Puberty and obesity - possible link?

[luluc 6]

I attribute my weight gain to having to be put on birth control pills less than a year later due to a hormone imbalance.

I find this interesting because I was put on birth control pills early (around 15) to control heavy bleeding. I would have gone on them earlier, but I have a "hippie" mom who is not a fan of Popping pills for cures. It just got so bad that the heavy periods were interferring w/me being a kid, active in sports.

I'm not saying the pill put the weight on - what I find ironic is, when I went off them after I got married....that was when the weight piled on at an astronomical rate.

I could add age / lack of being active as excuses...but my body went into "flux" around 34 & it's just getting back to normal. I'm noticing a dramatic change to my period as the weight is lessening. I "almost" had a partial hysterectomy last summer - but wanted to see how the band and weightloss would change the female problems I had been experiencing. So far so good:smile:

[Kat817 19]

I developed --doing like others have said, and going to bed flat one day and waking up fluffy another. I never remember a training bra, I was probably a C cup for a year and a half before ever having a period. But I was also EXTREMELY thin-----that might very well explain it. I developed in about 5th-6th grade so 11 or 12, but was between 7th & 8th grade before starting my period.

Then it was not long before I too was on the pill for regulation. I would start and then my period would just go on for weeks......not terribly hard, just non ending!

I had fertility issues, due to irregular periods even as an adult.

I ended up with uterine cancer.

Had a hysterectomy as part of my treatment of course-----was good to get rid of it all, it was ALWAYS one problem or another!!!!

Kat

[MacMadame 81]

Also, I 've noticed a lot of the kids' friends at school, the girls are wearing bras already (grade 5 and 6) but only the obese ones and did sort of think boy oh boy they're maturing early these days (I got my first bra at about 15), and if you really look, they dont have breasts, they have fat the same way men get man boobs. They havent hit puberty at all.

When I was 11, all the girls in my grade had "training" bras. I was the only one who actually had something to put in them.

Dd has been begging me for a bra since she was 7! She actually has something now at NINE so I did get her some training bras and camisoles. It's not really enough for a real bar but enough that I don't want to just grab her anywhere any more.

My mom got hers at 11 ... I'm hoping dd won't be quite that early. I got mine at 12.75 which is right on the average apparently but I am sure I was the only kid in my class in JH who had it.

[aubrie 6]

this is VERY interesting. I started at 11. I was the second girl in my 6th grade class to get one, and I felt like a freak. This was 1970. I was chunky, but not fat or obese as a child. when I got to junior high I slimmed down a little and puffed back up in high school. My weight had always been like a yo-yo. In 6th grade I NEEDED a bra. My parents were very old fashioned and not from this country, so they thought wearing a bra that young was TERRIBLE. The school actually called my mother and told her not to bring me back to school until I had one, as it was causing a rucus among the boys. She bought me a training bra. She stuffed me into it, as I truly needed full cups. I didn't get a cup bra until high school. My breasts were heavy and as a result of improper support sagged from the get go. I had 35 year old boobs at age 16. Imagine what they look like nowat my age and after a 48 pound loss!!!! DEFINATLEY a surgery candidate. LOL I still resent my parents for that......

Now the comment about girls starting earlier because of more body fat is news to me. I've read NUMEROUS articles that the early onset of menses for girls is due to all the hormones that are put in our meat, chicken, milk and dairy products. There are several movements in effect to have the hormone use banned for that very reason. My niece started her period at age 9!!!!! Poor kid. 11 was traumatic enough for me.... This is also a reason for many parents to shop at health food stores for organic and chemical free meat and milk. These same hormones are also decreasing the semen levels in young men, and thus affecting the motility and sperm count of men trying to conceive. The rate of infertility is now out the roof.

[MacMadame 81]

Now the comment about girls starting earlier because of more body fat is news to me. I've read NUMEROUS articles that the early onset of menses for girls is due to all the hormones that are put in our meat, chicken, milk and dairy products.

There are people who believe this but they haven't got good data to back up their assertions.

The link between body fat and menses is well-known. It's why elite athletes with low body fat often stop menstruating.

[Fanny Adams 7]

I think even given the unscientific manner of collecting these stats, the results are still thought-provoking - of the 48 people who have answered the poll, only 9 were 13 or older.

[mss 1]

One article I found by doing a google search and there were plenty of other articles so you are not alone in thinking this Fanny.

Early Puberty In Girls Due to Being Overweight As A Toddler

[HeatherO 7]

I was 12, not exceptionally early. I don't think at 12 I started early because plenty of my peers started before and after me. I was a thin child. My highest weight before pregnancy with my son was 126 at 5 '3 which is a perfectly normal weight with a c-cup. After I had my son I leveled off to about 150-160 which was a little overweight but not terrible. After a while I started birth control pills and that is when I saw my weight really start to creep up and yoyo dieting became an active part of my life.

I have two sisters. My youngest sister is in the overweight category but only slightly so and she is only 13. She started at the same time in life as me.

My other sister is shorter than I am and she weighs over 300 pounds and is in her mid-twenties. There is an 8 year age difference between us and I distinctly remember seeing her in the bathtub when she was about 9 years old and was shocked to see that she was completely developed . . . she started menarche a little after that. I remember discussing it with my mom because I was so surprised, and she told me that she had started menarche around age 8. Both my sister and mother have spent their lives morbidly obese and suffered a lot of hormonal problems. I know it is only anecdotal, but in my own family early significant childhood obesity definitely correlated to early menarche. Even though morbid obesity and early menarche seemed to go hand in hand, I am not sure how one affects the other.

[aubrie 6]

I found this letter from a parent on line, regarding this subject. I had never heard of this angle before and thought I would share it. By the way, there were also many parents who reported their very young children (age 6, 7, and 8) going through early puberty. When tested, their hormone levels were off the pediatric charts, and well outside the normal range, even for an adult. This apparently stops or greatly slows the growth process, so their doctors were putting them on homorne suppressing medications so their growth wouldn't be stunted and they would grow to a normal adult height. It appears that there are many factors at work here, and our bodies are very sensitive and fragile.

"My daughter began developing pubic hair at age 7. After many sleepless nights, I badgered my pediatrician into talking to a pediatric endocrinologist. The pediatric endocrinologist stated what has already been written above: earlier onset of puberty is common, obesity is a factor, etc. My daughter eats a very healthy diet, is extremely physically active and is thin, tall for her age, and physically fit. However, since the acceptable beginning of puberty is considered to be age 8, and my daughter was 7, they would run some blood tests. The blood tests came back with endocrine levels that were off the charts. The blood tests were repeated, with the same results. She was eventually diagnosed with Non-classical Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, also called Non-classical CAH. It is absolutely astounding to me that after numerous doctor visits, many doctors are unfamiliar with this disorder. This disorder, from what I have learned & researched, is often misdiagnosed as precocious puberty or never diagnosed. My daughter is now regularly monitored by a pediatric endocrinologist and is on a daily dosage of steroids to treat her disorder. It is believed that the steroid treatment is correcting a failure of her endocrine system to produce cortisol; she is now 9 years old and her blood levels have stabilized. I would recommend to any parent whose child is showing signs of "precocious puberty" to look up Non-classical CAH online, and the best resource available is the CARES Foundation-it was started by a mom whose daughter was diagnosed with Non-classical CAH. After my daughter's diagnosis, I was in a state of turmoil and I did not know what to do or where to turn. The CARES Foundation is an excellent resource. Non-classical CAH is an inherited genetic disorder, both my husband & I eventually tested positive as carriers. It is one of the most common inherited genetic disorders. Please look up Non-classical CAH if your son or daughter is showing signs of early puberty. "