Weight Loss After Menopause
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Menopause is inevitable. And whether women like it or not, the hormonal
imbalance and the effects it comes along with is just as inevitable as the
age and condition that causes it. The phase is known to be the cause of the
sudden swings in the mood and the commonly drastic changes in the physicality
of woman around 40.
Weight gain. This is the one effect of menopause that women in their late
30s nearing their 40s dread the most. Increase in weight is one of the earliest
and most noticeable symptoms of women’s menopause. Being a woman already means
being more conscious for the physical appearance than the members of opposite
sex are. Women fuss about getting wrinkles and laugh lines. A woman’s figure
has always been important. Some women going through menopause often get depressed
because they no longer feel attractive, or at least as much as they
used to be. But, of course, the raging hormonal imbalance also has a great deal
to do with the depression.
Fewer Hormones, more Hormones and other Challenges
Like all the other menopause symptoms, the decreasing level of hormonal production
in the woman’s body is more often than not responsible for the sudden gain in
weight for a woman going through menopause. During this stage, a woman’s ovaries
begin to produce a reduced amount of estrogen, causing the body to find the
estrogen it needs from other parts of the body. The body’s fat cells are estrogen
producers. So to increase the level of estrogen, during menopause the body works
extra hard in converting calories into the needed fats that will produce the needed estrogen.
The testosterone level in a woman’s body also drops during menopause. Yes,
testosterone. Women have this kind of hormones too. Testosterone helps the body
in making tough muscles from calories that the body consumes. Compared to fat
cells, muscle cells burn more calories. In this way, testosterone actually has
a great influence in the body’s metabolism. More testosterone means more muscles.
More muscles means a higher metabolism. Menopause causes less testosterone so
there will be fewer muscles to burn the calories. Hence, the woman’s body gains weight.
Added weight or a bulge in a woman’s stomach area or the mid-section is also
caused by another hormone called androgen. During this stage women will notice
a rapid accumulation in their middle section.
This is because during menopause, the woman’s androgen level actually increases.
Resistance to insulin may also cause weight gain throughout menopause.
After some time the refined and
processed foods could cause insulin resistance. When this happens, the body turns
into fat every calorie the body ingests by mistake. Hence, a woman undergoing
menopause gains weight.
Weight Loss is not Impossible
Losing weight or that unwanted excess baggage could be hard at this stage in
a woman’s life. Weight loss may not be as easy to achieve when a woman is on her
menopause years as it was when she was younger but it is not impossible.
There are several things a woman in her 40 can do to lose weight.
The first key to weight loss is a diet that is well balanced. Starving yourself
will not do the job. It will only cause your body’s metabolism to slow down so
keep away from crash diets.
Eat healthy. Keep your intake of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine to the minimum.
Excess of the above mentioned in through menopause may worsen the body’s tendency
to retain water.
Exercise. Get yourself into a program for weight training or aerobics. Develop
muscles that can help in burning unwanted fat. This will also increase your body’s
metabolic capacity. You can just a habit that involves physical activity to keep your
body moving. Walking is an excellent example.
The key to getting through menopause is remembering that weight gain is normal
during at this time in your life. It is nothing to be ashamed of and in fact being able to lose
weight while going through a difficult stage is definitely doable, especially with a
program full of great tools and motivation.
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