Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm the Get Fit Guy.

Listener Sammy recently wrote in and said, fitness can be so frustrating at times.

It feels like lately when I buckle down on eating well, get a gym routine

going, cut out alcohol, and watch portions, I gain weight and inches. But when I don't pay much

attention and just occasionally hit the gym, I drop weight. What's going on? Could it just be my

hormones as a female in general? Well, this is a great question from Sammy and a

frustration that many women and men share, the seeming inability to lose weight, even with the

strictest of exercise programs. So in today's episode, you're going to learn about the frustrating

problems of gaining weight no matter how much exercise you do, and specifically how changes in hormones

can cause weight gain. In the episode Why You're Not Losing Weight, I presented 10 reasons that you can be

resistant to weight loss, and I do recommend that you check that episode out for the details,

but what I mentioned were not changing your exercise routine enough,

eating too much, not eating enough, not lifting weights, avoiding high-intensity cardio,

not eating enough hormone-supporting fat, relying primarily on pill-popping and fat-burning

supplements, snacking too much, food intolerances, or allergies,

or hormone imbalances. And while Sammy could certainly explore any of these issues,

it is hormonal imbalances that seems to me the most dominant issue among women and men

who are doing lots and lots of exercise but not getting the desired results.

Now, in women who have a hard time losing weight, no matter how much exercise they do,

there can often be an issue with something called estrogen dominance.

Estrogen is a hormone produced in the ovaries, and it promotes cell division, cell growth,

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