Menopausal weight gain seems to be a great concern for women as they age. It seems that gaining some weight during this period in life seems inevitable. Some women may even be puzzled as to why they seem to pile up weight even though they eat the same amount of food. There are many reasons for this.

Women go through menopausal weight gain because their body is going through changes during menopause. The reason for the weight gain may stem fro the hormones themselves. During menopause, normal estrogen levels in the body seem to go down. Estrogen is the female sex hormone that is responsible for a woman’s monthly ovulation.

Low estrogen levels during menopause causes the female body to stop ovulating. As the ovaries of the woman produce less estrogen, her body tries to look for other means to get its estrogen supply. One of the means that the body can be supplied with the estrogen hormone is through the fat cells. So the body tries to convert as much of the calories it is supplied with into fat to be able to produce the much needed estrogen. Unfortunately, the fat cells are not as effective in burning calories as much as muscles do. This causes women to pack up additional pounds.

Progesterone is another hormone that may be the cause of weight gain during menopause. Just like estrogen, women undergoing menopause also experience their body’s progesterone levels go down. This causes weight gain on women on a different way. Low levels of progesterone in the body are associated with water retention and bloating, giving one the appearance of getting bigger and heavier. But this effect usually only happens for a short time and will disappear in just a few months.

Another hormone that may be responsible for weight gain during menopause is the male sex hormone androgen. Menopause brings about an increase of androgen levels in women. This hormone becomes responsible for sending the gained weight into the abdominal area or the middle section of the body. This is the reason why weight gain during menopause is also referred to as the “middle age spread”.

Another hormone that may be responsible for weight gain during menopause is testosterone. This hormone helps the body to create lean muscle mass out of the calories that the body takes in. Muscle cells are better at burning calories than fat cells and helps in increasing the body’s metabolism. During menopause, the level of this hormone drops which then results in a gradual loss of muscle. This also means that metabolism in the body slows down, causing the body to burn calories slower.

Women become frustrated and concerned when they suddenly find themselves gaining weight during menopause. No matter how careful they are on maintaining their eating habits and even adding up a dose of exercise into their daily habit, they still can’t seem to maintain their weight. Women must understand that it is because of the changes in the body during menopause that makes maintaining their weight even more difficult. Losing weight even becomes a more challenging undertaking than ever before.

Women must remember that it is not entirely their fault that they are gaining weight during this stage in their life. Menopausal weight gain is a normal occurrence due to the fluctuations in the hormone levels in the body. These hormones will also have a big impact on one’s appetite and the body’s ability to metabolize calories and store fats.

The better that women understand what goes on with their bodies during menopause, the less frustrated they can become when faced with weight gain.

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Women between the ages of 35 and 55 will soon experience menopause. It is not a disease but rather a phase in life where the female will no longer be able to conceive a child. One of the symptoms associated with this phase is weight gain. In fact, 90% of women will gain a few extra pounds which are not a direct result of overeating but rather a shift in your hormones.

Those who are already going through with menopause will probably notice a change in their physical body shape. Majority will gain between 10 to 15 pounds but this will not happen overnight. It will happen gradually like one or two pounds per year during premenopause and a little faster for those who are in early and surgical menopause.

The areas where you will see a physical change will be in the abdomen thus making you look fat when you look at yourself in the mirror. Again, this is not your fault but a fact of life because there are also already fluctuations in your hormones.

To explain this further, you have to understand that hormones do not only affect our behavior but also have a direct impact on our appetite, fat storage and metabolism.

Females have four hormones namely androgen, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. The first one namely androgen is the one that puts that excess weight around your abdomen. This happens because when you reach androgen, your body produces more of this hormone causing you to gain weight here rather than your hips, thigh or rear.

Estrogen is the hormone responsible for your monthly ovulation. When you reach menopausal age, the level of estrogen that is produced by the body decreases. Because of this, your ovaries need a source of estrogen so it taps your fat cells that have the ability to make this happen. This forces the body to convert calories into fat but since your fat cells are unable to burn calories like your muscles do when you work out, this also causes you pack a few extra pounds.

Another hormone that will also decrease during menopause is your progesterone levels. This causes water retention and bloating. The only good news is that this usually disappears after a few months.

Testosterone is the one that converts lean muscle mass out of the calories you take in from eating. During menopause, this level also drops thus resulting in the loss of this muscle. This will slow down your metabolism thus making it difficult to burn the food you ingested and it too causes weight gain.

Other factors that may cause weight gain during menopause could be attributed to insulin resistance and stress. Insulin resistance occurs when the body converts every calorie into fat. Stress can also make this happen as the body stores calories instead of burning as its way of saving on energy.

So how will you be able to reduce menopausal weight gain? A lot of experts believe that this will be difficult but not impossible. The most obvious is eating a balanced diet. You will have to give up food products that contain refined sugars and switch it to fruits and vegetables. You should also cut back on alcohol, caffeine and nicotine.

As much as possible try to stay active by exercising regularly. Examples of these could be aerobics, cycling, jogging, running and walking that will increase muscle mass and prevent osteoporosis.

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