What’s More Important – Hormones or Calories?

A lot of women going through menopause wonder why am I gaining body fat if Im eating the same, and exercising? They conclude it must be my hormones. And theyre (largely) correct. But how do hormones really affect your body fat? Do they slow down the metabolism? Do they stimulate appetite? Is there another mechanism? And likewise, how does food influence hormones?

Yes, hormones affect calories, but the opposite is true as well calories affect hormones. In this article, well explore the intricate relationship between hormones and calories.

            Well answer questions like:

• What are the 4 ways in which calories are burned?
• How does estrogen affect calories?
• How does thyroid affect calories?
• How do calories affect hormones?

And hey, if you just want the most direct route to your weight loss goals, while minding your hormones, that is a service that we offer. Just email me with the words Hormones and Calories in the subject line.

What Are the 4 Ways in Which Calories Are Burned?

            When we talk about having a slow metabolism or a fast metabolism, what does that really mean? Often, we use it as an excuse why we have a few extra pounds (its easier to blame our metabolism something seemingly outside of our control, rather than something like what we eat, which is within our control). Too bad that that excuse isnt valid at all, since overweight people have faster metabolisms than normal weight people (after all, a person who weighs 200 pounds burns more calories than a person who weighs 150 pounds).

            But really, when we (the laypeople) say metabolism, were referring to how many calories we burn per day. Though to be technically accurate, thats only 1 of 4 sources of caloric expenditure.

            There are 4 total ways how calories are burned, and all combined, theyre called the Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE for short). Those 4 ways are:

• Basal metabolic rate (BMR): how many calories you burn just to stay alive. This contributes around 40-50% of your total daily calories. So if it takes you 2000 calories per day to maintain your weight, you spend about 800-1000 calories on BMR.
• Exercise. This ones obvious. Depending on how much exercise you do, that will determine how many calories you burn.
• Thermic effect of food (AKA TEF): whenever you eat food, you dont absorb 100% of calories. Some of those calories are used to help with digestion, and assimilation of food. TEF is estimated to be about 10% of daily calories. So if you need 2000 calories to stay the same weight, TEF will be around 200 calories.
• NEAT nonexercise activity thermogenesis. These are movements and activities that arent formal exercise, but they burn calories. Things like gardening, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, fidgeting, etc. NEAT is a real wild card when it comes to metabolism, and a lot of people believe the NEAT makes the difference between those who are naturally lean, and those struggling with their weight. NEAT can range from as little as 100 calories, to over 1000 calories per day (things like treadmill desks can really boost your NEAT without making you tired, since the intensity is so low, but spread out over 8+ working hours).

How Does Estrogen Affect Calories?

            We know from the previous section that we can burn calories through BMR, TEF, NEAT (man, thats a lot of acronyms) and exercise. So which of those 4 does estrogen affect, and by how much?

            Thats what this study wanted to find out. Heres what the researchers did:

They recruited 45 women, and divided them into 2 groups:

• Group 1: received a placebo (they were told theyre getting estrogen, but in reality, the cream they got had nothing in it).
• Group 2: received estrogen therapy

Both groups received the treatment for 5 months, and heres what happened afterwards:

• BMR:
  • In group 1, it dropped by an average of 54 calories per day.
  • In group 2, it went up about 6 calories per day.
• The amount of calories burned through exercise:
  • In group 1, decreased by about 8%.
  • In group 2, it decreased by about 5.5%.
• TEF increased by a similar amount in both groups (about 10-12%)
• NEAT:
  • In group 1, increased by about 19 calories per day
  • In group 2, increased by about 41 calories per day.

If youre an accountant, engineer, or scientist, youre probably loving all these numbers. If youre not, youre probably just glazing over, and wondering what are the implications of these results? Ill tell ya:

• Women with higher estrogen levels during menopause burn more calories at rest, they burn more during exercise compared to women of equal age, but with lower estrogen levels, and they are slightly more active during the day.

All in all, it adds up to less fat and more muscle. Very nice.

So you must be wondering how do I raise my estrogen levels, so that I can also have less fat and more muscle? Unfortunately, its not quite as simple as getting started on hormone replacement therapy.

You have to ask yourself why estrogen levels are low to begin with. For any one issue, there are multiple potential causes. Here are some potential reasons why estrogen may be low:

• Your testosterone is low. Estrogen is made from testosterone, so if you have low testosterone, that may be causing your low estrogen.
• Your cortisol (the stress hormone) is high.
• Your liver isnt processing estrogen effectively.
• Your gastrointestinal system isnt working properly

and others.

            So its a fairly lengthy process to figure out whats going on, and the most appropriate course of action. Well often refer our clients to Dr. John Dempster for hormonal testing and interpretation.

            Besides the involuntary aspects (metabolism, thermic effect, and NEAT) of having higher estrogen levels, one study found that women with higher estrogen levels naturally want to exercise both more and harder. So if a woman is always complaining that she doesnt have motivation to exercise, maybe raising estrogen levels will help with motivation

            And yet another study found that women with higher estrogen levels get more pleasure and satisfaction from their food, so they dont feel the need to eat as much.

            In summary, how do low estrogen levels cause fat gain? Through a quadruple whammy of:

1. Burning fewer calories at rest
2. Doing less involuntary physical movement
3. Doing less exercise, and less intensely
4. Eating more, because food isnt as satisfying as it was when estrogen levels are higher

How Does Thyroid Affect Calories

            Often, in women going through menopause, its not just 1 hormone thats out of whack its a whole bunch of them: estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, and thyroid.

            We covered estrogen in the previous section. In this one, well cover thyroid (the reason we dont cover progesterone and cortisol in this article is because very little evidence exists on how those 2 impact TDEE). Ready? Lets go.

