Menopause Weight Gain? Don't Panic, There's
Still Help Around
By Cecelia
Yap
Menopause weight gain is caused by changes in your hormones, not because you over-eat.
However, I can say that lack of exercise is a major culprit for your weight gain too, menopause or not......
It's just that the pounds seem more noticeable and significant during the menopausal period, as most women will
gain between 10-15 lbs or averaging about 1 lb of weight gain a year.
And for women who experience early menopause or surgical menopause, they may experience even more rapid and
extreme weight gain.
The distribution of weight also takes on a new direction - it goes mostly to your middle region (abs and torso
areas) instead of your hips, thighs and butts.
You get frustrated because the pounds seem to pile on unrelentlessly; maintaining weight becomes harder and
harder and losing weight? Sigh! Almost an impossible task.......
The fluctuation of hormones in your body is responsible for this weight gain as hormones directly impact your
metabolism, appetite and fat storage. I called this "hormone-triggered" weight gain which can be tricky for you to
ward off.
Since it's to do with hormones, let's see what hormones actually fluctuate and change, to cause the weight
gain.
1. Estrogen
During menopause, your estrogen levels decline rapidly. As this happens, your body looks for other places to get
the needed estrogen from. Fat cells in your body produce estrogen, so your body works harder to convert calories
into fat to increase the needed estrogen levels. As fat cells don't burn calories fast like muscle cells do, this
causes you to pack on the excess pounds.
2. Progesterone
During menopause, progesterone levels in your body will decrease. Lower levels of this hormone could be
responsible for many of the symptoms of menopause and one of it is weight gain.
Lack of progesterone often causes an increase in water weight (water retention) and bloating in your body. You
feel heavier and tighter in your clothes.
3. Testosterone
Testosterone helps to create lean muscle mass out of the calories you consume.
Since muscle mass burns more calories than fat does, it increases your metabolism. During menopause, levels of
testosterone decline resulting in the loss of lean muscle mass. It therefore means a lower metabolism. The lower
your metabolism, the slower your body burns calories.
4. Androgen
This hormone is responsible for sending fat deposits directly to your middle section. One of the first signs of
menopause is an increase in your androgen levels which makes you gain weight around your middle.
OK, because of these 4 major hormones which are changing and fluctuating, you have weight problem.
But you can't squarely blame them for causing all the weight gain that you've got, other factors also come into
play as well, to "grace" their influences.
Like stress.
If you lead a stressful life, your stress hormones increase and they can make losing weight a lot more tougher
because they signal your body to go into a storage mode. This is referred to as the "famine effect" - your body,
thinking it won't get food again for a long time, stores every calorie it consumes, hence causing weight gain.
Like insulin resistance.
This is when your body mistakenly converts every calorie you consume into fat. If you follow a low-fat, high
carbohydrate (carb) diet, over time, processed and refined carbs may make your body resistant to insulin produced
in the blood stream.
What can You Do?
My advice is this: if you haven't been exercising, start now. If you're already exercising, continue on.
It's the best metabolism booster for you, to kick start your metabolism into higher gear, to help you burn off
excess body fat.
Commit to do cardio exercise 3-4 times per week, for at least 30 minutes per session.
Then take up strength training exercises which boost muscle growth, to help you burn off even more calories. Do
3-4 times per week, for 30 minutes per session.
Throw in a healthy, balanced, nutritious diet, to round up the whole works of combating this thing called
menopause weight gain.
Cecelia Yap is an avid exerciser and author of the popular exercise website: perfect-body-toning.com - a web
site born out of her passion which she successfully turns into a profitable business
Perhaps you have a passion or hobby you'd like to write about. Find out how you too can turn it into a
profitable business like Cecelia does, here: http://www.perfect-body-toning.com/my-passion.html
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