WEIGHT GAIN DURING MENOPAUSE

<WEIGHT GAIN DURING MENOPAUSE

Fun, fun, fun. If you are like me, you have battled with weight gain during your childbearing years, and it just doesn’t seem fair that now, in our menopausal years we are presented with an even greater challenge with the battle of our bulge.

And to add pain to agony, we will add extra pounds even if we are eating and exercising exactly as we always have been.

Research is mixed whether menopause causes us to get fat, or whether it is just simply a matter of aging (losing muscle tone and lower metabolic rate), and poor food choices.

Whatever the cause, proper nutrition and exercise can control our weight, improve symptoms, prevent some diseases and make you feel and look great.

During our childbearing years most of us gained weight in our hips and thighs, but now we will notice the fat starting to settle around our abdomen. This is only partly due to our loss of estrogen, it is also due to our lowered metabolism as we age. So, we can’t blame it all on menopause.

Unfortunately, the extra fat around our middle can lead to many diseases and is quite dangerous to our health. A little extra weight can protect us from osteoporosis. According to The North American Medical Society women who weigh less than 127 lbs are at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.

The fall in estrogen also causes our appetite to increase. With a proper diet high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, healthy proteins and healthy fats we can still feel satisfied.

MUSCLE LOSS AND METABOLISM

Around mid-life our metabolism slows down and we tend to lose muscle mass. Because muscles burn more calories than fat, even when we are relaxing, we burn fewer calories in general. This results in an average gain of about one pound a year.

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This is why we must work on our fitness level, and in particular, we must focus on strength training to tone our muscles in addition to cardiovascular conditioning.

THE SILVER LINING

The silver lining is that a few extra pounds may have a protective function against osteoporosis as we age.

The other great news is that most of us don’t care quite us much anymore about a little extra weight. Our sense of self isn’t as tightly knitted to our dress size as it used to be.

To read about Healthy Ways to Add Flavor to your Cooking click here.
To read about the benefits of water in midlife click here
To read about the importance of adding fiber to your diet, click here.
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