Why Gain Weight During Menopause?

If you’re experiencing weight gain during menopause, it’s probably due to several reasons.

These include low estrogen levels, insulin resistance, and changes in your body composition.

Gaining weight during menopause won’t make these problems go away, and it could even worsen them. Here are a few reasons why weight gain during menopause is not beneficial:

Low estrogen levels

During the menopause period, your body naturally produces low amounts of estrogen.

Although estrogen is also produced by men, women’s levels are much higher.

Low estrogen can affect the way you feel, your sexual functioning, and your weight.

Ultimately, it can lead to cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and obesity.

Treatment for low estrogen levels has developed over the years. Ultimately, the dosage and duration will depend on the individual’s needs.

Treatment for low estrogen may involve family history, physical exams, and blood tests.

Your doctor may also order a brain scan or pituitary hormone test to rule out other issues with the endocrine system.

While hormone treatments may help you lose weight, nonhormonal approaches may be more effective for you.

This is especially true if you’re prone to a number of health conditions.

However, there are non-hormonal methods to treat low estrogen that may be just as effective.

Insulin resistance

A major cause of weight gain in postmenopausal women is insulin resistance, which is often a result of genetics.

The hormone insulin is crucial for opening cell doors and keeping sugar in the blood.

Insulin resistance causes the body to use more insulin than normal to get sugar into the cells.

Women with higher levels of insulin resistance are more likely to gain weight during menopause than women who are not insulin resistant.

When insulin is insufficient, the body will hold on to fat cells. This causes hunger, which in turn increases the waist circumference.

In time, the pancreas will no longer produce enough insulin to counter the effects of insulin resistance.

In addition, women with high insulin levels may experience other symptoms, such as eye changes and darkened armpits.

While some women may gain weight during menopause, the effects of insulin resistance will be a gradual process over time.

The transition to menopause, also known as perimenopause, is a time when many women experience changes in their bodies.

These changes include hot flashes, irregular menstruation, and mood changes. Weight gain occurs in both the torso and buttocks.

While the average woman’s lean body mass remains constant, her fat mass doubles.

Although most women experience these changes without gaining weight, there are some differences in the rate at which weight loss occurs.

These changes are caused by the rapid accretion of fat and loss of lean body mass during the menopause transition.

This process is accompanied by a drop in energy expenditure compared to intake, which causes deleterious changes in body composition.

A reduction in physical activity may be responsible for this loss.

As a result, diet and exercise may be beneficial in minimizing menopause-related risks.

Weight gain during menopause

Although your body will naturally begin to store fat during menopause, it can also increase your body weight. Eating more fruits and vegetables and engaging in regular exercise are two ways to keep your weight under control.

Healthy weight is defined by your lean mass to fat ratio. While pant size has little to do with your health, a larger waist is not necessarily a sign of better health.

For the best results, follow a diet that is low in fat and high in lean muscle mass.

As we age, we tend to cut down on physical activity, which contributes to increased body fat and muscle breakdown.

A slower metabolism is another risk factor for weight gain during menopause.

Genetics is another factor to consider, as women who have a history of high weight gain may be more prone to it than women who have no family history of the problem.

Having a higher percentage of estrogen in the body can also cause increased fat accumulation around the belly area.