            First of all, what is the thyroid? Its a butterfly-shaped gland that sits in the middle of your throat, and its the gas pedal on your metabolism.

            Remember how one of the 4 components of TDEE is BMR (basal metabolic rate)? Well, as much as two thirds of BMR is used just to keep you warm. In other words, its used to maintain your body temperature at a healthy 36.5-36.8 degrees Celsius (if you measure in the armpit. That temperature is higher if you measure in the mouth). You are warm-blooded, arent you?

            So if your temperature is lower, youre burning fewer calories. And one of the most common symptoms of a slow thyroid is low body temperature. People with a slow thyroid often complain that their hands and feet are cold all the time, even when other people around them are comfortable. Or theyll often sleep with socks on.

            For every degree Celsius that your temperature is under that 36.5-36.8 range, youre burning 10-13% fewer calories, according to this study. In one client, I measured her temperature at 34.2. So she was burning about 25% fewer calories than she thought she was. Thats the difference between 2000 calories, and 1500.

            So one study decided to look at how many calories are burned by people with hypothyroidism. People without hypothyroidism had a BMR of 1591 calories/day. People with hypothyroidism had a BMR of 1316 calories per day. A difference of 275 calories. With that kind of deficit, thats equal to gaining a pound of fat every 13 or so days. However, when thyroid hormone was given to people who had a slow thyroid, their metabolism increased to 1623 calories/day.

            Of course, just like there are multiple reasons for low estrogen, there are also multiple reasons for a slow thyroid, like:

• High cortisol
• High estrogen (yes, high estrogen levels can suppress the thyroid)
• Your immune system is attacking your thyroid gland
• Your body is resistant to thyroid hormone
• High levels of mercury

and others.

 In a study, they give thyroid hormone, regardless of the reason for the slow thyroid, because they have to standardize the treatment, so that everyone is getting the same treatment. After all, it would be much harder to study if there were 5 different treatments, all addressing the slow thyroid.

Of course, in real life (outside of a laboratory), we can use the appropriate treatment, based on each persons unique cause for a slow thyroid, but thats beyond the scope of this article. If youre interested in evaluating and treating your thyroid, I would reach out to Dr. Dempster (and no, I dont make any money for saying that).

How Do Calories Affect Hormones?

            Weve covered how hormones affect calories, now lets switch gears, and talk about how calories affect hormones.

            First of all, not all calories were created equal. Calories are divided into 3 different categories:

• Carbohydrates (found in sources like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, beans, lentils, peas, etc.)
• Fats (found in sources like butter, olive oil, nuts, avocados, fatty fish like salmon, etc.)
• Protein (found primarily in sources like meat, fish and seafood. And dont start with me about nonsense like its also found in beans, dairy, eggs, etc.. Just read my article about the best protein sources).

These 3 categories have different hormonal effects.

Carbohydrates and Hormones

The most obvious effect of carbs is on insulin. When you eat carbs, blood sugar rises. When blood sugar rises, insulin also rises, to bring blood sugar down. Usually, blood sugar overshoots the baseline, goes a bit too low, and so cortisol is released, to bring it back up to baseline. So theres this teeter-totter between insulin and cortisol. Insulin lowers blood sugar, and cortisol raises it.

What is not as well know is the effect of carbs on your thyroid. According to multiple studies (heres one of them), it appears that low carbohydrate diets slow down the thyroid. However, once normal carb intake is resumed, so is thyroid function.

Fats and Hormones

            Dietary fats influence a hormone called leptin. Leptin is the hormone that tells you that youre full. Its the satiety hormone.

            What is not as well known about fats is that they can actually increase testosterone levels in both men and women. People who are on low fat diets have lower levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. That is because all 3 (and others) are made of cholesterol. If cholesterol is low, typically so are all 3 hormones (and you thought that only high cholesterol is a problem. Low cholesterol can be a problem too. Be like Goldilocks: not too little, not too much. Just right.).

            However, if all 3 hormones are within normal range, it doesnt seem likely that additional dietary fat will increase them.

            As Ive written about previously in my article on PCOS, women with this condition seem to actually do better on a higher fat diet (where it makes up about 30% of daily calories), compared to lower fat diets.

Protein and Hormones

            Like carbohydrates, protein can also raise insulin levels, but not nearly to the same extent.

            Sufficient protein intake (that is, 1.2-2.0 g/kg/day) keeps testosterone levels where they need to be, but low protein intake can actually decrease testosterone levels.

Why Am I Gaining Body Fat if Im Eating the Same, and Exercising?

            So by now, it should be making sense why you might be gaining body fat, even when no other changes were made.

            Imagine this scenario: it takes you 2000 calories per day to maintain your weight. So you eat 2000 calories per day, and through a combination of exercise, metabolism, TEF and NEAT, you burn 2000 calories per day. Your body fat is stable.

            Then, comes peri-menopause, and both your thyroid and estrogen decrease. Youre still eating 2000 calories per day, but your BMR is now 100 calories per day slower, and you dont move around as much involuntarily, so you burn another 100 calories per day less. Now youre burning 200 calories per day less than you were just a few years earlier, before your hormones started to change.

            Youre taking in 2000 (that hasnt changed). Youre still exercising, and eating the same amount (that hasnt changed either), but youre not burning as much. It doesnt take a math genius to figure out that if you take in more than you expend, youll gain body fat.

            And thats often the complaint with our menopausal clients.

            Thats also why we have a special fat loss program specifically for menopausal women. If youd like to learn more about it, just email me, with the subject line Healthy Menopause.