http://www.shape.com/livehealthy/5680
The first reason they list under their hidden causes of weight gain is hormones and discuss PCOS!
1. Hormonal havoc
You'd think 40 or more extra pounds would be a clue that something's amiss. Yet many of the 7-10 percent of premenopausal women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) often go for years unaware that their weight gain is in part due to this underdiagnosed condition, in which the ovaries and sometimes the adrenal glands, for unknown reasons, pump out too much
male hormone, according to Andrea Dunaif, M.D., chief of endocrinology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and professor of metabolism and molecular medicine at Northwestern University Medical School. Because the pounds typically pile on gradually beginning around puberty, or sometimes don't surface until post-pregnancy weight refuses to budge, it's frequently not obvious to PCOS sufferers, or their doctors, that there's a medical trigger. Possible tip-offs: thinning hair, excess facial hair, severe acne, irregular periods, impaired fertility -- all hallmarks of excess male hormone.
It's not the extra male hormone that triggers the
weight gain, though. So what does? Short answer: Nobody knows, Dunaif says. While there seems to be a genetic component to PCOS -- it runs in families -- and a genetic component to the associated weight gain, there's little to explain why some of those diagnosed develop weight problems while others do not. It is clear that cultural and environmental factors play a part because Europeans, and Americans on the coasts, who may feel more social pressure to be skinny, gain much less weight on average than do their (sometimes literal) sisters in middle America. The encouraging side of this is that while many women with PCOS feel like their weight is an immovable number (and treatment for PCOS does not help with weight loss), studies show that almost any woman with PCOS, treated or not, can, if put on a supervised diet and exercise program, lose 10 percent or more of body weight, Dunaif notes. Dropping such a moderate amount of weight often will, in turn, push male hormone levels down, leading to a resumption of regular periods and improved chances of conception.
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