There’s no doubt – estrogen does crazy things to our bodies. To be clear it’s not the presence of estrogen, rather it’s the fluctuations of estrogen levels during perimenopause that turn normal bodily processes and functions upside down. Women become walking furnaces and ice chambers within a matter of seconds. We sleep and eat like crap. And it feels like we have no control over any of it. What’s more is we can’t lose weight, no matter what we try.
This article will shed a little bit of light on the crazy things estrogen does to your body during perimenopause and what you can do about it.
Raging hormones
Raging hormones isn’t only for teenagers. And it’s not just estrogen that goes bonkers during perimenopausal years. There are a few others that join the party and make for a wild rave for a few years.
Estrogen:
So what does estrogen do for us?
Estrogen is a sex hormone produced by our ovaries, which are part of our endocrine system. Estrogen promotes the growth and health of the female reproductive organs and keeps the vagina moisturized, elastic (stretchy), and well supplied with blood. During perimenopause, levels fluctuate and become unpredictable. Eventually, production falls to a very low level.
Progesterone:
Progesterone is another sex hormone that prepares the lining of the uterus for a fertilized egg and helps maintain early pregnancy.
Cortisol:
Cortisol is a stress hormone. Among other things, cortisol can help control blood sugar levels, and regulate metabolism. Estrogen levels during menopause cause cortisol levels to rise at night. When cortisol levels rise, your body thinks it’s in distress, so it releases glucose as an energy source to combat the threat. Unused glucose in the blood is eventually stored as body fat. Higher cortisol levels also make your body think you are hungry, even if you aren’t. This can lead you to crave high-calorie foods, overeat and thus gain weight.
How fluctuations in estrogen production impact our bodies
Changes in estrogen levels have a wide-ranging impact on our nutritional, digestive, and physical needs.
Depression and mood swings
Estrogen causes fluctuations in serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in mood and emotions. When estrogen is at a normal level in our body, serotonin levels are high, therefore boosting our mood. When estrogen levels drop, so do serotonin levels. That drop in serotonin is what is thought to lead to mood swings and depression.
Many antidepressants are SSRI – Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, which promote the reabsorption of serotonin, thereby keeping it at a stable level.
Metabolism slows down
Estrogen lowers your metabolic rate, which is the rate at which the body converts stored energy into working energy. Without estrogen, the resting metabolic rate goes down by about 50 calories per day. When this happens, it means your body needs fewer calories because it’s not burning off those calories at the rate it once was. Over the course of three months, a drop in your metabolic rate coupled with no change in calorie consumption could add up to a pound of weight gained.
As we age and become less active, our metabolism also slows down. This is a 1-2 punch that promotes weight gain.
Body fat is stored and distributed differently
Estrogen has been noted as the cause of an increase in the development of visceral fat inside your abdomen, hips, thighs, and around your organs. This is not the kind of fat you can pinch; in fact, it’s worse for your health. An increase in visceral fat is linked to an increase in insulin resistance, diabetes, heart disease, and inflammatory diseases.
Our aging bodies need 200-250 fewer daily calories. If your food intake doesn’t change, those excess calories are stored as fat.
Digestion slows down
Alterations in estrogen and progesterone have an impact on your digestive system, either by themselves or by causing the production of additional hormones like cortisol.
The end result is that it all causes your digestive system to slow down. Food moves through more slowly, causing excessive gas, bloating, belching, nausea, constipation, and abdominal discomfort. In some cases, it can trigger IBS symptoms in women and may exacerbate underlying GI disease.
Paying attention to foods that increase gastric motility, like more fruits and vegetables, and less fatty foods can minimize much of this discomfort and bloat.
We get hungrier
Estrogen has a huge impact on our hunger hormones: ghrelin and leptin.
Ghrelin is a hormone that increases appetite, so when we are hungry, ghrelin goes up. The cruel joke here is that estrogen also causes an increase in ghrelin production, signaling to our bodies that we are hungry even when we aren’t.
Leptin is a hormone, made by fat cells, that decreases your appetite. When we are full, leptin goes up. The other cruel joke is that estrogen causes a decrease in leptin production, also signaling to our bodies that we are hungry, even when we aren’t.
However, leptin is a tricky hormone. Obese people have unusually high levels of leptin, which given how leptin works, would seem to indicate their bodies tell them they are full. This is not the case. The brains of obese people do not respond to leptin, so food consumption continues, despite adequate or excessive fat stores, a concept known as ‘leptin resistance. This causes the fat cells to produce even more leptin.
The levels of both leptin and ghrelin can be manipulated by eating more fruits and vegetables and eating less fatty foods and sweets.
Simple tips to improve mood and jump start weight loss
Now you can see how changes in estrogen levels slow down your metabolism, increase your body fat storage, slow down your digestive system and give off false hunger queues.
However, this doesn’t mean you have to settle for these changes, do nothing, and wait for it to pass. Taking control of your diet and fitness level during your perimenopausal years can directly influence the severity of the impact of this natural aging process.
Meditate
Meditation and gentle movements like yoga and tai chi have been shown to boost mood by increasing serotonin levels in the brain.
Set a reminder and walk for 10 minutes or more a day.
Daily purposeful movement increases metabolism and reduces ghrelin levels. This tells your body you are not hungry.
Eat 1 or more servings of vegetables
Vegetables help keep your digestive systems moving and boost your leptin levels. This reduces bloat and tells your body you are full.
Eat 1 or more servings of fruit
The fiber in fruit keeps your digestive system moving, keeps you full, and also reduces your ghrelin levels.
Final Words
Although the risk of weight gain as a middle-aged woman is higher, this does NOT mean that it is required. It DOES mean that we may have to work a little harder to prevent it from happening.