Tips For Menopause Weight Loss
Whether youre just starting perimenopause or have already bid a fond farewell to your last period, its never too late to get your eating back on track. These strategies can help you avoid weight gain after menopause.
No Your Metabolism Doesn’t Slow Way Down During Menopause:
The second misconception is about metabolism. Though we may think back fondly on our teenage years, when it seemed like we could inhale a quart of ice cream and then burn it off by the next day without much effort, it turns out your bodys metabolic rate doesnt slow down until several years after youve gone through menopause, and even then, it doesnt slow down that much.
A large, headline-making study in the journal Science last year found that instead of dipping precariously during the menopause transition, as we had all been led to believe, after that super-powered ice-cream-burning phase of adolescence, metabolism remains fairly stable from ages 20 to 60. Then it declines about 1% per year after that. As the studys co-author Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, has said, There are lots of physiological changes that come with growing up and getting older. Think puberty, menopause, other phases of life. What’s weird is that the timing of our metabolic life stages doesn’t seem to match those typical milestones.
Manage Menopause Weight With Lifestyle
Here are some lifestyle suggestions to help you to maintain a healthy weight during menopause.
âReduce stress
Increased cortisol, the stress hormone, may lead to weight gain in some people. Add stress management practices into your routine, like meditation, yoga, recreational activities, and exercise. Hypnotherapy has also been shown to help with menopause related stress, and improve sleep.
Staying connected with friends and family, and maintaining a social life are also good for stress prevention.
âPractice good sleep hygiene
Poor sleep can lead to weight gain due to effects on your energy, metabolism, and regulation of hunger. As you approach evening time, wind down. Limit exposure to blue light such as TVs and phone screens. Studies suggest that blue light can affect melatonin production, a hormone that regulates your circadian rhythm.
Consider taking an Epsom salt bath. Bathing itself can be relaxing, and youâll be absorbing calm-inducing magnesium as well. Baths not your thing? Magnesium can be taken in vitamin form or absorbed through the skin via creams and sprays. Be sure to check with your doctor before taking supplements.
Limit alcohol
Excessive intake of alcohol can cause weight gain, and disrupt your sleep. Research indicates alcohol in excess can increase your risk of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and other diseases.
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How Long Will I Stay On Hormones
Studies show that when the women stopped bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, the benefits of the hormonal treatment stopped too, making it imperative for postmenopausal women to consider taking bioidentical hormones throughout their lifetime.
Natural hormones are an opportunity to replace what your body originally had in its ideal state when your hormone levels were most optimal and your body was disease free and youthful. These are the hormones that your body is able to recognize and utilize most effectively. Women prefer natural bio-identical hormones because of better results, greater quality of life and minimal side effects when taking them throughout their lifetime after menopause occurs . It makes sense to replace and balance your hormones only with what nature originally gave you for a long and healthy life.
Body Changes At Menopause
As we age, our muscles decrease in bulk and our metabolism slows down. These changes can contribute to weight gain around the time of menopause.Other physical changes associated with menopause may include:
- skin changes, such as dryness and loss of elasticity
- vaginal dryness
These changes may affect a womans body image and self-esteem and increase her risk of depression and sexual difficulties. Taking steps to manage the symptoms of menopause can help.
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Pathophysiology: Mechanism Of Menopausal Obesity
The mechanism of the development of obesity in menopausal women is outlined in Figure 1. The continuous depletion of the follicular ovarian pool during menopausal transition lowers estrogen production with a relative increase in androgen levels. This hormonal imbalance alters energy homeostasis by regulating hunger and satiety signals. Estrogen inhibits the action of hunger signals, preventing events of excessive calorie consumption. It is postulated that during the menopausal transition because of fluctuating estrogen levels, its effectiveness to modulate hunger hormones is reduced. Menopausal women experience more intense hunger signals encouraging increased food intake which promotes weight gain.
Mechanism for development of obesity during menopausal transition
The hormonal imbalance during menopause also promotes the higher accumulation of fat in the abdominal region. Low estrogen levels along with high androgen levels lead to redistribution of fat present in the gluteal and femoral regions to abdominal regions of the body, favoring abdominal obesity. Besides, higher abdominal obesity is an independent risk factor for future metabolic complications.
Menopausal obesity is primarily driven by hormonal imbalance and its effect on energy balance. Some other crucial factors, such as unhealthy eating behavior, sedentary lifestyle, and secondary causes might also account for the differences in personal weight gain trajectories among these women.
