Question about weight training??

[NeedAGirl!]

So, I am a bit confused. I enjoy resistance training and I find that it really helps me to maintain or lose weight when I need it.

I understand that increased testosterone in women sways blue.

I also understand that people with more testosterone can more easily build muscle bulk. (why a women can work really hard and will never get the muscles a man can make)

I understand that some women have higher testosterone levels than others. (especially those with PCOS like conditions) These women may have more muscle mass.

However, I can not see any studies that show that lifting weights increases testosterone in women. (There are some that show it increases it in men.) In fact the limited studies that have been done on women all show it does not increase it. Testosterone is not made by muscle so having more muscle itself would not increase your level.

Am I missing something?

[atomic sagebrush]

There were a couple older studies that showed little to no testosterone increase in women from weight training, you're right, and you're also right that there have been very few studies. However, women have very little testosterone to begin with and when we talk about women who are higher in T, we are not suggesting that anyone is big, burly, or mannish - we will NEVER get big like men no matter how much we do. So the increases in T levels in women are WAY, WAY smaller - maybe even too small to be measured - but they are real and they are there, even though they are nothing like what you would see in studies done on men. Testosterone is also converted to estrogen so it may very well be that an increase in testosterone may in effect register as an increase in estrogen (which also seems to sway blue BTW) and may not have been measured in those studies.

Testosterone is needed to build muscle and there is NO way that women are somehow different in this respect than men are, any more than one might say, well, studies on stomach acid have only been done in men so therefore we can't assume that women don't use stomach acid to digest their food.

I often say "muscle makes testosterone" because it takes too long to say, "Muscle and testosterone both increase at the same time because testosterone is needed to synthesize muscle protein so your body makes more testosterone so it can make more muscle"...I mean the final analysis is, the more muscle you have, the more testosterone you need, and the more muscle you build, the more testosterone you need. I say "muscle makes testosterone" as a simple, easy to understand way of expressing that idea because the more muscle you have and build, the more testosterone you will have.

If you are eating a low-protein, low fat, low cal diet, keeping blood sugar low, and losing a lot of weight, you may very well be able to get away with weight training while swaying. I'm sure you can find people who have had a daughter while doing exactly that. But it's NOT the best way to sway, unfortunately, because I LOVE weight training too!!!

[NeedAGirl!]

I am not planning to ttc until December so I guess I will wait until swimsuit season is over and then give it up! ) On a related note, right now I am only about 2 pounds above what I consider to be my "ideal weight." Do you think there is any benefit to gaining some weight so I can lose it? (like eating more and exercising less in Sept/Oct so I can hit it hard in Nov/Dec and lose it back?)

[atomic sagebrush]

I think that gaining weight to lose it again is just too chancey because it can affect your metabolism and raise your testosterone too. Plus, my horror story is that when I was swaying with DS 4 I took a month off to regain some weight to lose and WHOOPS had an accident that month, right after I had gained 3 lbs!! That made 3 of 4 boys where I had just gained 3 lbs!!

I think that it's probably best to hold where you are now and lose the 2 lbs when you are about to sway.