A Look at Menopause and Gaining Weight

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A Look at Menopause and Gaining Weight

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Most women who have gone through menopause can testify that it’s not a pleasant time of life. However, menopause symptoms aren’t limited to night sweats and mood swings. Whether you’re in perimenopause or full menopause, you can expect to gain some weight. Studies indicate that many women will put on an extra pound each year throughout menopause. Are the two situations really interrelated? Let’s take a look.

Most experts believe that the hormone levels that are brought about by a woman’s change in life are one cause of weight gain. Nevertheless, there are other things that lead to weight gain in women. Your lifestyle and age also contribute to the changes that your body undergoes over the course of time. The causes of weight gain are largely because of a less active lifestyle and eating too much. Because of this, your body burns fewer calories because of its reduced physical activity. The composition of your body changes as it builds up more fat and less muscle, a result of a slower metabolism. Genetics is also a factor for weight gain. If your parents are naturally stocky, there is a good chance that you will inherit the same body type.

Drastic weight gain can lead to a number of health problems that might exacerbate menopausal symptoms. It’s been demonstrated that women who put on 20 pounds or more following menopause have a 20 percent greater chance of developing breast cancer. However, those who lose some weight have better odds of escaping breast cancer. Those who lose about 20 pounds reduce their risk for breast cancer by 23 percent.

In order to keep from gaining weight and to maintain optimal health during menopause, a nutritious diet and regular exercise are highly recommended. When you exercise regularly, your metabolism remains higher and you burn off more fat on a regular basis. As well, you can increase your muscle mass by strength training, which also boosts your metabolism and helps maintain strong bones.

The benefits of a proper diet are well documented. However, it has been noted that in order to maintain your weight as you age, your body will need 200 fewer calories a day. This information relates to females in their forties. Once you enter perimenopause, adopting a nutritious eating plan will help you to avoid weight gain later during full menopause.

We need to make peace with the changes that are bound to take place with our bodies. If you think that your body will stay like it is right now, think again. We might despise the thought that our bodies won’t be taut forever, regardless of our efforts. But the best approach is to work at controlling the aspects of your health that can be improved.

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