How to Lose Weight Gained during Menopause

Losing Weight during Menopause

For many women, gaining weight once they reach menopause is just another challenge that goes along with the deal. But it should be taken seriously and losing the weight gained during menopause will have positive benefits for most women. Losing the weight gained during menopause will help to counteract the effects of the other many and varied symptoms women can experience, although, if you are underweight, gaining a few pounds could be good thing.

WHY DO WOMEN GAIN WEIGHT DURING MENOPAUSE?

During menopause your body gains weight because of the changes the way it stores fat. Instead of storing fat around the hips and thighs, our bodies begin to store fat around the waist area. Also know as middle age spread!  Oestrogen causes us to store the weight on out hips, and because the oestrogen levels are dropping during menopause, it goes to our tummy instead.

Abdominal obesity can put us at higher risk of diabetes, hypertension, certain cancers and cardiovascular disease. So to lose the weight gained during menopause is a very good idea.

Another cause of weight gain during menopause, is the slow down of the metabolism. so the amount of calories we need is less. This is also a part of general aging. Often women do not take this into account in their daily lifestyle. It is important to exercise a little more and to be more aware of our daily intake.

Other changes that occur.

Cholesterol levels tend to rise as a result of the drop in oestrogen. This is not good for the heart and can lead to heart problems in the future if this is not monitored and treated or the diet changed to compensate.

How to lose weight during Meopause.

By the age of 40, our normal maintenance needs are about 20% less than they were at the age of 20. Unfortunately, we fail to take this reduced need into account and eat the same amount - usually more! Result? We gain weight.

Dietary

• Limit yourself to about 1,200-1,500 calories per day.
• These calories should come from nutritionally dense foods, like fruit, vegetables, grains, beans, cereal, fish, low-fat dairy foods and ultra-lean meat.
• Increase your consumption of fiber.
• Reduce consumption of caffeine and alcohol.
• A good way to do all this, is to follow the

Eat less fat

Before the menopause, oestrogen protects women from some of the effects of a high fat diet, but afterwards - as oestrogen levels decline - our level of HDL fat (the good fat) tends to fall, and our LDL (bad fat) tends to rise, thus increasing our risk of heart attacks.

Limit yourself to a maximum of 30-35 grams of fat, per day. Of this, a maximum of 10 grams may be saturated fat. A good way to do all this, is to follow the

Take regular daily exercise

Regular active exercise increases the production of HDL fat (the good fat) and thereby reduces LDL (the bad fat). It lowers the risk of diabetes, osteoporosis and other medical problems. Also, regular exercise helps raise our metabolic rate (thus easing weight loss) and decreases our feelings of stress (thus reducing our need for comfort-eating).

Take at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, most days of the week.

Be aware!

Feelings of tiredness, depression and discomfort are greatly eased by staying on top of the situation and by knowing what is happening to your body.

More information on how to lose weight gained during menopause

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