat, how easily they give up that fat, etc.

In general there are clear gender differences that show up at puberty, suggesting that sex hormones play a role in how fat cells develop. And there is much truth to this. It turns out that if you take a fat cell from a man's thigh and a woman's thigh, they are functionally identical and essentially indistinguishable physiologically. Even though the man generally has extremely low levels of estrogen.

The difference, practically, is that men don't generally store fat in their legs and women do (i.e. the fat cells in a man's legs are emptier than in the woman's). As I mentioned before, men who store fat in their lower body have the same problems as women to get rid of it. But most men don't.

The same holds true for visceral or abdominal fat from a woman versus a man. The female's visceral/ab fat is physiologically identical to the man's, although she has very low levels of testosterone. Hence, on average, she won't store much triglyceride in those fat cells.

What this suggests is that fat cells in different areas of the body (which, again, are found in both men and women; the difference is in whether men and women actually store calories there as adults) have certain physiological characteristics that occur irrespective of the hormonal setting. So while the hormonal setting may affect where ingested calories get sent, they aren't really controlling the underlying physiology of the fat cells.

Which is fundamentally why blocking estrogen doesn't fix the lower body fat problem. Lower body fat cells act a certain way whether estrogen is present or not, that's how they are genetically wired to act. The same goes for abdominal fat. Regardless of the person's testosterone levels, they are wired to be a certain way.

 

[GUARDIAN]

I have a friend with a family member in their mid 30's that lives in a country where the medical system isn't as good as in North America.

She's producing too much estrogen, and has gained roughly 30kgs in the last 12 months.

How could she control this? Proviron or another anti-estrogen? What about HGH?

I am curious as well as to how she knows this if the medical system in her country isn't very good.

Though there is some correlation between estrogen and bodyfat you will still need an excess in calories to gain it. When estrogen levels are high during the pre-menopausal years, more body fat is common. If you are interested I can ask a family member who is an OBGYN about this but I am sure she will ask for more history than what you are providing. Let me know.

 

[Bikini Mod]

I don't doubt that there may be a medical condition that is a contributing factor to the weight gain but unless we are talking thyroid, then Tatyana and Guardian are correct. You can't put on that much weight without eating too much and moving too little.

 

[blueta2]

some mis-information in here, there are a few illnesses that can actually make one gain a ton of weight. One serious one is called Cushing's syndrome.

Cushing's Syndrome


Introduction
What are the symptoms?

Cushing's syndrome is a hormonal disorder caused by prolonged exposure of the body's tissues to high levels of the hormone cortisol. Sometimes called "hypercortisolism," it is relatively rare and most commonly affects adults aged 20 to 50. An estimated 10 to 15 of every million people are affected each year.


What are the symptoms?
Symptoms vary, but most people have upper body obesity, rounded face, increased fat around the neck, and thinning arms and legs. Children tend to be obese with slowed growth rates.

Other symptoms appear in the skin, which becomes fragile and thin. It bruises easily and heals poorly. Purplish pink stretch marks may appear on the abdomen, thighs, buttocks, arms and breasts. The bones are weakened, and routine activities such as bending, lifting or rising from a chair may lead to backaches, rib and spinal column fractures.

Most people have severe fatigue, weak muscles, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Irritability, anxiety and depression are common.

Women usually have excess hair growth on their faces, necks, chests, abdomens, and thighs. Their menstrual periods may become irregular or stop. Men have decreased fertility with diminished or absent desire for sex.


What causes Cushing's syndrome?

Cushing's syndrome occurs when the body's tissues are exposed to excessive levels of cortisol for long periods of time. Many people suffer the symptoms of Cushing's syndrome because they take glucocorticoid hormones such as prednisone for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other inflammatory diseases, or for immunosuppression after transplantation
http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/cushings/cushings.htm

Your friend needs to have a blood work up to check her cortisol levels.

 

[Bikini Mod]

I did state that I was well aware that thyroid issues can affect someone's weight. I have a dear friend who had been thin her whole life but once her thyroid went bonkers it was all over. Consequently she has a hyuge closet to accomodate her severe weight fluctuations as even when she and her doctor get her thyroid regulated it doesn't last. They are constantly monitoring and modifying her medication.

Thanks for the information! I'd not heard of that syndrome.

 

[GUARDIAN]

though anything is possible and there probably dozens more possible causes (some extremely rare) we have to keep in mind that she does not have access to great health care. it appears that she is looking for a self-diagnosis/self-medication route to fix this which could be very dangerous.

we really need 2 know how poor of a health care system she is dealing with and what financial resources she may have to possibly travel to seek alternatives.

 

[Bikini Mod]

though anything is possible and there probably dozens more possible causes (some extremely rare) we have to keep in mind that she does not have access to great health care. it appears that she is looking for a self-diagnosis/self-medication route to fix this which could be very dangerous.

we really need 2 know how poor of a health care system she is dealing with and what financial resources she may have to possibly travel to seek alternatives.

Excellent post!