How To Lose Weight When On Menopause

No matter how light you eat or how often you exercise, the pounds just keep packing on! This time you can blame it on hormonal imbalance. But don’t worry, we’re here to assure you that it is possible to lose this weight during postmenopause. You just have to know the right ways how! Let us teach you.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends women to perform moderate–intensity exercise for 150 minutes a week, generally spread out throughout the days. This can include brisk walking, swimming, or even mowing the lawn. (Yay to exercise doubling as getting chores done!)

Or, for those women who want to generate a bit more heat, 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic exercise will also do the trick. This includes exercises such as running or aerobic dancing.

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Additional pointers are to break up the exercise time into several sessions throughout the day to suit your schedule; reduce sitting time to avoid the risk of metabolic issues; and work with a personal trainer to safely add some weight training into the mix to build muscle mass and fight off osteoporosis.

Remember that in order to lose weight, your caloric output has to be higher than your caloric intake. (Hint: Try not to slip in a few cookies after that workout if it wasn’t vigorous enough.) This leads us to our next point.

Research studies of postmenopausal women have found that those who followed a low-fat diet consisting of five daily servings of fruits and veggies and six daily servings of whole grains were more likely to lose weight than others in the control group.

Menopause Weight Loss

As such, for women looking to lose weight after menopause, build your meals so that 20 percent or less of your daily calories come from fat, and focus on healthy fats sources, like olive oil, avocados, fatty fish, nuts, etc.

When eating, a pro tip is to replace simple sugars, like white breads or pasta, with slow-release carbohydrates, which are found in whole grains, sweet potatoes, nuts, and fruits. This way, blood sugar and insulin levels will be significantly reduced, helping you increase satiety.

We are sure not the first ones to tell you that a good night’s sleep is crucial. This is especially true when it comes to weight management.

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Another study found that women who slept less than five hours a night had a 30 percent higher risk of gaining 30 pounds over a 16-year period than those who slept a full seven hours.

Also, when women do not sleep well, hunger hormones run their course, and not in a good way. Leptin, the appetite-suppression hormone, decreases in wake of ghrelin, the appetite-stimulating hormone. The result? Not fitting into your jeans anytime soon.

Furthermore, if you are not sleeping well due to menopause symptoms, such as insomnia, night sweats, digestive problems, and more, one of the best ways to finally get that beauty rest is to treat the underlying cause of all of them.

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Is a natural herbal supplement that nourishes the endocrine glands to encourage their own hormonal production, thus stabilizing reproductive hormone levels and relieving symptoms that have plagued women throughout and past the menopausal transition. This means they will finally find relief from weight gain, low libido, vaginal dryness, and more. Find out how and weight loss go hand-in-hand yourself.

By taking the right initiative in following aforementioned tips alongside the use of , postmenopausal women can rest assured that the pounds gained will soon be shed in lieu of a hormonally-balanced you.

Mayo Clinic. (2019). Fitness: How much should the average adult exercise every day? | Menopause weight gain: Stop the middle age spread. Retrieved May 16, 2019, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/exercise/faq-20057916 | https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/in-depth/menopause-weight-gain/art-20046058Menopause refers to the change in a woman’s life when her menstrual cycles cease, and she is no longer “fertile” (producing eggs). As normal hormone production continues to decline during perimenopause and menopause, a variety of troublesome symptoms may start to occur, including hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and more.

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But no side-effect of menopause is more frustrating than weight gain. Eventually the hot flashes and mood fluctuations will go away – but most women are stuck for the rest of their lives with the unwanted weight gain that accompanies menopause.

And weight gain is much more than just a cosmetic issue! Weight gain not only dramatically decreases a woman’s self-esteem, it also can significantly increase her risk for virtually every major chronic disease, including: heart disease, stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer.

In this article Austin, TX menopause and hormone expert Dr. Ruthie Harper explains what causes weight gain during menopause – and how you can effectively prevent new weight gain and lose those unwanted pounds.

