Audrey Backhouse, nutritional therapist & yoga teacher, The Nutri Yogi and friend to all things 'Busted Flush', writes this blog on bodies, weight and understanding how to be good to ourselves.
(Click here to discover Audrey's wisdom on The Nutri Yogi website.)
‘Middle-aged spread’, ‘love handles’ and ‘apple-shaped’.
Don’t you just love these terms!
Hearing these words can be demoralising for any woman. But it can be soul-destroying if you are going through your menopause and believe that weight gain is an unavoidable result that you are just going to have to live with.
Well, I’ve got some good news and a bit of myth-busting I’d like to share with you.
Firstly, research studies have shown that weight gain is not directly caused by the menopause. Drops in oestrogen levels do NOT result in you putting on weight.
But just before you delve into the biscuit tin and open up the wine to celebrate, there’s a bit more you should know….
Sadly, it is true that after the age of 40 many women tend to put on weight more easily and can find losing weight to be a bit harder.
Why is that?
Although weight gain isn’t a direct result of your oestrogen levels falling, lowering levels can have indirect consequences that can make you more prone to piling on extra pounds.
Other changes also happen to your body around this time that can contribute to your weight creeping up, if you are not aware of them.
WHAT CAUSES MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN TO GAIN WEIGHT?
There are a number of physiological and emotional changes that can happen around your 40’s and 50’s that can cause middle-aged weight gain.
It can be the result of one or more of the following:
• Drops in oestrogen levels can result in your cells being more ‘insulin resistant’, or to put it another way, your cells get a bit ‘lazier’ and more ‘sluggish’ at managing your blood sugar levels. This can lead to you burning fewer calories as energy and instead storing extra calories as fat.
• Around the same time as your oestrogen levels drop, your total body fat levels increase. Young women tend to store fat around their hips while older women tend to store excess fat around their waist.
How annoying is that!
This fat is called abdominal fat and you need to keep it in check. Excess levels of abdominal fat have been linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes and breast cancer.
• The type of fat a woman has also changes with age.
As women get older they tend to have less brown fat and more white fat.
Brown fat is good for metabolism. It helps your body breakdown fat, burn calories and balance your blood sugar levels.
• Your muscles also go through a change.
After the age of 40 an average woman will start to lose about 8% of her muscle mass per decade.
The more muscles you have the higher your BMR (basal metabolic rate) will be and the more calories you will burn in a normal day. Building more muscles can help you stay trimmer, even when you’re lying on the sofa!
• Stress can lead to weight gain.
Coping with menopause symptoms such as poor sleep, anxiety and mood swings can all result in women feeling tired and overwhelmed.
At the same time other changes might be happening in your life: children leaving home, looking after older parents and relationships changing etc.
These can all add to your stress level.
Comfort eating and drinking can be tempting at this time just to help you get through the day.
But sadly, as everyone knows, it’s not a good strategy for staying healthy or keeping in shape.
• There can be a tendency to move and exercise less as you get older.
The menopause can lead to joint pain and muscle stiffness. It can also lead to the weakening of pelvic floor muscles and to bladder problems. These issues can understandably put some women off exercising. It can make them want to do less exercise at a time they should be thinking about doing more.
HOW TO CONQUER WEIGHT GAIN DURING YOUR MENOPAUSE YEARS
1) EAT SMALLER PORTIONS: your body probably needs less food than it did when you were dashing around in your teens and 20’s.
It also needs less than you did when you might have been eating for two when you were pregnant or rushing after small children. Your average days are probably less active than before.
You don’t need as much food for energy as you used to, to keep you going through the day.
2) INCLUDE PROTEIN AT EVERY MEAL: eating protein at every meal will help you retain and build muscle mass. You should aim to eat about 20g of protein per meal.
Make sure you choose lean, non-fatty types of meat and try to eat fish a couple of times a week, especially the oily kinds like salmon, mackerel, tuna etc.
If you are vegetarian or vegan be careful to include good amounts of protein plant-based foods like pulses, beans, mushrooms, nuts and seeds.
3) EAT LOTS OF FIBROUS FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: fibre is a great way to keep yourself feeling full between meals. This will help you curb your urge to snack.
You should include two big handfuls of these at every meal. If you are trying to lose weight avoid eating too many heavy root veggies and go for lighter vegetables and salads instead.
4) REDUCE YOUR INTAKE OF PROCESSED FOODS AND ALCOHOL: these are likely to be full of sugars, harmful fats and excess salt. Eating these can make it harder for you to lose weight and can increase cravings for sugary and fatty foods.
5) EXERCISE TO BURN FAT AND BUILD MUSCLE: a great way to burn fat is to do interval training. It can be high intensity or low intensity types such as running, fast walking, cycling. Make sure your heartbeat rises during each short interval. But don’t push it until you are breathless.
Training using weights and resistance bands are a great way to build up your muscles. Start gradually with light weights or bands and build up over time.
P.S.
You can find out more about the best ways to measure if your weight and body composition is healthy and how to take the right measurements on my blog ‘Do Your Health Stats Measure Up?’ – click here.
And for more health tips on all things menopause follow @thenutriyogi
Click here for Audrey's website.
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