Many women experience weight gain as they enter their 40s and 50s. It may not be a sudden, big gain*, it may be incremental gains over a number of years. Weight may go up by a few pounds and then stay at that level for a few months before it creeps up again and then plateaus and so on. 
Extra pounds gained during this period can be much more difficult to lose than during younger years. Strategies and diets that have worked well in the past to lose weight may not be as effective now. Potentially, those excess pounds can be detrimental for health particularly heart and breast health.
So what is going on? There are several reasons why weight gain in the perimenopause and menopause years can occur:
- Genetics
- Metabolic rate
- Hormones
- Stress
1 Genetics
Genetics can be an indicator of where fat will accumulate if there is significant weight gain. A woman whose mother gains weight around the middle and is a typical ‘apple’ shape may find that will be where she puts on weight too. Similarly with ‘pear-shaped’ mothers and their daughters.
However, we are not victims of our genes as they are only one factor in weight gain and distribution.
2 Metabolic rate
As men and women get older, their metabolic rate (that is the rate that their bodies burn energy), slows down by about 5 per cent for each decade. At the same time muscle mass diminishes decreasing the number of calories burned.
If you do not make any changes to the amount and what you eat or to the amount you exercise, you will burn about 200 fewer calories a day than you did at age 25. That means you could gain between 8 to 12 pounds a year.
There are several important factors influencing weight gain during menopause.
3 Hormones
During perimenopause, the levels of the reproductive hormones, that is oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, start to diminish and the balance between them alters. A woman’s body tries to compensate for the lower production of oestrogen by the ovaries by manufacturing oestrogen elsewhere to protect the body. The fat around the middle of the body is one of the sites where oestrogen is produced.
Many women believe that taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) will make them put on weight. There is no research to support this. Neither is there any evidence that HRT helps with weight loss.
4 Stress
Many women in the 40s, 50s and 60s have stressful events in their lives such as children leaving home, looking after elderly parents, demanding jobs, divorce or other significant life changes. Sustained levels of stress lead to higher levels of the hormone cortisol in the system. Cortisol stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy. It also stimulates insulin release and maintenance of blood sugar levels. All of this can lead to an increase in appetite. Elevated levels of cortisol also tend to cause fat to be deposited in the abdominal area.
Stress can also lead to interrupted or poor quality sleep. Poor sleep can result in a disruption in the metabolic rate and affect the balance of the two appetite-related hormones, ghrelin and leptin. This means that it is more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
But weight gain is not inevitable and in my next blog I will be giving you some tips for maintaining a healthy weight.
