Can Menopause cause weight gain in women?

[chaitra]

Weight gain during menopause is inevitable and it is considered to be a normal process of aging. However, weight gain gets more noticed during the menopausal years and becomes complicated when neglected to follow an appropriate diet and active life style. It is mainly associated with hormonal imbalance that causes difficulty in maintaining healthy weight despite dieting and work outs. Hence the treatment goal is to stabilize the hormonal imbalance.

Generally, weight gain during menopause occurs at the hips and around abdomen. Fortunately, weight gain during menopause can be overcome by determining the main causative factors and by a lifestyle modification.

Causes of menopausal weight gain

1. Hormonal fluctuation is often a common cause which results in weight gain during menopausal years.

Estrogen:
Estrogen is a female sex hormone and it is responsible for causing normal menstrual cycle. Your estrogen levels decline drastically during menopause in order to stop ovulation. During this period, hormonal imbalance occurs and estrogen is secreted by the ovaries in inadequate levels. Hence the body targets on more number of calories by converting it to fat as fat cells can produce estrogen thereby increasing the estrogen levels. The muscle mass reduces as a process of aging and your body burns fewer calories by relying on fat cells resulting in weight gain.

Progesterone:
Progesterone levels rapidly decrease during menopause. Decreased progesterone level promotes water retention resulting in water weight and bloating. Increase in water weight will probably make you feel heavier which subsides after few months.

Androgen:
Androgen level increases in your body and it is the first sign you experience during menopausal period. It is responsible to gain weight around your abdomen by directing new weight towards the abdomen.

Testosterone:
Testosterone is responsible to form lean muscle mass based on your calorie intake. Increase in muscle mass is important to burn more number of calories than fat cells which increases your rate of metabolism. The testosterone levels drop during menopause resulting in the loss of muscle mass. This decreases the rate of metabolism which indeed burns less number of calories slowly.

2. Insulin Resistance:
During menopausal years, females develop Insulin resistance. This occurs by the process of transforming every single calorie into fat by the body in an effort to store fat. Hence dietary carbohydrates are converted to fat by body causing insulin resistance. In the meanwhile, consumption of refined and processed foods build resistance to insulin when secreted into blood stream. This is the common cause of weight gain in women during early 40’s.

3. Lack of active life style:
In general, majority of women during their menopausal years lead a sedentary lifestyle which contributes to weight gain. It is important to build lean muscle mass to burn more calories. Muscle growth can be promoted by regular exercises and work outs which is utmost essential as the muscle mass gradually diminishes with age. The body composition contains more fat and less muscle if you don't lead an active lifestyle to restore the lean muscle. Less muscle slows down the rate at which you burn calories. On the other hand, you cannot stop gaining weight if appropriate diet modifications are not done. Hence a combination of diet and exercises can help you lose weight.


4. Genetic factors:
Genetic factors play an important part in gaining weight in some women after menopause. You are likely to gain extra weight around the abdomen if your mother or a blood relative carries weight around abdomen.


5. Emotional factors:
Some innate psychological factors like death of a loved one, children leaving home and few unexpected changes in life can make women often vulnerable to gain weight after menopause. On the other hand, happiness and contentment can lead to weight gain.


6. Stress:
Stress must be avoided as it can result in weight gain after menopause by stimulating brain to release the hormone cortisol which blocks weight loss. The body goes into survival mode and holds onto fat when stressed. Stress comes from work, emotional problems, psychological illness, family problems, financial crisis and even physical appearances. A person becomes more prone to stress on dieting by reducing too many calories forcing the body to hold onto fat for survival. Hence a person must try to combat stress by meditation, exercises which can help in directing the mind away from stress.

Prevention and Management of menopausal weight gain

Management of menopausal weight gain directly addresses the main cause responsible for weight gain as the causative factors vary based on lifestyle and diet. The treatment goal is to reinforce new weight loss strategies that are least obtrusive, free from adverse effects with good prognosis.

Initially menopausal weight gain can be best tackled by incorporating recommended lifestyle modifications by your health care provider. A combination of balanced diet and regular exercise is the safest and healthy way to lose weight.

Menopausal weight gain is caused by decrease in the production of hormones and hence you must aim at stabilizing these hormones through diet. Include plant foods that contain phyto-estrogen as they can help to balance your hormone levels. Add soy, fruits, flaxseed powder and veggies to diet that contain phytoestrogens and can help the body function normally so fat is not as difficult to lose. Limit carbs in diet to avoid developing insulin resistance.

The metabolic rate per decade decreases by 5 percent in women gradually reducing the metabolism when women approach menopause. Hence women need about 200 fewer calories per day to control weight during menopause.

Finally, if none of the above options work then you must seek your physician’s advice. Your physician can prescribe diet pills or bariatric surgery based on your body needs. This option is risky and poses complications however it helps you in controlling weight successfully.