The Connection Between Menopause and Weight Gain: How to Stay Fit
Intro
Average weight gain during the menopause is 10kg, 22 lbs or 1.5 stone. Weight gain is a normal side effect of the menopause, however, it is avoidable. Menopause is a really challenging time and often we can feel lost, confused and hopeless. The good news is there are many factors you can still control which will allow you to maintain ownership of your body and still feel yourself. One of the biggest challenges people face during the menopause is the feeling of being out of control and losing connection to their body. Many find themselves in a situation where they no longer feel themselves and this can lead to feelings of frustration, sadness and regret. In this blog we will explore the connection between menopause and weight gain, and offer strategies to help you stay in control so that you can feel your best self and be inside the body you deserve.
Understanding Menopause and Its Impact on Weight
Anyone reading this will most likely know the culprit when it comes to weight gain during menopause. The blame can be placed on those pesky sexual reproductive hormones namely oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. The decline in these hormones is what defines this phase of life. You officially enter the menopause when your normal menstrual cycle begins to change and increases in length. This phase is known as perimenopause. This is where we see rapid changes in levels of progesterone and oestrogen and is where most of the adverse symptoms are felt such as cramps and changes in mood. Levels of these hormones rise and fall during this phase, however, the trend is downwards. As a result we begin to see many changes to the metabolism.
Our metabolism is the rate at which we burn calories day to day. There are many factors that contribute to the speed of our metabolism. The foods we eat, the activity we do and the amount of muscle we have on our bodies are the main factors that are within our control. The slow down in metabolism which occurs during this phase of life is primarily due to a decline in muscle mass. Our hormones are responsible for maintaining muscles on our bodies. Pre menopause you would have been able to maintain the muscle mass you had without too much trouble, however, now that your hormone levels are declining it is harder to maintain and therefore the amount of muscle begins to decline. As a result you burn less calories day to day as your body needs less and less calories to survive. Now that your muscles aren't eating as many calories you have a surplus in energy. We have evolved to save our surplus energy for times of hardship and therefore our bodies kindly store our spare energy to use later. Fortunately we live in a time where hardship of this nature is rare, and therefore will rarely tap into this reserve unless we force ourselves to, and that is the main premise of weight loss!!
Common Myths About Menopause and Weight Gain
During our 10 years working within the industry we have come across many myths and misconceptions when it comes to menopause and weight gain. Traditionally the menopause has been quite a taboo subject, however, in recent years there has been a surge in positivity and research around the topic. One of the biggest myths is that weight gain is inevitable during menopause.
As previously discussed, during the menopause our metabolic rate does decline, if we don’t do anything about this it will inevitably lead to weight gain. However, this does not mean that weight gain is inevitable. There are still many things you can do to stop the weight gain, more on this later in the blog.
The second most common misconception that we come across in relation to the menopause and weight loss is that if you have gained weight during the menopause then you will not be able to lose it in later life post menopause. This simply just isn’t true. The habits you can introduce into your lifestyle to help combat the slow down in metabolism can be implemented at any age, meaning that age is not any excuse, helping us to dispel yet another menopausal myth.
Managing weight around the menopause
Remember that weight gain is normal, and is to be expected due to the natural changes that are taking place in your body. Although natural, there are risks associated with an increase in body weight especially when the weight is situated around the stomach. As well as the health risk many find carrying additional weight to be challenging for everyday life and often the aesthetic impact can be unwanted. So what can be done about it?
Firstly let's dive into the nutrition side of weight loss. As previously mentioned, weight gain during this phase of life stems from a slow down in metabolism. This leads to excess calories being put into storage as fat. In order to combat this we must speed up our metabolism. Did you know that the foods that we eat actually impact the speed of our metabolism?
The energy required to break down foods and digest them to be used as energy is a process that requires energy itself! This process takes up around 10% of our metabolism which is quite considerable. Therefore, if we are able to maximise this then we will be able to increase our metabolism quite considerably. So how do we do this?
The easiest way to do this is to consume more foods that are harder to digest and use as energy. These food sources are more expensive, not in terms of money, but in terms of the energy used. The more energy expensive foods we eat the faster your metabolism. The two types of foods I want to bring your attention to are protein and fibre. Let's start with protein.
There are three main macronutrients. You probably know them. They are protein, fat and carbohydrates. Every 100 calories of protein you consume costs around 30 calories to break down and use. For every 100 calories of carbohydrate you consume it costs 10 calories to use. For every 100 calories of fat you consume it costs 3 calories to use. It is clear that protein is far superior in terms of energy required to break it down, making it an ideal addition to your diet in order to increase your metabolism. Another nutrient which has a positive impact in terms of metabolic speed is fibre.
