Many women now are on a mission to lose their body fat. Thanks to Instagram influencers who show off their body with 10% body fat. However, is all body fat really bad? What’s the role of body fat in women’s hormonal balance?
What’s Exactly the Role of Body Fat in Women’s Hormonal Imbalance?
Also known as adipose tissue, body fat serves various bodily functions, especially in women. There are two main types:
- Essential Fat: The minimum amount of fat your body requires to function properly.
- This includes fat in the breasts, hips, and pelvis.
- It’s crucial for fertility and hormonal balance.
- Storage Fat: It accumulates under the skin. It’s called subcutaneous fat. This type of fat is also found around the organs or visceral fat.
- Some storage fat is normal.
- But too much of it can cause issues, especially visceral fat.
Compared to men, women naturally carry more fat. It’s often found around the hips, thighs, and breasts.
No, it’s not a flaw. Rather, it’s by design.
Women’s bodies store extra energy for these functions:
- Pregnancy
- Breastfeeding
- Hormonal functions
Fat is an active player in how your body regulates itself.
How Body Fat and Hormonal Balance Are Connected?
Your fat cells don’t just sit there quietly. They secrete hormones and influence many others in your endocrine system.
- Estrogen: Fat tissue helps produce estrogen. It’s a hormone that regulates your menstrual cycle. It also supports bone health and plays a role in mood.
- Too little fat can lead to low estrogen levels and it may cause irregular periods.
- Too much of it can cause estrogen dominance which can lead to heavy periods, mood swings, and bloating.
- Leptin: It’s the satiety hormone. It tells your brain when you’re full. It’s produced by fat cells and plays a vital role in controlling your appetite, metabolism, and reproductive health.
- If you have too little body fat, you may have too low leptin levels.
- It can trigger hunger, hormonal disruption, and fertility issues.
- Insulin: Believe it or not, body fat affects how well your boy responds to insulin. However, excess fat around the abdomen, especially, can make your cells resistant to insulin.
- This increases your risk of type 2 diabetes.
- It also interferes with other hormones, like estrogens and androgens.
- Cortisol: It’s your stress hormone. This may not be directly produced by fat. However, chronic stress and high cortisol can cause belly fat accumulation.
- It’s a feedback loop that can easily throw your hormones off balance.
In summary, your body fat:
- Supports fertility
- Helps regulate your period
- Plays a role in thyroid health
- Influences your mood and energy levels.
What Can Go Wrong with Too Little Body Fat?
Obesity indeed gets more attention. Well, it’s bad when you’re obese.
However, under-fat is also as dangerous. This is especially true for women.
Extremely low body fat can lead to the following conditions:
- Irregular or missing periods
- Low libido
- Mood swings and depression
- Poor sleep
- Infertility
- Thinning hair or brittle nails
These symptoms are common in athletes, dancers, and women who follow extreme diets.
A certain condition that is tied to very low fat and calorie intake is hypothalamic amenorrhea, according to the comprehensive review published in the National Library of Medicine. It’s where the brain reduces signals to the ovaries to preserve energy. As a result, it stops ovulation and periods.
But…
Too Much Body Fat: When It Starts to Hurt Your Hormones
Although having too little body fat disrupts your body functions, having too much of it can create a set of hormonal problems.
This is especially true if you have excess visceral fat around the abdomen.
Excess fat can interfere with your hormone balance:
- Estrogen dominance: Fat tissue produces estrogen.
- More fat = more estrogen, even in postmenopausal women.
- This can cause PMS, fibroids, and heavy periods.
- Insulin resistance: More body fat can impair how your cells respond to insulin, thereby, increasing the risk of PCOS.
- It causes irregular cycles, acne, and infertility.
- Chronic Inflammation: Fat tissue releases inflammatory markers, which can disrupt hormone signaling across your body.
Common Symptoms from Excess Fat:
- Heavy or irregular periods
- Hormonal acne
- Breast tenderness
- Mood instability
- Difficulty losing weight even with effort.
In other words, too much or too little fat can create hormonal chaos.
That’s why your body fat must be balanced.
What is Healthy Body Fat Percentage in Women: The Sweet Spot
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But here are some good general guidelines:
- Essential fat: 10-13%. It’s required for survival
- Athletes: 14-20%
- Fitness-focused women: 21-24%
- Acceptable range: 25-31%
- Obese range: 32% and above
Most women function best hormonally between 21-30% body fat.
The number on the scale doesn’t always reflect your hormonal health.
You could weigh the same with your best friend. But you have very different fat-to-muscle ratios.
Focus on your body composition, instead of weight loss.
Losing Body Fat Safely: Avoid Harming Hormones
If you want to shed your fat while protecting your hormones, it’s possible.
However, it needs to be a balanced approach. Don’t deprive yourself.
Here are the things you can do:
- Eat balanced meals: You must include protein, and healthy fats, like avocados, nuts, and olive oil.
- You must also eat fiber and slow-burning carbs.
- Lift weights: Yes, strength training can help maintain muscle while burning fat.
- It supports healthy testosterone and growth hormone levels.
- Manage stress: Chronic stress can mean high cortisol. And we all know that high cortisol can lead to more belly fat.
- You should prioritize sleep.
- Practice mindfulness and boundaries.
- Get enough rest: You should aim for at least 7 hours of sleep each night.
- Sleep can help regulate leptin, ghrelin, or the hunger hormone, as well as insulin.
- Avoid crash diets: Rapid fat loss can only lead to hormone crashes, muscle fat loss, and slowed metabolism.
Hormonal Health and Body Fat in Women
You may think that thinner is always better. However, the truth is that your body needs fat.
It’s not something you should be at war with. You must understand and respect it.
The key here is not obsessing about being lean. Rather, you must strive for balance.
Your Fat is Your Ally
Body fat isn’t your enemy. It’s actually your ally. The role of body fat in women’s hormonal balance can’t be overstated.
From producing estrogen and leptin to supporting fertility and mood, enough fat can keep your body running smoothly.
Too little of it can make your body go into survival mode.
But too much of it can make your hormones go haywire.
If you’re trying to lose weight, remember that your goal isn’t to lose as much fat as you can.
Instead, aim to lose excess fat while preserving the fat that you need for hormone harmony.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Body fat necessary for women’s hormonal health?
Yes, a certain level of body fat is essential for producing hormones, like estrogen, which regulates your menstrual cycle, mood, and fertility.
2. Can having too little body fat affect my period?
Definitely! Low body fat can disrupt estrogen production, leading to irregular or missed periods. This is especially true in athletes or women with very low-calorie diets.
3. Does too much body fat cause hormonal imbalance?
Yes, excess fat, especially around the belly, can increase estrogen and insulin levels. It can lead to PMS, PCOS, and other hormone-related issues.
4. What’s a healthy body fat percentage for women?
Generally, 21-30% is considered healthy for most women. It varies by age, activity level, and personal health goals.
5. Can I lose body fat without messing up my hormones?
Yes, just focus on slow, steady fat loss with balanced nutrition, strength training, stress management, and proper sleep to keep hormones stable.