Women are prone to gain weight when androgens and testosterone are at higher levels in their body than perceived ‘normal’ for a regular female. However I am wondering why this is, considering males have lower body fat percentage and a higher muscle mass ratio than women; you would think the excess testosterone in a woman’s body would help them lose fat not gain it? Or am I just dumb for thinking this haha.
In: Biology
Women who exhibit high levels of male hormones such as test actually show more masculine features such as muscle mass, facial hair, deepening of the voice.
You’ve got it a little backwards.
The most common cause of abnormally high androgen (male hormones, like testosterone) levels in women is an common (~20% of women) condition called PCOS. You can Wiki the full list of symptoms. There are a few other ways women can have unusually high androgen levels (steroid abuse, a few rare genetic conditions), but those don’t get talked about much.
One of the common effects of PCOS is insulin resistance. Normally, insulin is the hormone that helps the body turn glucose from food into energy. People with insulin resistance problems are not able to property absorb energy from food, as their body is resistant to the action of insulin. This means you feel hungry, drained and tired, even if you’ve eaten the correct amount. This leads to more eating. Which leads to getting fat.
One of the biggest problems with insulin resistance is that the best way to combat it is to loose weight, but having insulin resistance tends to make you gain weight because you feel hungry even when you aren’t. It’s a cyclical problem.
You’re right that heightened androgen levels also produce a lot of typically “male” traits, like increased muscle mass, body hair, deeper voice, etc.
Contrary to whatever nonsense you hear about hormones on the internet, testosterone doesn’t adversely effect a women’s health. A women’s body produces 20x more testosterone then estrogen, in fact estrogen is made from testosterone. Whenever elevated levels of testosterone in women may be present, it’s more typical to see polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can cause a list of side effects, of which there is no current consensus.
I’m guessing you mean pcos, I have pcos.
The majority of women with pcos also have insulin resistance, undiagnosed most of the time. High insulin levels cause the ovaries to produce too much testosterone, being overweight does the same and makes it worse. When I was first diagnosed, I was just given metformin and birth control. I was never told that diet is the biggest factor for managing pcos. Women with pcos have to eat like diabetics, they can manage their symptoms and lose weight with a low carb diet.
because male steroid hormones make you hungry you eat more, and this causes weight gain
Men have a higher muscle mass and lower bodyfat than women not due to hormones, but due to genetics. Similarly distribution of fat on men is in different places than on women.
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