Weight Gain During Menopause

How to avoid weight gain during menopause: You Docs

I'm worried about gaining weight when I go through menopause. Am I doomed to having an expanding waistline?

Happily, you can do something about menopausal weight gain:

• Drop a few pounds before menopause . There's excellent evidence that if you gradually lose 5 to 15 pounds over five years with a healthy, low-fat diet and lots of walking (about one hour a day, or enough to burn 1,000-1,500 calories a week), you'll be slimmer, your waist will be smaller and (yes!) you'll avoid the dreaded "meno-pot" -- that unhealthy pooch of belly fat that appears with age (or overeating).

• Steer clear of simple carbs . For the first year of menopause, eat lots of veggies, fruits and only whole grains, with few saturated or trans fats -- and you'll likely lose another 5 pounds. This isn't just us talking. This strategy was tested among 48,000 women. In fact, start now and stay this way for the rest of your life and you'll feel and be younger, and have fewer wrinkles and better sex, too. Pretty great "side effects."

• Take calcium and vitamin D-3 . Every day, aim to get 400 milligrams to 600 milligrams of calcium from food and another 600 milligrams from a supplement. Your body seems to prefer getting its calcium from a mix of food and pills, not just one or the other. Add 400 milligrams of magnesium and 1,000 international units of D-3 daily as supplements, too. Women who do this gain about 5 percent less weight at menopause than those who don't. Your bones will be tougher, too.

Health tip of the week : Reducing cellphone cancer risk

We love, and need, our cellphones as much as you do. So we understand the alarm over recent headlines shouting that cellphones may cause brain and hearing-center tumors . The source was impressive: the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, which is part of the World Health Organization. Relax a little. You can reduce the threat a lot.

Here's the basic problem. Cellphones emit electromagnetic radiation that penetrates whatever part of your body is closest, damaging cells in ways that may turn cancerous. Children's smaller bodies are even more vulnerable. The radiation can penetrate four inches into the brain of a growing child.

IARC has just put cellphone radiation into "category 2B," meaning it's possibly carcinogenic in humans (DDT is also in category 2B). We call this category "2 B avoided.

Weight Gain During Menopause - Causes and Solutions ...

Seem to be putting on a few extra pounds lately? You’re not alone. During menopause , the majority of women find they either gain weight or have trouble staying at their usual weight, even when their eating and exercise habits are the same. Find out why it happens and what you can do about it.

How menopause weight gain is unique

Throughout most of life, women tend to gain weight around the hips and thighs. Once a woman enters perimenopause, though, fat tends to collect around the stomach area instead. Women who start menopause early have particular trouble with rapid weight gain. The good news is this struggle with weight will most likely end once you hit your mid-60s.

The first thing to understand is that it’s not all your fault. It’s not a sign you’ve been sleep-walking to the refrigerator every night. Even if you’re more careful about what you eat and start working out, you could still end up putting on a little belly fat. And losing weight during menopause can seem next to impossible.

The reason? Yes, you guessed: those good old hormones. Fluctuating levels of female hormones affect your appetite and the way your body stores fat. The main reason is that your body has started actively working to pack on fat. With your ovaries producing less estrogen , your body starts looking for other places to produce the hormone. Since fat cells can also produce estrogen, your body puts extra effort into turning calories into fat so there will be more room to produce estrogen.

Lifestyle

The most effective thing you can do to keep the weight off is to make sure your lifestyle isn’t promoting weight gain. Have you put your exercise routine on the back burner? If so, schedule in a little time for exercise if you need to. As we age, muscle tends to be replaced with fat, so exercise is even more important during the menopause years. It will also ward off osteoporosis. Keep a close eye on your eating habits, too. With an increased appetite, it’s easy to nibble a little here and a little there without noticing how much you’ve eaten. A food diary can help you keep track.

A diet plan to control menopause weight gain

Following a healthy diet plan for weight gain during menopause can help you stay trim and feeling good. Your first step should be to minimize the amount of fatty foods you eat. Ideally, no more than 20% of your daily calories should come from fat and these should be from like olive oil, nuts, and avocados.

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