Weight Gain from Menopause
For many women over 50, you have probably heard about the problems with menopause. With menopause being so common for older women, you probably would have a good reason to be a little worried about some of the side effects.
Weight gain is not directly correlated to menopause but the side effects that occur from menopause can be linked to weight gain. The main thing is the lifestyle change that you take up when you are diagnosed with menopause.
It is thought that you become more sensitive to gaining weight when you get menopause and the particular area of your body that sees it the most often and common is the abdominal area. At a younger age, females will see the weight gain mostly hits the butt to begin with, while men it is the abdominal area.
Truthfully, a change in your hormones can play a big part in gaining weight. While the menopause process isn’t figured out into great detail, while in menopause, you no longer ovulate so the menstruation process doesn’t occur anymore and this can lead to the body creating less female hormone estrogens.
In animals, it has been discovered that low estrogens lead to weight gain and this could be the same case with humans as well.
With both men and women, it is found that your muscle slowly starts to turn into fat as you age and your metabolic rate dramatically drops. You will probably notice that you lose your appetite a bit and need to eat less to be full. In the whole process, as you age, you will probably notice that you gain weight and it isn’t always a result of health problems but rather a bad diet at times, however the percentage of overweight people as elders and compared to the younger generations does suggest that most older people get big from aging or health issues.
The stage of menopause where you get hormone therapy is thought to be a reason for aw eight gain but this is definitely not a true statement. While hormone therapy can lead to you bloating and having water retention, this is all at the beginning of the treatment. This is all just a temporary process and when after the process is over, you will more than likely find that you didn’t suffer a weight gain.
Hormone therapy also helps you lower the risk of quite a few heart diseases and minimizes the fat getting stored in the abdominal area, as well;hormone therapy helps you lower cholesterol. However, to look at the disadvantages of hormone therapy, it has been linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in a few studies that were done recently.
If you have seen that you are gaining weight while you have menopause, there are some actions that you could take.
• Assure yourself that your diet is healthy, low on fat and contains a good amount of dietary fibres but try to stay away from as much sugar as possible.
• Exercise regularly. If you are older, exercising isn’t as easy as it once was and your energy and activity level may be next to nothing but you can still get some activity in. Whether it means going for a walk with some friends or going for a light bike ride, there are a lot of things that even the older people can do.
• Try to keep your muscles from turning into fat by using light weights to maintain your bicep and triceps muscles. For your legs, go walking, cycling, or even play a little basketball if you are up for it.
• Accept yourself for who you are. You have to understand that when you start aging, your body goes through a lot of changes that cannot be reversed and this goes for both those who are overweight and who are not.
Be fine with what you look like and you can start from there.
