Other Exercise Tips To Help Ensure Success
Before you begin exercising:
- Talk to your doctor about a new exercise program. Choose activities you enjoy so youâll stick with your workouts.
- Find an exercise partner to help you stay motivated.
- Buy supportive shoes â the right ones for your activity.
- Pick a start date and start.
After you begin exercising:
- Allow at least 10 minutes to warm up before starting to exercise rigorously. To do this, choose an activity that gently works major muscles.
- Before you work out, stretch the muscles that will absorb most of the shock of your exercise routine.
- If you have any new pain while exercising, stop and let your doctor know.
- Gradually boost the distance, length, or intensity of your workout.
- Mix it up. Do different exercises to keep from getting bored and to keep your body challenged.
For the best fitness results, combine your exercise efforts with good nutrition. Here are just a few tips:
- Choose whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.
- Stay away from processed foods.
- Keep a food diary, or explore programs for your computer or apps for your cell phone, to help you watch how many calories you eat.
- Donât eat too late in the evening.
- When you eat out, take half the serving home.
- Eat smaller amounts but more often.
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Hormones That Affect Your Weight
Your body is driven to maintain balance. This concept, called homeostasis, holds true for every system and process in your body because its the key to survival. Homeostasis ensures vital functions like your body temperature and blood volume stay within the specific limits needed for you to live.
Hormones have a key role in homeostasis, and when their levels are too low or too high they significantly impact your health. Several hormones actively regulate your weight. When their levels drop below normal, you gain weight.
These are some of the key hormones connected to your weight:
How Should This Medicine Be Used
Transdermal estradiol comes as a patch to apply to the skin. Transdermal estradiol is usually applied once or twice a week, depending on the brand of patch that is used. Some women wear a patch all the time, and other women wear a patch according to a rotating schedule that alternates 3 weeks when the patch is worn followed by 1 week when the patch is not worn. Always apply your transdermal patch on the same day of the week every week. There may be a calendar on the inner flap of your medication carton where you can keep track of your patch change schedule. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Use transdermal estradiol exactly as directed. Do not apply more or fewer patches or apply the patches more often than prescribed by your doctor.
Your doctor will probably start you on a low dose of transdermal estradiol and may increase your dose if your symptoms are still bothersome. If you are already taking or using an estrogen medication, your doctor will tell you how to switch from the estrogen medication you are taking or using to transdermal estradiol. Be sure you understand these instructions. Talk to your doctor about how well transdermal estradiol works for you.
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How To Trick Your Body Into Restoring Healthy Levels Of Estrogen
A hormone panel is the best way to definitively know if you have estrogen dominance.
Though, dont expect your doctor to test for one hormone level alone. A complete hormone panel is almost always recommended to define where your present levels of are at.
Results of a complete hormone panel can help your doctor target the root of the problem. If your panel shows a state of ED its time to up your levels of progesterone with progesterone supplement and changes thatll make your body produce more of the hormone.
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How Should I Use Estradiol Patch
Follow all directions on your prescription label and read all medication guides or instruction sheets. Use the medicine exactly as directed.
Apply the skin patch to clean, dry skin on your stomach or buttocks. Press the patch firmly into place for at least 10 seconds. Choose a different spot within these skin areas each time you apply a new patch. Do not use the same skin area twice within 7 days. Avoid skin that is irritated or damaged.
Do not apply a skin patch to your breasts. Do not apply a patch where it might be rubbed off by tight clothing, such as under an elastic waistband. Never cut a skin patch.
If a patch falls off, try sticking it back into place. If it does not stick well, put on a new patch on a different skin area and leave it on only for the rest of your wearing time. Do not change your patch removal schedule.
Remove the patch and apply a new one on the same day each week to stay on your once-weekly or twice-weekly schedule.
Estradiol may increase your risk of developing a condition that may lead to uterine cancer. Your doctor may prescribe a progestin to help lower this risk. Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away.
If you need major surgery or will be on long-term bed rest, you may need to stop using this medicine for a short time. Any doctor or surgeon who treats you should know that you are using estradiol.
Store patches at room temperature away from moisture and heat. Keep each patch in its pouch until you are ready to use it.
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Side Effects Of Hormone Replacement Therapy
HRT may be recommended for the following conditions:
- Increased risk of vertebral and hip fractures
- Retaining fluid
Depending on the prescribed type of HRT, women may end up with a higher chance of developing endometrial or uterine cancer. Its best to discuss the risks of each form of HRT with your doctor.