Weight Gain Can Menopause Cause It
Yes! Menopausecan cause weight gain! As if the mood swings, fatigue, hot flashes, night sweats, and low libido werent enough! Now youve got to deal with menopausal weight gain? The good news is that youre not alone!
Unfortunately, 90% of women peri- and post-menopause gain weight about 10 to 15 pounds on average.
And the bad news doesnt stop there. If youre a woman whos had no problem dropping the extra pounds in the past, it may also come as a shock that these pounds arent easy to lose.
If, on the other hand, youre a woman whos struggled with weight loss her whole life, were sorry to say that the struggle wont just continue, it will likely get worse.
Menopausal weight gain is different, however, because your metabolism, antioxidant systems, and inflammatory response are completely thrown off.
Other things that you may notice about menopausal weight gain are:
- Its turtle-like. Slow and steady. One or two pounds a year that you dont notice until it sneaks up on you.
- All of a sudden, you have a thick middle with accumulated belly fat, the kind that has been linked to heart disease and diabetes.
- Your breasts may be bigger and your back fattier.
- Its stubborn and hard to lose.
- Your body shape may be slowly changing into an apple shape.
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Does Hrt Cause Weight Gain
Hormone replacement therapy is sometimes called menopausal hormone therapy, or MHT. Its an effective way to relieve symptoms during perimenopause and menopause.
It often comes as tablets, but its also available as skin patches, skin implants, or a spray or gel that you apply to your skin.
A common misconception is that HRT causes weight gain. However, research has shown that it doesnt have this effect.
In fact, HRT may help prevent weight gain. In our own research, weve seen that women who take HRT after menopause have lower levels of body fat than their peers who dont take it.
Why Is This Weight Gain Happening To You
Slower metabolism
To start with, your resting metabolism is now lower, so all those calories that you burned while you were sitting on your couch or at your desk when you were younger arent getting burned off. Instead, theyre getting packed away in the Tupperware for later use.
Your muscle mass has been slowly decreasing as you age, especially if you havent been doing weight training or resistance training on a regular basis. Muscle mass is a great calorie burner. No calorie burn equals more Tupperware containers full of fat.
Your ovaries are in the process of shutting down estrogen production. Estrogen has been shown to have a regulating effect on appetite. If your appetite isnt regulated then youre likely to be picking up a lot more carbs and eating more food, which lead toyou guessed it! More fat storage!
Enzymes and proteins have perked up
Recently, researchers also confirmed that certain enzymes and proteins that enable cells to store more fat and burn less are more active in post-menopausal women.
Failure of antioxidant systems
During menopause, you have a natural decline in your natural production of glutathione, the bodys master antioxidant. Having fewer antioxidants equates to greater free radical damage and subsequent inflammation.
Increase in inflammation
As estrogen declines in menopause, your body begins producing more inflammatory molecules that can contribute to weight gain.
It all stacks up
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The Truth About Menopause And Weight Gain
Summer 2014
There are many transitions that a body goes through during life that make us susceptible to weight gain. Some are shared by both genders: arriving at adolescence, entering your elder years, or undergoing a stressful life event. Others are exclusive to women: having a baby, then having a second or third baby, and going through menopause.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data found that:
- 51.7 percent of women ages 20-39 were classified as overweight or affected by obesity
- 68.1 percent of women ages 40-59 were classified as overweight or affected by obesity
The 40-59 age range also happens to correlate with the same time that most women are perimenopausal. As we age, we start losing our muscle mass, and fat storage tends to increase. This change in body composition puts us at higher risk for metabolic disease, such as heart disease and diabetes.
So, you may be thinking Im destined for failure! But this isnt true. There are many things that go into weight gain during this phase. Many of these can be modifiable. In this article, well describe what menopause means for you and your body. Well look at how menopause and other contributing factors can affect your weight and what we CAN do to minimize the potential health threats.
So, what exactly is Menopause?
Menopausal Transition or Perimenopause
During this stage, you may experience symptoms such as:
Health Risks around Menopause
Weight Gain and Menopause
How To Lose Weight In Menopause
Have you noticed that your usual nutrition and exercise are no longer working? As we get older our metabolism slows down, so in essence, even if we eat the same and do as much exercise as we used to, we are bound to put on weight.
As unfair as it is, you have to eat more healthily and do more exercise to keep up! There is no quick fix or magic bullet. Many enter menopause already overweight, and the falling oestrogen levels affect how and where we store fat. Try to target this with specific exercises and changes in what you eat and drink. Here are six things you can try.
