I'm starting BHRT with my next cycle. I have all the typical peri symptoms of low estrogen including weight gain. It seems like alot of people on these boards report gaining weight after starting BHRT . I need to LOSE weight, not gain more!!!

So, which is it? Have you gained or lost?

Thanks

C'mon ladies!! Any replies?

Yup, unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky ones who gained weight. I can't say if it was because of the bios or just because I was feeling so much better being on them that I was eating again. I had lost 20 lbs. when all the anxiety started because I just couldn't eat but gained it all back when I started feeling better.

I went up a size when peri hit last winter spring, and I held it on til July, when I started BHRT. I subsequently lost a few, but (a) I also started on zyban, an anti-depressant that curbs your appetite a bit and ( I worked at it, fairly rigorously noting what I ate and what exercise I did, how many cals that burnt (said she with that last Christmas chocolate melting on her tongue...)

I've been on 1.25 mg of Bi-Est since May 2005. My weight stayed the same. I started Weight Watchers in July and to date have lost 18 lbs. Last week I increased my Bi-Est to 2.5mg and still lost a pound. Hope the trend continues. I have 8 lbs left to make goal.

I gained 15 lbs on paxil. I'd rather take my chances with the side-effects of HRT than go back on any AD. The increase in HRT seems to be working wonderfully for my anxiety and panic.

I'm not sure that BHRT has a lot to do with my weight loss/gain. It seemed like my really rapid gain stopped. Later I starved myself and exercised like a fiend and lost maybe 10 lbs. That was a relief, as I was afraid it was impossible to lose weight. I'm still hoping for 10 or so more. We shall see.

So the answer to the poll is...I don't know.

It's hard to say. My youngest started college in Aug, and I pacified myself with food for a few months. I have gained at least 5-7 lbs and this coincided with the hormones.

I'm gonna cut out the sweets and hopefully drop a few.

I gained but I suspect it was progesterone to blame, not estrogen. I stopped taking it, and fianlly lose the weight I gained on BHRT. But YMMV.

Hi chubbymom........I've been on bio's past 5 months but sorry to say I can't tell if I gained weight from them or the fact that I had quit smoking a month earlier

Luckily, if I did gain weight....it hasn't been that much....more like a "shifting" of the weight I already have

Oh yeah, one more thing.....I threw my scale away and plan to weigh only once a year....I've had enough of my over zealous fascination with my weight.......sheesh I say to myself, enough is enough.

Having said that.....I recently purchased a stepper to use and dream of getting back into my pre-menopause mentatlity of daily exercise. Wish me luck.....in fact....wish us ALL luck and good luck to you on starting bio's....hope they work well for you!

I lost the few extra pounds I was carrying (7-8 lbs gained over two years, despite being very athletic). I found that peri/meno kept me from being as lean as I wanted, despite the 2 hour daily workouts (weights and elliptical).
BHRT helped me get my physical ENERGY and mental ZEAL back. I was no longer dragging myself through my workouts. After about 5 months, I lost the extra weight, plus more. I'm down 10 pounds and lean again. In my opinion, it's not just the estrogen & progesterone, it's the over-all balance the added hormones bring to the body functions and systems wholistically that helped me lose the weight. One thing for sure, BHRT doesn't make you lose weight without exercising. No way around it...I have to exercise.

T'Pow

I lost when I started estrogen!

I did not gain a pound. I'm only using the clamara patch .05mg over the last year ( don't have an uterus). I have not had any menopausal systoms ( depression, mood swings, anxiety nor weight gain) except for the hot flashes. The progestrin must be the problem.

Irene