Can An Endocrinologist Help With Weight Loss
An endocrinologist can very often help you reverse weight gain that is associated with hormonal imbalances. Potentially useful interventions include lifestyle changes such as exercise, diet modification, or stress management, as well as treatments such as testosterone or thyroid hormone replacement. Medications may be able to help with weight gain-related symptoms such as increased appetite, or to moderate excessive hormone levels.
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Hrt And Weight Gain: Dispelling The Myth
Youre cranky, exhausted, and just not feeling like yourself lately: in short, you can definitely tell that youre dealing with the effects of menopause.
In addition to all the emotional consequences, youve also noticed an especially unpleasant one: youve gained weight.
Your doctor has recommended that you try hormone replacement therapy But youre not sure what the link is between HRT and weight gain.
Keep reading to separate the fact from the fiction. Instead, learn how the natural hormones in your body can cause you to gain what and what HRT can help you to do about it.
Does Hormone Replacement Cause Weight Gain In Perimenopause Women
Women often have to face climacteric problems before 45. The reason for that can be cancer, long-time sickness, dysfunction of the endocrine system, or removal of reproductive body organs. They experience untimely hormonal collapse and demand the best hormone replacement for weight loss and other negative factors of perimenopause. If a person doesnt have contradicting hormone therapy for weight loss conditions, she will proceed to HRT immediately.
Does hormone therapy cause weight gain in women who suffer from ill-timed menopause? Hormone replacement therapy and weight loss are more effective if applied earlier. A woman starts getting more tummy fat in perimenopause. Consequently, surgical menopause weight gain can be slowed down or prevented due to hormone therapy for weight loss at the early stages.
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Does Estrogen Cause Weight Gain Estrogen Dominance And Belly Fat
Whatâs the deal with estrogen dominance weight gain? Are these really estrogen fat deposits? Does estrogen cause weight gain?
These are just a sprinkling of real questions Iâve been asked on this topic. Let me break it down for you.
Estrogen, in normal amounts, does not cause weight gain. In fact, it helps with weight maintenance throughout the years that a woman has a cycle. Estrogen actually benefits muscle mass, bone health and insulin sensitivity. When we lose estrogen production, through menopause, that may contribute to weight or fat gain. So remember that estrogen is good when itâs in balance.
When estrogen is out of balance and estrogen is clinically high, or high relative to progesterone, the relationship between estrogen and fat takes on a new challenge.
Estrogen is produced in the adrenal glands, brain, ovaries and also by fat tissue. Yes, you heard that right: fat increases estrogen. Estrogen also signals for fat storage, which makes sense because a woman needs a certain amount of fat on her body to be fertile. But, in certain cases, this cycle between fat producing estrogen and estrogen signaling for fat storage can become a cycle, and an unwanted situation if you are trying to lose weight.
I want to take an aside to mention that this is one of the reasons that exercising more and eating less doesnât work for weight loss, especially sustained long-term weight loss. Hormones play a huge role.
A Daily Battle With The Bathroom Scale Can Cause Shame Judgment Suffering And Obsession With Weightcontributing Further To Weight Loss Resistance
Even worse, the drill-sergeant approach of restricted eating and harsh exercise can escalate hormonal and emotional problems. A daily battle with the bathroom scale can cause shame, judgment, suffering, and obsession with weightcontributing further to weight loss resistance. When meals are accompanied by guilt, suffering, or anxiety about our food or our bodies a physiologic stress response is activated, triggering a fight-or-flight reaction and raising cortisol.
How do you reset your hormones, or jump-start your metabolism? Can you do it through diet alone?
The best way to get your hormones back on track and reinstate a healthy weight is to correct hormonal misfires with changes to the way you eat, move, think, and supplement. Start with diet: In my experience, 80 percent of weight loss is determined by the hormone/food interaction, so you want to eat in a way that optimizes your hormones. Heres my priority list:
CHANGE THE WAY YOU EAT AND DRINK. Remove processed foods, refined carbohydrates, sugars and sugar substitutes from your diet. Eliminate alcohol for 21 days .
TAKE SUPPLEMENTS TO IMPROVE YOUR HORMONE LEVELS. Here are a few of my favorites:
What causes hormones to go haywire? Is it the natural aging process, stress, having babiesis there a primary culprit?
