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I'm wondering if there is something up with my hormones, because I went on birth control at 17 (still on it) and my breasts got bigger immediately, but over the past few years they've kind of gone back down to their original size. I'm fine with that, but I don't want them getting totally flat.

Anyway I am starting paleo and I hear that it's possible for your breasts to be the area that puts on weight first/loses last. Any tips? I'm not expecting a miracle, as long as my size is stabilized I'm fine. Did anyone hear notice the breasts disproportionately getting SMALLER after paleo? (like the body stays the same, the boobs get way smaller)

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5 Answers

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Anything that undercuts your Estrogen to progesterone ratio can have effects on breast size.

Here is a passage from one of my blogs called Brain Gut 9 that illustrates how this happens and how the brain and gut are wired together to allow your boobs to change:

How might the brain account for these things? Well, the brain looks at micronutrients coming in through the gut and translates these chemical signals into neurotransmitters that the brain circuits can understand and decipher. For example, when we eat a diet high in fructose (found at the equator) the gut and body respond in kind by causing an increase in absorption of iron, while causing a relative copper deficiency in cells. A copper deficiency is handled differently in both sexes. Women need more copper than men do. The reason is simple. Copper is required for the production of the enzymes which convert progesterone into estrogen. However, in men, more zinc is required to form the enzymatic machinery needed to convert progesterone into testosterone.

When we eat a diet high in fructose, this will also lower zinc levels in cells. This lowers testosterone in men. Higher fructose levels also cause a transient magnesium deficiency in all cells in both sexes when this occurs chronically. Acutely, it changes it at the intestinal brush border. I mentioned here in this blog that is precisely how diabetes actually begins. This lowers the magnesium available to make ATP(energy) if it goes on too long. This is why magnesium deficiency is so common in people who eat carbohydrates in a mismatched environment (T2D). This is also why most diabetics suffer from low magnesium stores and over time this will destroy their sleep and cause peripheral neuropathy too

When you know better you do better.

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Well then why would mine shrink after being on the same BCP that made them grow several years ago? I guess I'm just worried, lol – JE Nov 15 at 19:31
because your progesterone level is rising as your free T3 rises allowing you to convert your LDL cholesterol to pregnenlone and eventually to progesterone.......I wrote about this in my Hormone 101 blog post and in Brain Gut 12. – The Quilt Nov 16 at 14:49
A typical paleo diet is quite high in copper if it includes a ton of liver.....so you can over convert progesterone to estrogen and create problems too.......This is why testing matters when your results are not coming. – The Quilt Nov 16 at 20:18
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When I eat an avocado a day, my breast size increases by 1-2 full cup sizes. (Given, I'm a 32 band size, so cup size increase would probably be smaller for a larger band size.) This works for many women, but not all.

That being said, avocados are the only thing that work for me. Increasing fatty meat consumption, coconut oil, olive oil, bacon (don't judge me, it's its own food group) didn't increase my bust at all.

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wow... wish avocados had this affect on me!! – CoconutBliss Nov 16 at 2:19
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Are you strict paleo or primal (that is, dairy-friendly)? If the latter, consider using full-fat cream and cheese. Otherwise, not sure. My breast size took a few steps down on strict paleo, but my chest sure as hell isn't flat, and I'm not worried that it soon will be.

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Did your breasts only get smaller because you lost weight, or did they become proportionally smaller to the rest of your body? – JE Nov 15 at 21:00
Well, there's a difference between losing weight and losing fat. I've lost "only" 10 pounds of weight on paleo, but my body fat percentage went from 22% to 11%. That being said, I'd say it had more to do with losing fat-- and, if anything, my chest is in proportion to the rest of my body now. – samanthalee Nov 15 at 22:33
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I'm losing weight and the boobs were the first thing to shrink!

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Well I'm not trying to lose weight- just maintain and be healthy. But bigger boobs wouldn't hurt! – JE Nov 15 at 21:00
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Getting endometriosis definitely increased my breast size a lot! I wouldn't recommend it though, my mobility has been greatly affected. Increased breast size can come with estrogen dominance, which can come with a lot of other messes.

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(sarcasm on the first two sentences. someone will take me seriously, I'm sure...) – JeJ Nov 16 at 0:09
Oh no, I didn't take that seriously :) I am really sorry about your endometriosis, I wouldn't want to gain breast size if it were due to something that made life harder. Hope you're doing okay! – JE Nov 16 at 0:47

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