Before, during and after menopause, your oestrogen levels begin to fluctuate, and your metabolism slows. A theory for menopausal weight gain relating to estrogen fluctuation is that its effectiveness in modulating hunger hormones is reduced. In turn, menopausal women may experience a more intense hunger signal, which could lead to increased food intake, causing weight gain.
This can affect the way that your body stores fat – making losing weight before menopause or during menopause incredibly difficult, particularly in your midsection. With this shift in body fat storage, you may notice a shift from a pear-shaped body to an apple-shaped body.
In conjunction with altered fat storage patterns, metabolism naturally slows with age. The combined loss of lean body mass and body fat accumulation contributes to a slowing metabolism. At rest, muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue, so losing muscle mass slows the rate at which your body burns calories. This lower calorie-burning capacity may make weight gain more likely and make it harder to lose weight.
Genetics are not to be overlooked when it comes to weight gain. It’s likely that if your parents or close relatives carry extra weight in the abdominal area, you will too. There are many ways that genes contribute to obesity, including appetite, satiety, metabolism, food cravings, distribution of body fat, and the tendency to cope with stress by eating. The good news is that genes alone can’t determine waist size, and keeping on track with a healthy diet and regular exercise can combat weight gain.
In general, physical activity tends to decrease as women age. Coupled with other factors such as diet and muscle mass loss, weight management is more challenging. At any age, weight and fat mass will increase if we burn fewer calories because we’re less active. The benefits of strength training include helping you build and maintain muscle and bone mass that you lose as you age.
Sleep deprivation can disrupt the balance of hormones that regulate appetite, specifically ghrelin, which stimulates the appetite, and leptin, which suppresses the appetite. Individuals who slept less were shown to have reduced leptin levels and elevated ghrelin levels. Prioritizing sufficient sleep is an underrated yet crucial aspect of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, regardless of age or weight.
While some causes of weight gain during menopause can be mitigated through lifestyle changes, and some remain out of our control, such as genetics and hormonal changes, weight gain during menopause is not inevitable. Staying informed about these changes and making daily healthy choices to optimize your well-being should be at the top of your mind.
Menopause may introduce new challenges, but lifestyle changes can go a long way toward helping you maintain a healthy weight – during the menopausal transition and beyond.
At Refresh NQ, we pride ourselves on taking the time to genuinely understand each patient’s unique needs. This commitment allows us to design tailored solutions that truly make a difference. We reject ineffective fad diets and exercises, instead relying on science to help you build the best version of yourself.