The main culprits of haywire hormones are:
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Are There Preventative Steps Or Measures To Avoid Hormonal Weight Gain
Seeking early evaluation with an endocrinologist so the appropriate interventions can be started sooner will help with minimizing and possibly reversing hormonal weight gain. Additionally, improving dietary choices, increasing physical activity, getting more sleep, managing stress levels effectively, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol are all ways to decrease and avoid hormonal weight gain.
How To Balance Estrogen For Weight Loss:
To avoid estrogen dominance, you want to keep a fine balance between your progesterone and estrogen.
Integrative Medicine Doctor Sara Gottfried, M.D., recommends eating a pound of veggies per day, as she states the fiber will help remove any excess estrogen from the body.
Gottfried also recommends that women should aim for 35 to 45 gram of fiber intake per day, increasing their amount slowly so as not to cause stomach upset.
You can also naturally balance estrogen dominance by:
- Reducing your red meat intake
- Eliminating excess sugar or processed foods
- Exercising daily to promote detoxification
- Tags:Postmenopausal and Obesity
Much research has shown that being overweight or obese increases a womans risk of being diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. Doctors donât completely understand why extra weight is associated with higher hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer risk. Its likely that extra body fat increases levels of estrogen and other hormones. Higher hormone levels can increase breast cancer risk.
A study supports the link between excess weight and higher hormone levels. The study found that estrogen and testosterone levels dropped quite a bit when overweight and obese women lost weight. The results were published online May 21, 2012 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Read the abstract of Reduced-Calorie Dietary Weight Loss, Exercise, and Sex Hormones in Postmenopausal Women: Randomized Controlled Trial.
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Can Bioidentical Hormones Cause Weight Gain
Its clear that some bioidentical hormones can contribute to weight loss for some individuals. But what about weight gain?
Most conventional hormone medications list weight gain as a possible side effect. Without conclusive scientific evidence to the contrary, we can only assume that bioidentical hormone replacement therapy could have the same side effects and risks. However, bioidentical hormones may potentially offer opportunities to minimize unwanted weight gain that conventional hormones do not.
Minor weight fluctuations may be more likely to occur when your are just starting therapy. This is because finding the perfect medication and dose often takes time, and it can be difficult to locate the perfect sweet spot between too much and too little supplementation. Imbalance on either end can cause your weight to fluctuate. Over time, as you and your doctor monitor your symptoms, hormone levels, and weight markers, youll be able to adjust your medications appropriately to help you maintain a healthy weight. This is where bioidenticals may have an advantage over conventional hormones: bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can be customized for each patient. As such, your practitioner can precisely fine-tune a dose that helps you achieve your goals rather than having to rely on standardized doses that may not give you the results you want.
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Each Brand Of Estradiol Transdermal Patches Should Be Applied Following The Specific Directions Given In The Manufacturer’s Information For The Patient Read This Information Carefully Before You Start Using Estradiol Transdermal And Each Time You Refill Your Prescription Ask Your Doctor Or Pharmacist If You Have Any Questions The Following General Directions Can Help You Remember Some Important Things To Do When You Apply Any Type Of Estradiol Transdermal Patch
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What Other Drugs Will Affect Estradiol Patch
Sometimes it is not safe to use certain medications at the same time. Some drugs can affect your blood levels of other drugs you take, which may increase side effects or make the medications less effective.
Other drugs may affect estradiol, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products. Tell your doctor about all your current medicines and any medicine you start or stop using.
Menopause Diet: Foods For Menopause
A menopause diet â which involves eating the right foods for menopause â can help to ease the menopause weight gain we all experience as we reach our mid-life.
So which are the right foods for menopause?
As is correct for anyone hoping to lose weight, a diet rich in fruit and vegetables and starchy fibres, such as brown rice and wholemeal bread, is always preferable.
According to the British Nutrition Foundation, women who are post-menopausal are also at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, so keeping your heart healthy is imperative during and after the life stage. Post-menopausal women should avoid saturated fats, instead replacing them with things like olive and sunflower oils and spreads.
Oily fish should also be eaten twice a week, whilst salt intake should be kept to an absolute minimum. And of course, alcohol should not be consumed to excess â the NHS recommends no more than 14 units a week, with alcohol free days too.
To find out more about the food and supplements you should be taking during the menopause, .
But most importantly, itâs important to remember to love and accept your body as much as you can, even if you are working on improving your health in this way.
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