Do you believe hormone imbalances are to blame?

All this talk on the radio and t.v. that HRC will help you lose weight because women over 40 cant because of hormone imbalances..

I am almost 55 and just lost 8 lb in 2 weeks. Been riding bike and horses and walking more ..I havent taken any Hormone Replacements to lose weight.. but then again i did have Rny.. oh well..just looking for some input on this.I use to believe this to be true .. they also say diabetes was a cause of making it hard to lose weight,....I figure if i dont eat alot of sugar i am ok..I love the book "Eat This..Not That" love Oven fried chicken..so many variations to it..finally found a way to get back my addiction to KFC.. I have missed that fried chicken for so long.. with out all the fat.. still maintaing my goal and weight loss..

When i was obese i use to say to others and family i had almost given up all hope to lose weight..told everyone i may be on my deathbed when i finally lose weight..you know when you are in the hospital and are very ill you almost always lose weight ..well i may be having some mental issues ( hormone imbalances?)  but at least i am proud of maintaining my weight loss. I thought i would of been a failure even at gastric bypass.. 

many things that motivated me to lose weight..

  The Paramedic that tried to wheel me into the ambulance during my heart attack..He said he couldn't carry me. the thoughts that ran through my head at that time  (said to myself) even in the middle of an heart attack..Said I've got to lose weight..I'm gonna die because a paramedic couldnt get me to the hospital on time to fix my heart .. talk about motivation!!..I'm just rambling on now..sorry to go on and on.. hormone imbalances? lol
 Peace  \/  Wendy...

I honestly do not believe that hormones are "to blame" for a majority of us (of course there are some exceptions).  As a male under 40 who's been overweight since being a teenager, it was a combination of a lot of things:
- Genetics (fat  males in my family)
- Really poor eating habits (midwestern food - heavy on red meats and carbs)
- Sitting on my ass for a couple of decades without exercise
- Medicating myself with food
- Eating huge portions
- Not paying attention to the quality or qualities I put in my body.

Instead, what I think really matters is how our biochemistry adapts to all obese people that keep us 'locked' into an obese state.... really great, accessible article about this at the NYT called The Fat Trap.

 This is probably the best answer I have seen concerning this.  

I am a good example of this...

Genetics (Obseity in family)
Poor eating habits
Sitting on butt  (911 dispatcher / sitting and eating whatever is handy and quick)
Stress eating

results of this lifestyle...

I have low testosterone, overweight and waiting to be approved for WLS.

 
There are usually no hormonal problems until AFTER we get fat.

Once you start eating a diet of white carbs your body begins to react to the carbs differently.  In all of us carbs (all of them) turn into glucose in the blood.  The body responds to providing insulin.  In a normal weight person with a good diet the body does not over produce insulin.  In an obese person the body already knows the scoop and it knows what is coming next, MORE CARBS.  Well, obese people have to produce more insulin than a non obese person eating a normal amount of good carbs and what turns glucose into body fat?

Insulin.

So the hormonal problems are a result of a poor diet, lack of exercise, and obesity.

HRC is nothing but pregnant women urine.  That is hardly the type of hormone we need and in those doses.  The HRC diet also requires a 400 a day calorie diet.  You are going to lose eating 400 calories a day with or without supplementing with pee.

I got fat because I lived on a diet of fast food.  I worked too many hours, didn't want to cook, and got fat.  Totally me, not my hormones.

Are we talking HCG here?  As in Human Chorionic Gonadatropin?   If not, what is HRC?  

 
HAHA!  HCG!  I was talking on the phone and typing at the same time and I swear, I had HCG and I changed it to HRC thinking I was thinking of the wrong abbreviation after reading the OP.

My mistake!

Pregnant lady pee diet. ;o)

I swear I take my  B12 shot twice weekly, but it still doesn't take a lot to confuse me these days ...

One of the first abbreviations I learned during my degree in midwifery was HCG and yes it is in pregnant lady's pee -  I think "pregnant lady's pee diet"  is way more catchy than HCG diet BTW !

I think she meant HRC - as in Hormone Replacement Center . The menopause can really mess us up... and the HRC advertise for the HRT (hormones Replacement therapy) as one way to balance weight that are due to hormonal imbalance.

 
What is the hormone replacement center?

I'm all for bio identical hormone replacement therapy but most of us got fat before we needed HRT.

I maintain, I got fat from a life of fast food, nothing else.  No hormonal problems, just me.

I know... me too... but when I lost the weight and got thin, I hit menopause. It was horrible. 

Some women gain weight when they get there.  My friend - a size 4 gal (no WLS) is in transition and suddenly she needs size 6... Not only some of us gain weight - but the fat may get deposited in different places (normal phenomena) - I call that fat redistribution - suddenly woman get thicker waist - and any fat goes in there. It is the way body try to make sure we make estrogen once the ovaries stop making them.  The abdominal fat cell make estrogen - so the "smart" body takes fat from legs and arms and put them in the bellies.

Also - they put woman on testosterone - since that also diminishes with menopause - and that helps with "happy" and muscle building and other issues.

Here what some places noticed.  It is still unknown why it happens - but a lot of mid age older woman have thicker middle and no so much fat in other places... still theory???

How exactly does estradiol regulate the fat distribution? Factors controlling human adipose tissue accumulation/metabolism are largely unknown. What is known is that low estrogen levels that occur with menopause are associated with loss of subcutaneous fat and gain of visceral fat. Visceral fat is located around organs inside the abdomen and deeper in the body than subcutaneous fat. The fat cells around the abdomen are regulated by estradiol, whereas the fat cells in subcutaneous tissue are not. As women approach menopause, their estradiol levels decrease. They then no longer have protection from abdominal weight gain. Since the two different types of fat cells are now on equal metabolism levels, fat is then allowed to accumulate in the abdomen.