Menopause and Weight Gain

Most women have the propensity to gain weight during menopause transition.  A common complaint from females in their 40s and 50s is that they start to accumulate weight in their abdomen area, versus the hips and thighs.  This often causes a change in body shape from pear to apple shaped.  During these years it also becomes very hard for women to maintain and lose weight.

Studies have shown that most women gain an average of one pound per year during the perimenopause and menopause years.  According to Wendy C. Fries, "there is also a five percent decrease in metabolic rate per decade". ^[1]

While weight gain is common during menopause, if you put on excessive weight, you should consult with your doctor.  Excessive weight gain can be an indicator that something is wrong with your hormone or blood sugar levels or you may be suffering from adrenal fatigue.  You should also examine your eating habits. 

What Causes Weight Gain During Menopause Transition

While many believe that changing hormones are a key weight management factor after the age of forty, other factors such as age and lifestyle can also have a major impact on changes in your body shape and composition:

1. As we age, our metabolism starts to slow down and hence we burn fewer calories.  This is a result of the normal aging process that promotes the replacement of muscle with fat.  Fat burns fewer calories than muscle, which causes our metabolism to get sluggish.  If you continue to consume the same number of calories, this will obviously result in weight gain.  According to the Mayo Clinic, as you get into your mid to late 40s, you need about 200 fewer calories per day to maintain your weight. ^[2]
   
2. As we age, we also tend to exercise less as we become much more sedentary.  Exercise helps to burn calories and increase your metabolic rate.  If you decrease your exercise and consume the same amount of food, you will most likely experience weight gain.
   
3. As we age, we also tend to experience sustained levels of stress.  There is a basic link between stress and body fat.  Stress causes the body to secrete hormones, such as cortisol, that can make weight loss extremely difficult.  Stressors in your life can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or diet related.  Click here to read more about Stress and Weight Management.
   

Changing body hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and androgen levels can also impact your metabolism, appetite and fat storage.

• Estrogen: During menopause and perimenopause, your body (namely your ovaries) produces less estrogen.  As a response, your body looks for other places to get estrogen - one of which is fat.  Yes, it's true, fat cells can produce estrogen.  As a result, your body works to convert your food into fat, hence weight gain.
  
• Progesterone: Like estrogen, the body's progesterone levels also diminish during menopause transition.  It is believed that decreased progesterone levels faciliate common menopausal symptoms such as weight gain, water retention, and bloating.
  
• Testosterone: Testosterone, which helps your body convert calories into lean muscle mass, also decreases during the 40s and 50s. As a result, muscle is replaced by fat, which burns fewer calories than muscle - hence a slower metabolism.
  
• Androgen: During menopause transition your body increases the production of androgen, which causes the accumulation of fat in the abdomen area.
  

You Can Lose Weight During Menopause

The good news is that there are ways that you can prevent or reverse weight gain as you get older. According to the Mayo Clinic, "the most effective approach to reversing weight gain during menopause and perimenopause includes a combination of: increasing physcial activity, reducing calories, and decreasing  dietary fat". ^[2]

You should consider making small changes to your diet in order to balance your caloric needs.  This can be accomplished by either slowly reducing your caloric daily intake and/or increasing your metabolism.

You can increase your metabolism with exercise or any type of physical activity.  Both aerobic exercise and weight training can help. Aerobic exercise helps to burn calories and weight training helps to build muscle, which in turn increases your metabolism.

You don't have to settle for weight gain during menopause.  According to Marcy Holmes, Women's Health NP, "Weight gain is just another symptom resulting from your body being out of balance.  To restore balance, you need to figure out what is going on at the core of your physiology and emotions". ^[3]

Sources:

[1] Is Weight Gain Common During Menoapuse?, by Wendy C. Fries, WebMD

[2] Weight Gain After Menopause: Reduce the Middle Age Spread, by Mayo Clinic Staff, Sept. 5, 2006

[3] Perimenopause Weight Gain - Causes and Solutions, by Marcy Holmes, NP, Certified Menoapuse Clinician