During the Balance Your Hormones to Balance Your Weight Webinar, many questions were asked that we couldn’t get to during the one-hour presentation. Candace Burch followed up to respond to your questions below.
Your Hormone & Weight Gain Questions Answered
Ever since I went into menopause I feel like I’m living in a different body and have a much harder time losing weight. Is this the new normal?
Menopause is a new normal for women but it need not be a nightmare. The extent to which you are gaining weight and feeling like a stranger in a strange body is very often tied to how far your hormones are out of whack. Shifting, declining hormones along with a slowing of metabolism are to be expected at menopause, but their effects are made worse by lack of sleep, chronic stress and exposure to endocrine disruptors (pesticides, BPA, growth hormones in milk) in the environment.
At the same time, additional burden is placed on the adrenal glands as they take over hormone production from the ovaries at menopause. That can lead to tired adrenals that cannot keep up with demand — so this is prime time to start taking better care of ourselves with improved nutrition, sleep and stress management. Cortisol rises when stress rises, triggering us to refuel by eating more. If stress stays high, blood sugars and insulin will stay high with continued overeating and, inevitably, weight gain.
For women navigating menopause and unexplained weight gain, our Female Weight Management Profile Test measures the key hormones linked to fat storage and metabolism — including cortisol, estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, DHEA and thyroid markers — in a single at-home kit.
I think I may be deficient in Vitamin D but I take a multivitamin every day. Isn’t that enough?
If you are overweight you will want to make sure that you are not D-deficient, given the strong association researchers are finding between increased body fat and obesity onset. The so-called ‘sunshine vitamin’ is actually a ‘prohormone’ made in the body by the action of sunlight upon the skin. Those of us who live in greyer, northern altitudes are typically low in D — but deficiency occurs even in sunny climates, attributed to overuse of sunscreens and spending more time indoors.
The amount of D3 contained in the average multivitamin may not be enough to raise D levels into the healthier ranges. Testing your vitamin D levels can reveal a deficiency (30 ng/ml or below) — talk to your provider about increasing your daily D intake. Supplementing between 2,000 and 5,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 is generally suggested to bring levels into the optimal (50–80 ng/ml) range.
Could an imbalance in Estrogen/Progesterone cause low cortisol? I have low cortisol across the board.
This is certainly to be considered, particularly when there is too much estrogen relative to too little progesterone — an all too common imbalance known as estrogen dominance. This often shows up in the test results of women in menopause and perimenopause, when waning ovaries no longer make estrogen and progesterone in balanced proportions. It is also not atypical in younger women on birth control, with anovulatory or erratic cycles.
Progesterone, being high up in the hormonal cascade, is also a precursor of primary adrenal hormones — so if it is in short supply, DHEA and cortisol will also be down, with some level of adrenal fatigue to follow. Imbalances of estrogen and progesterone can and will negatively impact cortisol levels down the line. Our All Day Cortisol Test (4-Point LCMS) measures cortisol at four time points across the day alongside DHEA-S — providing a clear picture of whether adrenal dysfunction is contributing to your symptoms.
If a patient is on birth control pills, can a saliva test be accurate?
Hormone levels tested while ‘under the influence’ of the pill will reflect its contraceptive effect and test at lower levels than would be the case in the absence of contraception. To get a true baseline level of hormones, it is suggested that birth control be suspended for four to six weeks before collecting hormone samples. Having said that, women who do test their hormones while taking contraceptives may use the results to guide decision-making about hormonal vs. non-hormonal birth control methods.
I’m estrogen dominant, taking lots of supplements, doing bioidentical progesterone the last 2 weeks of my cycle, and I’m perimenopausal. I still have really high cortisol morning and evening. What else can I do?
Sounds like you are doing many things right, but if you still have depression, weight gain and stress demands high enough to spike your cortisol levels morning and evening, look to your adrenal glands. These master stress responders need extra support especially during perimenopause when hormonal shifts and fluctuations trigger imbalances that can amplify stress demands upon the body.
Lack of sleep is one of the biggest contributors to cortisol imbalance and a serious disruptor of appetite hormones, leading to sugar cravings and increased hunger. Getting by on just 5 or 6 hours a night will undermine your best efforts to stay healthy and balanced. Aim for 7 to 8 hours a night at minimum.
Do you feel saliva testing is better than blood tests?
If you want to test active bioavailable hormone levels that correlate more closely to the symptoms you are experiencing, saliva testing can be a better way to go. This method captures the ‘free’ fraction of hormone that has left the bloodstream to become active in the target tissues of the body — in contrast, the standard blood test measures inactive hormones still bound by their carrier proteins in the bloodstream. Saliva testing is also non-invasive, without needles, so all one has to do is spit into a tube — a painless change from the stress of a blood draw that can skew results.
Our Comprehensive Female Saliva Hormone Profile (LCMS) measures the free, bioavailable fraction of estradiol, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA using gold-standard LCMS analysis — the most clinically relevant method for identifying the hormonal imbalances driving your symptoms.
My doctor did a blood test and said my hormones are fine and that I’m just depressed. Now I’m on Prozac and gaining more weight.
I have a one-line response: Depression is NOT a Prozac deficiency. (See the question above regarding blood tests vs. saliva testing.)
The Call to Action
Become aware of your own symptoms of hormone imbalance, test your hormone levels to identify imbalances that match up with the symptoms you are experiencing, and find a natural hormone-friendly provider who will work with you to rebalance your hormones. A savvy practitioner will test, not guess — using hormone test results as a guide to individualising treatment. After all, each of us has a unique body chemistry, so what works for one woman does not necessarily apply to her friend, sister or next-door neighbour.
Today’s more enlightened and effective approach to a woman’s hormones and weight gain is bound to include lifestyle and dietary improvements, stress-lowering techniques, key vitamins, minerals, herbs and/or bioidentical hormones as needed, to replenish and restore balance.
Originally by Candace Burch, ZRT Laboratory. Reproduced with permission. Last reviewed: May 2026.