For centuries, girls have been telling their daughters when they reach menopause their lanky days are over. They will pack on the pounds and they ought to just gracefully accept their destiny. Once they reach their 30’s, losing weight fast becomes a thing of the past. Is this really true or is it just an old wives tale? Let us start by understanding the truth about menopause.
Menopause
Normally, women enter the initial stages of menopause around 51. In all actuality, it could range anywhere from mid 30’s to early 60’s. Every girl is different and plenty of factors are at play as soon as your body goes into the onset phase of menopause. One of the most important signs of menopause is unexplained weight gain. A girl will average around 5 to 20 pound of extra weight. It does not occur immediately, but over the course of 1-5 decades.
Weight gain will occur somewhat faster for women that are in premature menopause due to natural causes or due to a hysterectomy (complete with the ovaries removed). The section of a female’s body that’s affected most frequently is the abdominal region.
Hormonal Changes
This is a result of the fluctuations of her hormone levels. When there’s a change in the hormone levels, it slows down the metabolism thus making it a good deal harder to loose weight. Let us take a close look at which hormones do what to a woman’s body during menopause.
The hormones that are affected during menopause include: estrogen, progesterone, androgen, and testosterone. Insulin resistance also occurs during this time. Estrogen levels will fall during during menopause. When the ovaries decrease the quantity of estrogen that is produced, the body needs to find an alternative source of the hormone.
Fat Cells
Fat cells produce estrogen, so her body will work tirelessly to convert calories to fat. This is because the body is trying to locate a way to replace the lost or decreased level of estrogen. Fat cells don’t burn calories in precisely the exact same manner that muscle cells do. This procedure leads to unwanted weight gain.
Progesterone levels will decrease which causes water retention. This isn’t just’weight gain’, but bloating makes a woman’s clothes fit tighter and makes her feel larger than before, giving her the illusion of weight gain. Androgen levels increase in the beginning of menopause. Androgen will send a small army of fat cells ‘new weight’ to a woman’s abdominal region.
Final Note
Most folks refer to this as the “Middle-Age Spread”. The lady’s mid section “spreads” out making her look much fuller round the center. Testosterone isn’t just for men. Women have testosterone levels, but during menopause these levels fall. This causes fewer calories to be transformed into lean muscle mass, which leads to a slower metabolism. With a slower metabolism, it’s significantly more difficult to lose those unwanted pounds.