The Causes Of
Post Menopausal Weight Gain...

and some effective post menopausal weight loss principles!

Post menopausal weight gain is common for most women. In this article we will cover some of the most effective post menopausal weight loss principles as well as strategies for losing weight during menopause.

There are a variety of causes of this ‘middle-age spread’ and we will address why post menopausal weight gain tends to occur.

The main reason why women tend to put on weight during and after menopause is due to changes in hormones. Firstly, the levels of the female sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, decrease substantially.

Estrogen
Lower estrogen levels alter the distribution of fat in the body. Estrogen is responsible for giving women their ‘pear’ or ‘hourglass’ body shape because it promotes fat storage in breast tissue and around the hips and thighs.

It is theorised that when the levels of estrogen fall during menopause, as a result of reduced estrogen production from the ovaries, a woman’s body tries to boost the level of estrogen through other means. Since fat cells produce small amounts of estrogen, the body tends to store more fat in the fat cells in an attempt to boost estrogen levels.

Progesterone
Lower levels of progesterone tend to result in the body retaining more fluid. This of course, contributes to post menopausal weight gain in women.

Insulin
As we age our body tends to become more insulin resistant . This makes losing weight during menopause as well as after menopause, extremely difficult. This condition is made worse by following conventional nutritional recommendations, which suggest a high carbohydrate, low fat diet.

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Stress
Stress causes the production of the stress hormones in the body, particularly cortisol. Not only does cortisol cause the breakdown of muscle tissue (which then slows the metabolism down), but it also exacerbates the insulin resistance problem.

Cortisol is also made from the same basic precursor hormone that many other hormones are made from, pregnenolone. This means less pregnenolone is available to be used for production of the female hormones, estrogen and progesterone.

This again, makes post menopausal weight loss very difficult.

Lifestyle Factors
Other lifestyle factors may also play a role in post menopausal weight gain. For example, a loss of muscle as we age tends to slow the metabolism down because muscle is one of the most metabolically-active tissues in the body.

A reduction of physical activity as we age because other things take priority in our lives also contributes to weight gain. This reduction in physical activity reduces our body’s daily energy expenditure.

If losing weight during menopause as well as post menopause is important to you, then you must become more active as you age. This helps to prevent the ‘ middle age spread ’ that often occurs as we get older.

Certain lifestyle habits like eating out more often because you have more time and money freedom later in life can also contribute to post menopausal weight gain and make post menopausal weight loss very difficult.


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