Battling With Menopause Weight Gain

You may be beginning to notice a “pouch” in your belly area that wasn’t there before. Yet another classic symptom in this stage of a woman’s life, menopause weight gain is clearly one of the most aggravating, too. Any time you gain extra poundage, menopausal or not, it’s always a stressful part of menopause cause.

What adds to the aggravation is that you are doing the “work”: watching your diet and staying active. Unfortunately, you have no control over menopause weight gain. Blame it once again on your raging hormones: They—estrogen, progesterone, and androgen—have a direct impact on your appetite, metabolism, and fat storage.

During menopause or perimenopause (the phase leading up to menopause), ovaries produce less estrogen, creating a significant decline in your estrogen level.  Menopause causes your body looks elsewhere for estrogen. Fat cells in the body also produce estrogen so your body works hard—a betrayal, really—to covert the calories you consume into fat. Progesterone levels also go down, resulting in bloating, and adding to the feeling of menopause weight gain. To make matters worse, levels of testosterone, a primary androgen which helps convert calories into lean muscle mass, also decrease. The result? A lower metabolism and a slower way to burn calories. Insulin resistance, which may lead to weight gain as a result of the body converting every calorie you consume into fat, may also develop at menopause.
Of course, there are other causes that may lead to menopause weight gain. For one, as you get older, your metabolism naturally slows down. Stress, reduced physical activity, a poor diet high in sugar and fat, and excessive alcohol consumption all contribute to that lump of mass building up in your abdomen or midsection.
So how do you wage a war against menopause weight gain? Pretty much the same way you would battle extra pounds at any point in your life. The cardinal rules still apply: diet and exercise, if you want to combat the symptoms of menopause cause.

It’s still important to stay active at menopause. A daily workout regimen that combines aerobic exercises and strength or resistance training is advisable. We don’t mean hardcore, Biggest Loser-type of workout. A simple walk or bike around the neighbourhood for thirty minutes would suffice. You don’t have to drastically cut back on calories, which is not advisable at this point anyway, but do choose the good calories and cut back on dietary fat.
Menopause weight gain is understandably a very frustrating menopause cause symptom, but women should not be consumed by it. Maintaining a healthy, thriving body—with or without the pouch—should always be your main goal.