Coping With Menopause Weight Gain8 Helpful Strategies For countless women perimenopause and menopause weight gain can be very frustrating. Although you haven’t changed your diet plan or activity level in any way, your weight slowly creeps up over time regardless. One of the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause is weight gain – and an accumulation of bellyfat in the tummy area especially. Here are 8 strategies that will help you to control menopause weight gain and encourage belly fat loss. 1. Take in less calories One of the main causes of menopause weight gain is that metabolism naturally slows down with age. Your body naturally requires less calories to maintain your present weight. In other words, a woman of 40 doesn’t need as many calories daily as a woman of 20. If you haven’t started already, begin to incorporate some of the healthy eating guidelines like proper food combining and portion control. I’ve outlined what I did and what worked for me in Healthy Eating Guidelines for Belly Fat Loss. The type of food, the amount of food AND the time of day we eat are all important factors to both belly fat loss and keeping menopause weight gain at bay. Quick Weight Loss Tip : If you reduce your caloric intake by 300 calories per day and increase your activity level (enough to burn 200 calories per day), that will create a 500 calorie per day deficit and over the course of one week, you can lose up to one pound of body fat each week! 2. Increase your intake of foods rich in phytoestrogens. Foods high in natural phytoestrogens can help raise your estrogen levels naturally through your diet. Good sources of natural phytoestrogens include seeds (flax, sesame, fennel, alfalfa), berries, beans (lentils, mung beans), whole grains (wheat, oats, barley, rice bran), apples and carrots and pomegranates. 3. Exercise regularly. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily. For many of us, as we get older, we naturally tend to become less physically active. There are no more children to chase after and vacations tend to be more for relaxation than for activity. Aim for 30 minutes of brisk walking or cardiovascular activity daily. If you can’t fit in 30 minutes in one stretch, do three 10 minute sessions instead. Studies show you’ll get the same benefits. The idea is to do what you enjoy and fits best into your lifestyle, otherwise you won’t continue doing it regularly. Remember too to take time to stretch your muscles beforehand and afterwards. 4. Interval Training – weight resistance and cardio in one quick workout. As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass. Muscle is metabolically active and helps you burn more calories, so it’s important to hold on to as much muscle as we can. It also helps with belly fat loss. Weight resistance exercise is the best form of exercise for building muscle, especially for women over 30. Try out Interval Training. It incorporates both weight resistance and cardio exercise in one quick workout. It’s a ‘two for one’ deal, which is great for those who are time strapped! If lifting weights isn’t something you’d enjoy try Yoga or Pilates - they both use body weight as resistance and will have the same effect. Exercise is great for relieving stress too. It releases “feel good” endorphins and apart from helping you burn more calories, it will help to energize you, it will help you to sleep better at night and it will help speed up metabolism too. 5. Speed Up Metabolism By building more metabolically active fat burning muscle you’ll naturally speed up metabolism and help keep menopause weight gain at bay. As always, be sure to consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program if you have any medical conditions or if you haven’t exercised regularly in the past. 6. De-stress daily Make a concentrated effort to de-stress daily. Techniques like Self hypnosis, Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong or just sitting quietly and focusing on your breath for a short time each day are great ways to de-stress, center yourself and recharge the body in the process. High stress levels can lead to hormonal changes that encourage weight gain. Stress signals the body to create cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline (fight or flight response). Cortisol increases your appetite and creates more fat cells and adrenaline ages you faster. Further, if you find that stress is interrupting your sleep and keeping you from getting enough rest, your leptin levels may drop. Leptin is the appetite controlling hormone. 7. Supplement with Fish Oil Fish oil is rich in DHA and EPA – two fats that are responsible for helping to speed up metabolism, increase fat burning and reduce your risk for diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Using safflower oil daily has also been shown to help with symptoms of perimenopause and encourage menopause belly fat loss. 8. Accept that your body shape will change. Provided that you’re not obese right now, accept that your body shape changes with time. Incorporating all or just a few of these strategies into your life will help you keep menopause weight gain at bay and go a long way towards helping you deal effectively with both the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause weight gain.
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