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What Causes Weight Gain During The Menopause
There are a few different factors associated with weight gain during the menopause. One is that muscle mass decreases during the menopause, which means that your body requires fewer calories.
Failing to reduce your calorie intake in line with this may mean that you end up eating more than you need, and put on weight as a result. This guide from the NHS suggests that menopausal women may need around 200 fewer calories each day.
Another factor in menopausal weight gain is that changing hormone levels affect the way we store fat. During the menopause, your body will tend to store more calories than it burns, causing a build-up of fat.
The menopause can also cause other symptoms that indirectly affect your weight. If youre experiencing night sweats and struggling to sleep, you may have less energy and find it harder to do regular exercise. This lack of activity is likely to lead to more weight gain.
Some women associate taking HRT with weight gain, but there isnt much evidence for this although some women may experience a bit of fluid retention.
The good news is, weight gain isnt an inevitability for all women. Whats more, there are plenty of easy changes you can make if you do experience weight gain during the menopause.
What Causes Insulin Resistance And Weight Gain In Menopause
Estrogen helps our body respond to a rise in glucose and primes our body to respond to increases in insulin. As estrogen levels start to decline during perimenopause and plummet during menopause, women have more fat deposited around their abdomen and cells start to tune out the directions of insulin to absorb and utilize glucose efficiently. The results are higher blood sugar levels and weight gain which leads to an increase in inflammation, a rise in oxidative damage, more fatigue and brain fog, and a higher risk of dementia, heart disease, and depression.
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Why Some Women Gain Weight Around Menopause
Weight gain at menopause is very common.
There are many factors at play, including:
However, the process of menopause is highly individual. It varies from woman to woman.
This article explores why some women gain weight during and after menopause.
There are four periods of hormonal changes that occur during a womans life.
These include:
Recommendations For Physical Activity
Physical activity helps to achieve negative calorie balance and relieves vasomotor symptoms. Menopausal women are generally advised 150 min/week of moderate-intensity physical activity such as aerobic exercise coupled with household activities. The incorporation of resistance training exercises helps to maintain bone and muscle mass. A combination of aerobics, resistance training, and balance exercises is the most effective in managing weight, vasomotor symptom severity, and psychological distress in these women. Walking and aerobics have protective effect on vasomotor symptoms. Practicing yoga helps to relieve hot flashes and improves the quality of sleep in menopausal women.
The physical activity regime has to be progressive and individualized according to patient’s needs. Steps to a progressive activity regime incorporating recommended activities for menopausal women are given below:
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Body Changes And Perimenopause
Women may start to experience symptoms and physical changes during perimenopause. Some examples are:
-
irregular periods, which may be heavier or lighter than usual
-
changes in sexual function, such as a low sex drive
Our own unpublished research, which involved over 25,000 women, found that sleep problems, night sweats, mood changes, and hot flashes are the most common symptoms.
We also found that women with obesity experience hot flashes, mood changes, and sleep problems as well as chills and thinning of hair or dry skin more often than women without obesity.
Are My Perimenopausal Symptoms Normal Or Something To Be Concerned About
Irregular periods are common and normal during perimenopause. But other conditions can cause changes in menstrual bleeding. If any of the following situations apply to you, see a doctor to rule out other causes:
- Your periods are very heavy, or they have blood clots.
- Your periods last several days longer than usual.
- You spot between periods.
- You have spotting after sex.
- Your periods happen closer together.
Causes of abnormal bleeding include hormone problems, birth control pills, pregnancy, fibroids, blood clotting problems or, rarely, cancer.
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How To Control Your Weight As You Age:
As you can see, a lot of the symptoms of menopause can conspire to make you want to lie around more. But all of them are treatable if they get in the way of your feeling good. If youre concerned about the changes in your body and the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and you just want to feel more energetic and primed to tackle all the plans you have for your 50s and beyond there are three important steps you can take right now:
In the end, as long as you are living a healthy lifestyle and taking care of yourself, a few extra pounds and a softer belly are nothing to panic over. Even if you’re not jumping for joy about menopause, changes in your body are just part the tradeoff for not having to worry about period cramps and birth control, and getting to focus on all that we can achieve and enjoy in the decades ahead. We need to give ourselves a little bit of grace, says Dr. Faubion. “We might not come out on the other side of the transition the same size we were when we were 18, and thats okay. Youre going to spend about a third of your lifespan after menopause, and the goal is to prime yourself for being healthy for the rest of your life.
Weight loss, health and body image are complex subjects before deciding to go on a diet, we invite you gain a broader perspective by reading our exploration into the harmful effects of diet culture.