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Menopause results in rapid changes in a woman’s reproductive / sex hormone levels, including estrogen and testosterone. And these hormones play a key role in how the body both burns “calories” and stores fat.

During menopause estrogen levels decline, which decreases the rate with which the body “burns” and converts stored energy (fat). Simply put, low estrogen levels slow down the metabolism, which increases fat storage on the body.

Additionally, lower estrogen levels result in less fat breakdown, which results in further fat accumulation and weight gain. And, if the balance between estrogen and testosterone gets out of balance, an excess of androgens (male hormones) can increase the risk of obesity.

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Finally, to compound the problem, the levels of the hormone leptin – which signal the brain to feel “full” after eating – also drop. So, women actually do feel hungrier as a result of menopause, which leads to eating more.

Frustratingly, in addition to weight gain, fat distribution also shifts in the perimenopausal woman as well. So, waist circumference (“belly fat”) also increases disproportionately in women after menopause at a greater rate.

The good news is that Austin, TX medical weight loss expert Dr. Ruthie Harper offers several safe, effective and 100% natural methods of improving weight loss after menopause. Even better, every weight loss plan is customized to each woman’s individual lifestyle, body metabolism, hormone levels and fat loss needs.

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One way to avoid weight gain after menopause is to modify the type of physical activity you perform, in order to maintain or build lean body mass and optimize hormones. Dr. Harper has designed specific exercise regimens specifically for post-menopausal woman to help offset the increase of fat and decrease of muscle mass that accompanies aging.

Certain non-impact exercises such as spinning, cycling and rowing can help reduce total fat mass, and decrease waist circumference, belly fat, and BMI. And, adding a form of training called HIIT (high intensity interval training) has been shown to be more beneficial than aerobic exercise in the post-menopausal woman.

Resistance training and twice-weekly yoga have also been shown to help menopausal women increase metabolism, decrease belly fat and gain muscle mass.

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Menopause is linked to insomnia, which studies have shown leads to increased hunger, a bigger appetite and lower fat burning. Dr. Harper can prescribe natural supplements including melatonin, 5-HTP, and GABA that are customized in our office, to ensure you get the quality and quantity of sleep you need to prevent post-menopausal weight gain.

Decreases in female hormones can cause increased insulin levels as well as insulin resistance – which can increase body fat and make losing weight more difficult. Dr. Harper can test your blood to identify your dietary deficiencies – and then rebalance your macronutrients (the amount of carbohydrate, fat and protein) to help you take off weight and keep it off.

An eating program (not a diet) will be recommended and customized for each woman, that is carefully designed after measuring the patient’s unique individual blood chemistry and hormone levels.

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Hormonal imbalance is one of the main reasons for weight gain and fat accumulation after menopause. So, to be truly effective, a fully personalized and integrative postmenopausal weight management program also needs to include diagnosis, replacement and balancing of any hormone deficiencies or imbalances.

Dr. Harper offers 100% natural bio-identical hormone replacement at her Austin, TX practice. Unlike synthetic lab-created hormones, these are 100% naturally derived and identical in structure to human hormones. As a result, the body will recognize, use and metabolize them properly – without the dangerous side-effects of synthetic hormones.

After thorough and comprehensive blood testing, Dr. Harper will customize a bioidentical hormone regimen designed just for you, based on your unique hormone levels and deficiencies. Unlike one-size-fits-all prescription hormones (with standard dosages that may not fit your needs), BHRT therapy is specifically formulated and compounded in dosages that are tailored to each patient on an individual basis.

Weight Loss During Menopause

Dr. Harper’s is nationally recognized as one of the most experienced bioidentical hormone replacement doctors in the country. She specializes in treating women during all stages of life, with a special focus on women in perimenopause and menopause – having helped more than 10, 000 patients in her 20 plus years of integrative and holistic medical practice.

If you live in the greater Austin, TX area and are frustrated and discouraged by the weight gain of menopause, Dr. Harper can help you get your body and your life back – with