Novel methods for the medical treatment and/or prevention of obesity, abdominal fat, and insulin resistance in susceptible warm-blooded animals including humans involves the administration of selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs). A combination of a SERM with an amount of estrogen or a sex steroid precursor selected from the group consisting of dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androst-5-ene-3b,17b-diol and compounds converted in vivo to one of the foregoing precursors or estrogen is also disclosed.