There are two types of fibre; Soluble and insoluble. Both of these are highly beneficial when it comes to controlling our weight around the menopause. Fibre feeds your gut bacteria which is useful for maintaining overall health and it also helps to control the speed at which food travels through our system. Increasing the amount of fibre you eat day to day will help keep you fuller for longer as food is not being passed as fast. It is recommended to start increasing the amount of fibre you eat gradually, as it can lead to digestion issues should you eat too much too quickly. Start with ensuring you are eating your 5 portions of fruit and veg per day and build up from there.
So that was the basics of nutrition and weight management during the menopause. Now let's explore exercise. As previously discussed during menopause the reduction in sexual reproductive hormones decreases, this leads to a reduction in muscle mass which in turn slows down the metabolism leading to weight gain. In order to combat this we must increase the amount of muscle we have on our bodies to combat the decline and speed up the metabolism. For many of you exercise has probably meant zumba, spin, boot camps etc. Lots of sweating and shouting and high energy. These exercise styles are great at burning calories but pale in comparison to strength training when it comes to impact on muscle and strength growth.
A change in exercise style is vital at this point in life. Training sessions need to be based around stimulating muscle fibres and taking plenty of rest to recover for the next set. This will likely be a big change for you as most people feel that they need to get out of breath, sweaty and tired by the end of a workout but for strength and muscle gains it really doesn't need to be that way. Aim to achieve 6 exercises per session and work for around 3-4 sets of 5-12 reps. Each time you train aim to increase the amount of weight you lift or increase the number of repetitions you do so that you are always progressing. Tracking your workouts by writing down what you achieved is a great way to monitor progress.
Every effective strength training regime needs to be backed up with an effective rehabilitation programme in order to stay injury free. Yoga, swimming, sauna and massage are all great ways to loosen off stiff muscles. Each of us will likely have different parts of our bodies that get tight. Get to know your body and figure out what parts need to be taken care of. The best way to do this is to develop a daily routine which can be from 5 minutes upwards to focus on your tight areas to ensure that you can keep training without getting injured.
Success Stories
Throughout my ten years in the industry I have coached thousands of people into the best shape of their lives. I love my job and nothing fills me with more joy than seeing the impact nutrition and exercise can have on a person. This impact is most evident in women during the menopause. Here are some success stories of women at various stages.
Amy. Age 45. Perimenopause.
Amy came to us after battling with her weight for years. Her weight had been gradually increasing since around age twenty. But when menopause symptoms hit she began to spiral and needed it to stop. Amy had been yo-yo dieting for years. Trying out various different methods like juicing, fasting and slimming world but nothing stuck. We started out with a week of food diary logging and saw that she was consuming around 1,000 calories per day on average. It was clear to us that the first step towards getting in control of her weight was for her to focus on building some muscle and rebuilding her metabolism. As a result Amy's first 3 months with us was not spent on weight loss, but on muscle gain and increasing her daily calorie intake up to 2,000. Here’s what she had to say;
“At first I was shocked to hear that they wanted me to eat more, but once it was explained to me it did make sense. During those three months I felt the best I had felt in years. Loads of energy and I saw significant changes to my shape. After the 3 months rebuild I got put into a deficit and for the first month I was losing weight eating 1,800 calories per day!! I managed to lose 26lb during my deficit phase. I am really pleased!!”
Samantha. Age 63. Postmenopause
Samantha came to us after gaining weight during the menopause. She had a really tough time during the change but felt ready to get help because she felt that if she didn't lose the weight now it may impact her life expectancy and wanted to improve her strength and fitness to help her keep up with her grandchildren. Samantha was regularly overeating and after the first week of nutrition tracking it was clear that she was ready to lose weight. We estimated her daily intake had been around 2,300 calories on average so for the next 3 months we decreased intake which resulted in impressive weight loss results.
“I managed to lose all of my menopause weight. My tummy feels a lot more toned and I am noticing more energy day to day. I have just finished my first month of rebuild after 3 months of weight loss and am loving seeing my strength increase week by week AND I am keeping off the weight!!!”
Conclusion
In a world full of information it is really hard to work out what path you should take to get started on your weight loss journey. My advice to you is to keep it simple and not do anything extreme. Find a solution that works for you over the long term and stop picking quick fixes that actually make it harder in the long term.
Start by increasing the amount of protein and fibre you consume day to day. Start lifting weights and make sure they are heavy enough to test you. Stop doing endless hours of cardio because it is unnecessary and painful!
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Be forgiving to yourself. We are so misinformed when it comes to nutrition and exercise. Everything we read and see has an ulterior motive which is to make lots of money. To stand out in this over saturated industry, professionals rely on misinformation and advertise unrealistic results to lure you in. Hopefully this blog has provided you with a good base of knowledge which will allow you to go ahead and start implementing some changes. Feel free to share your thoughts with us by emailing me at ; liam@pocketcoach.online.
Thanks for reading!!
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