Women - weight lifting and progesterone

sexymamadraeger

I read somewhere recently that losing weight without gaining muscle knocks your hormones out of whack. It certainly has for me. Apparently women have to build muscle to increase progesterone and not be out of balance with estrogen/progesterone. I'm a mess right now hormonally and I'm in my 40's which is mainly why. I am losing weight and really out of balance with my cycles. Any suggestions for increasing progesterone naturally? Is it true about the muscle building? Should I starts lifting weights?

usmcmp

Women should consider lifting weights to help with a lot of potential health issues. I don't know specifically about progesterone, but losing weight without maintaining muscle through the process can cause metabolic issues. Lifting is really good at helping prevent bone density problems as we age.

DancingMoosie

You could try taking dhea supplement and lifting...

sexymamadraeger

So losing weight without gaining muscle slows down your metabolism? That could be part of my problem too. I've lost 97 lbs total and I am stuck. I am eating the same if not less, I'm walking a lot and I don't know what else to do. Maybe I need to start weight training? If I do, what do I eat? Because it makes me so hungry. That's why I've avoided it.

usmcmp

I would say initially change your goal to maintenance and get a balance of the macros. Taking some time off from dieting and fueling some muscle for a little bit can be very helpful. The hunger should taper off a little bit after a month or two and at that point if you want to lose more you can consider lowering calories again.

If you are close to your goal or within a normal weight range you could consider eating at maintenance and lifting to add muscle while lowering body fat. We call this recomposition.

sexymamadraeger

Ok thanks! I am 186 and my goal is about 145. So I have more work to do. But I need to fix things because I seem to be out of whack. Thanks for the advice.

DancingMoosie

Weight training is so benefitial to your body. It helps increase bone density, makes your body stronger, helps you create a better fat to muscle ratio. When you lose weight without strength training, you lose muscle along with the fat and may not change your overall bf% which can be discouraging after all the work to lose the weight.

canadianlbs

i wouldn't even start to try and guess what my levels of individual hormones are. and if i got it done by somebody else, i'm not sure it would mean much to me even then, since a point-in-time slice isn't very meaningful anyway without a progressive context to it.

i guess htat amounts to: 'gee, i dunno'. but if your cycles are out of whack, i'd start by just asking some basic doctor-type person for help in working out what the deal is. there are other reasons for getting into strength training, but i'm not sure if i'd do it just to try and tinker with my hormonal profile.

middlehaitch

If you are in your 40's hormonal changes due to peri menopause could be something you and your doctor explore.

Also, are you eating enough fat? This could help with hormone regulation.

Lifting weights or doing some kind of progressive resistance work is always good- helps with bone density and muscle retention.

Cheers, h.

sexymamadraeger

Yep. Perimenopause and 40s. Cycles went crazy the last few months. I lost most of my weight a couple of years ago and then stopped for about a year. In the last 3 months I've lost 17 or 18 pounds. It threw everything out of whack. I've been thoroughly checked out by dr. I've tried Mirena and didn't like it. I don't want to do ablation. I don't want hormones because there's a history of breast cancer in my family. So I am trying to get a balance naturally if I can. I have too much estrogen and not enough progesterone. I know that because of my symptoms and just common sense and going by what dr. said is typical in perimenopause. So.... what I was reading said weight lifting helps get your balance back. That's what I'm going for. I think it's a good idea to lift weights anyway. But I haven't yet because I get super hungry and because I also struggle with back pain from time to time. The last time I did strength training I ended up with horrible sciatica. I'm just trying to be smart about what my body needs, what it can handle and stuff. Thank you for your advice!

markswife1992

ask your GYN about progesterone creams. they help ALOT.