Does Menopause And Weight Gain Affect You?

October 5, 2011 Jean Morgan Weight Gain, 18

Does Menopause And Weight Gain Affect You?

Menopause and weight gain is very normal as well as hot flushes, moodiness, joint pain, headaches and an alteration in body shape. Weight gained by menopause has been surmised  to be roughly one pound a year that’s roughly 10-15 pounds by the time it’s ended. The alteration in how the body produces hormones is, which is no surprise, the cause and it’s just one of those things about going through menopause.

During menopause, the amounts of the reproductive hormones that we make drop off and become sporadic. By the time menopause has ended these hormones stop being produced completely.

Weight gain is one of the side effects of the drop in the creation of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. The explanation for this is caused by both estrogen and testosterone. First, estrogen.  Fat tissue is an alternative supply of estrogen for the body. To compensate the diminished levels of estrogen the body is pushed to produce more fat tissue to make this hormone.

The next hormone that causes menopause and weight gain is testosterone. Because testosterone causes a slowing in the body’s metabolic rate, which means that you burn less calories when resting. That then alters body fat distribution.

It is quite usual to have an alteration in body shaping – going from a ‘pear’ to an ‘apple’ shape.  This is due to the combined result of the dwindling of these hormones.

You’ve no doubt noticed that fat is not dispersed the same on men as it is on women. The common saying for a guy – ‘a beer gut’ suggests that fat will generally appear on the midsection and not the limbs or buttocks. On the other hand for women, body fat doesn’t go to the midsection but often onto the thighs, buttocks and upper arms.

However, for women, menopause changes all rules of body fat distribution.  Fat is now more evenly spread out all over the body. The reason being there is a shift to the body’s androgen-to-estrogen ratio. The hormone androgen is primarily a male hormone, however, in menopausal women the increase in this hormone has the effect of fat tissue being developed around the midsection the same as in a man.

There is no quick way to treat menopause and weight gain as it is a process you go through, however there are ways to help it. Hormone Replacement or ‘HRT’ is one approach to assisting in the lessening of menopausal weight gain.  Generally though, it’s only a short-term benefit and when you stop the weight starts to climb up.

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Apart from HRT there truly is no other magic pill that you can take.  But don’t be alarmed you will need to do the same as others who are losing weight – eat small meals often, exercise 3-5 times a week and include some resistance training. You need to take a good look at the sorts of foods that you consume, this is something we really recommend. This is the best time to commence some healthy, balanced eating habits.

Just remember that the adjustments that occur to your body during menopause is perfectly common, even if it’s not what you want!

Find More Menopause Weight Gain Articles

Check out these sites for more menopause information

weight gain affect
weight gain affect
Menopause
North American Menopause Society - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Menopause - PubMed Health

Recommended Reading

• what is the menopause
• Don’t You Just Hate Your Menopause Belly Fat
• Lose Menopause Belly Fat Now
• Menopausal Fat Makes Me Angry
• Lose the Menopause Belly Fat in 3 Simple Steps

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