Weight Loss & High Testosterone Levels In Women

We are at the mercy of our hormones throughout our lives. For women, from puberty to menopause and beyond, fluctuating hormones subject us to mood swings, acne, weight loss, weight gain, water retention, cramps and hot flashes. Much attention has been paid to the roles of reproductive hormones estrogen and progesterone in female physiology. But another hormone, testosterone, may play a more important role than was previously thought, and may be key to weight management for women.

The Complexities of Female Hormones

Your body's endocrine system regulates multiple metabolic functions around the clock. Hormonal fluctuations help your body's systems maintain balance for optimal performance. Most of these fluctuations go unnoticed as we go about out daily lives. But for most women, fluctuations of the reproductive hormones have a profound impact of which we are acutely aware. Estrogen plays an important role in bone, breast and reproductive development. Estrogen interacts with progesterone to govern the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Testosterone influences muscle development and interacts with cortisol to regulate body fat.

Testosterone and Training

In both men and women, testosterone plays a role in muscle development in response to resistance training. Because the metabolic activity in muscle tissue increases basal metabolism, added muscle can help decrease weight and body fat in women. According to Lon Kilgore, PhD, testosterone levels in pre-menopausal women peak at about 12 days prior to ovulation. While more research is needed, testosterone fluctuations may have implications for future training protocols of female athletes or non-athletes who wish to maximize lean mass.

Muslce and Weight Management

During adolescence and into early adulthood, both males and females have relatively high levels of human growth hormone. HGH levels help to maintain a higher basal metabolism and support lean mass. As growth hormone drops off, women in particular tend to increase fat mass and lose lean mass. This is partly due to changes in lifestyle as we settle into work and family roles. But it is also because our testosterone levels are not sufficient to maintain muscle mass without deliberate effort on our part. Engaging in regular resistance training will help maintain a high metabolism and ward off weight gain.

The Female Athlete Triad

In young female athletes, high relative levels of testosterone have been shown to play a role in the female athlete triad, a syndrome characterized by excessive weight loss, dropping estrogen levels, amenorrhea, slowed development, osteoporosis and impaired performance. According to a 2002 study published in the American Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers found that while testosterone levels in young male athletes mirrored those of non-athletic males in their age group, young female athletes showed higher relative testosterone than their non-athletic age mates. The synopsis of the study implicated low fat mass as a possible explanation for high testosterone in the young women. Future studies on the role of testosterone in female athletic performance may one day shed more light on its implications for weight management.

Finding Balance

The role of testosterone in weight management and other facets of female health is a relatively new area of study. While there is some discussion of testosterone hormone replacement therapy as a weight management intervention, it is too early to tell how elevated testosterone levels will impact overall metabolism. In the mean time, engaging in regular resistance exercise while maintaining a healthy balanced diet will help you maintain a desirable lean mass and body weight.