Female Hormones
Thyroid Medication: T3 and T4
The thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), are tyrosine-based hormones produced by the thyroid gland primarily responsible for regulation of metabolism. T4 converts to T3, with T3 being 3-4 times stronger than T4. Synthetic T4 (Synthroid) is often prescribed for people diagnosed with hypothyroidism ("sluggish thyroid").
T3 Profile: http://forums.rxmuscle.com/showthread.php?t=27090
On a side note, thyroid disease is not uncommon in women. I would hesitate to blame "can't lose weight" on the thyroid, as people often look for pills-based solutions or some excuse before they'll spend the time revisiting their diet & training programs. But that said, if you feel there is an issue, by all means, talk to your doctor about it and get a thyroid panel done. Here is some starting information about this subject: Metabolic Mysteries: Undiagnosed Thyroid Disease and Women (http://thyroid.about.com/cs/basics_starthere/a/mystery.htm).
An overview of these thyroid hormones may be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid_hormone
T3 is frequently suggested as part of a fat-loss protocol. It is important to be conservative with use of T3 if you choose to go that route. You are manipulating your thyroid via self-medication. Too much and you will immediately feel lethargic. General guidance also suggests to be slow in your dosing - taper off when you are coming off instead of just dropping it cold. The body generally can adapt to small changes but tends to rebound with large, sudden changes.
Another very important consideration with T3 is that bumps up metabolism... but that means metabolism of everything - both lean muscle mass and bodyfat. Women tend to be so focused on "fat loss" that they forget about the importance of muscle mass. Building and preserving muscle mass has nothing to do with "looking like a man" or "getting huge", but rather about the keeping the body component that helps you burn bodyfat more efficiently, and it also goes into what makes up a bodyfat percentage. "What's your bodyfat?" means what is the ratio of lean muscle mass to bodyfat in your body? It is great to drop bodyfat, but if you are sacrificing muscle mass, your overall bodyfat percentage will not drop the way you want it to. The lack of muscle mass can contribute to a higher bodyfat percentage (what we often call "skinny-fat"0 just as higher bodyfat percentage.
To this end it is not generally recommended to cycle T3 without an anabolic support. Either an AAS or, a very common stack is with clenbuterol, which has been shown to be anabolic, or at least anti-catabolic.
Typical Cycle:
It is not recommended to run T3 by itself. Combine either of the following with an AAS or a clen cycle.
"Anti-estrogens"
There are two classes of estrogen manipulators that often fall under the term "anti-estrogens". The first are Selective Estrogen Receptor Manipulators (SERMs). The only current example out there is Tamoxifen Citrate (brand name: Nolvadex). This operates specifically on the ovarian-driven estrogen process. The second category that falls under "anti-estrogens" are Aromatase Inhibitors (AI's) that operate not on ovary-originating estrogen, but rather that resulting from aromatization (or conversion to estrogen) of testosterone. Examples of testosterones that convert are exogenous testosterones (anabolic androgenic steroids) such as Testosterone Propionate, Nandrolone Decoanate ("Deca"), or Dianabol ("d-bol"). There is also a natural source of androgen that converts to estrogen - that produced by the adrenal glands, in both men and women. When women enter menopause and their ovary-originating estrogen is no longer produced, the only remaining source of naturally produced estrogen is that resulting from the adrenals. Examples of AI's are Arimidex, Aromasin and Letrozole. In practice, both these and Nolvadex, are all primarily prescribed as breast cancer treatment for post-menopausal women.
AI Profiles:
Women are more likely to use a SERM like Nolvadex to address the bodyfat associated with estrogen - specifically the stuff that tends to collect around the hips, thighs, lower abdomen and butt. It is important to note that each person has her own distribution of fat cells - estrogen tends to promote a higher concentration of fat cells in those lower areas as part of a natural preservation strategy to protect a fetus and also to provide an extra storage of energy source (bodyfat) to help support a growing fetus and the mother if there is any issue with available food sources (i.e. a drought scenario). This is by design and using an estrogen inibitor as a weight-loss strategy is not a good idea. Estrogen is one of the three basic hormones that make up who we are, and drive everything from moods to how we look and feel. Estrogen is there for a purpose and should not be completely suppressed only for the purpose of fat loss.
Nolvadex acts to fake out the estrogen receptors (envision a safety protector that you put into outlets as part of baby-proofing your house) and essentially cutting off the estrogen process, instead of literally turning it off. For cycle duration, it is recommended to keep it to 4-8 weeks maximum. Long-term use of Nolvadex has the potential to introduce health issues as described in this article: Side effects of long-term use of tamoxifen (http://www.livestrong.com/article/37153-side-effects-longterm-use-tamoxifen/). .In the extreme, full estrogen shut down in women can lead to what is often referred to as the "Female Athlete Triad" - basically estrogen shutdown as a result of an eating disorder such as anorexia, which leads to reduction in calcium, and eventually to brittle bones and a host of other issues related to a stopped period. Here is an overview of this particular issue: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/Content/Articles/Issues/Body-and-Mind/T/The-Female-Athlete-Triad-Quick-Facts.aspx. Though this discussion is not focused on eating disorders, the end result, if someone decided to use medical estrogen suppression as a long-term weightloss protocol, is the same. This is just to reinforce that this is not a good idea.
The estrogen process tends to be fairly resilient so coming off a reasonable duration cycle can produce an estrogen rebound when the process is no longer inhibited. There isn't much documentation about this rebound, but general guidance is to taper off a cycle by reducing the dose (e.g. in half, every 3 days).
In the context of this article, Aromatase Inhibitors are more specific to the estrogen produced as a result of using an aromatizing steroid. This means that the steroid cycle is more aggressive and will produce side effects such as water retention and potentially more mood swings, as the converted estrogen may be adding to natural estrogen levels, enhancing typical estrogen effects that might be experienced during a menstrual cycle. AI's are more commonly used by men who cycle as the increase in estrogen can produce such side effects in men as gynocomastia (enlarged breast tissue), water retention, mood swings, etc. For men, as well as women, full estrogen suppression is not helpful if the goal is to build muscle as water (e.g. from estrogen) is needed to create a "growth environment" in the muscle. . (This article is more geared towards men and the use of AIs to prevent gynecomastia, it still gives some context for value of estrogen in building muscle: http://forums.rxmuscle.com/showthread.php?t=25&highlight=SERM+Llewellyn). Estrogen suppression can help to create a tighter look (e.g. for competition), but full suppression can produce too much dryness, including painful joints. Generally speaking AI's are not recommended for pre-menopausal women who are new to steroid cycling or using non-aromatizing compounds. If they choose to use an AI, it needs to be very conservatively used, as it is very easy to shut down estrogen with these compounds. The effects are similar to that noted above for long-term use of Nolvadex - hot flashes, etc.
Typical Use:
Primarily Nolvadex is used during the last 4-8 weeks of a contest prep to help reduce bodyfat in the hips / thighs / waist area. Again, it will not do the heavy lifting, but will support a tight contest prep. It is possible to experience either immediate interruption of menstrual flow, or breakthrough bleeding within 4 weeks of starting the cycle. Also once coming off, the effects will not be maintained and the estrogen-pattern bodyfat depositing will continue again. "Estrogen rebound" is often experienced as well, thus the taper down is recommended. Because of the potential of this rebound it is recommended to cycle Nolvadex with a specific end / target date in mind, followed by an expected rebound while your body recovers from the prep phase.
More aggressive aromatase inhibitors are not generally recommended unless you are an experienced cycler running aromatizing compounds such as NPP. If your cycle is intended for a bulker phase, then don't use the AIs as you need the estrogen to build muscle mass and the water gain is minimal with most compounds women use.
Typical Cycle:
Human Growth Hormone (hGH)
Growth Hormone is often recommended for "fat loss". It is not a "fat burner" in the same sense as clen or ephedrine, but instead falls under the larger category of "anti-aging" compounds or "hormone replacement therapy". In these contexts, it is intended to be dispensed under the supervision of a qualified physician based on constant monitoring of IGF-1 levels. This is the indicator used to track growth hormone production by the hypothalamus. Essentially this is what drives "youthfulness". The hypothalamus produces optimal levels of growth hormone around age 18-21. These levels begin to decrease after age 30-35 as the hypothalamus shrinks with age. The idea behind supplementing with hGH is to return the levels of growth hormone to optimal levels, as if you were still in the prime of your life.
In practical use, as mentioned above, hGH is used for its anti-aging properties, as a maintenance protocol for older folks, or to promote those youthful properties with specific interest in promoting fat loss, or rather not promoting age-related fat depositing, or stacked with an AAS cycle to enhance the overall effect. Please refer to the following profile link for a much more in-depth article written by Leigh Penman.
Profile: http://forums.rxmuscle.com/showthread.php?t=27224
Typical Use:
GH is often recommended for women for ‘weight loss'. By itself, GH does NOT promote muscle growth in the same sense as AAS, as it is not sex hormone. Instead, it will work to promote those youthful features such as healthy hair, improved skin elasticity, better sense of well-being, better healing capability (e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19933753), and more optimized metabolism to promote a preference for less bodyfat depositing (generally, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19240267). It might also be viewed as a support during the extremes of competition prep for the body. With a steroid cycle, such as anavar, it would work to enhance the effects of that compound. The effects of a GH cycle are not immediate and dramatic, but rather subtle and slow to show over time.
Typical Cycle:
Potential Sides:
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