Blog Layout

5 Simple Tips for Stopping Menopause Weight Gain

Joanne Fazel • Feb 16, 2022

5 Simple Tips for Stopping Menopause Weight Gain 

Menopause weight gain is a very common side effect of the transition and there may be several reasons behind it.  
Often women can feel more exhausted and fatigued than normal and experience low mood at this time and healthy eating goes out the window as their body craves a quick ‘pick-me-up’ and they reach for the wrong kinds of foods and drinks.  

As we age, our muscle mass decreases and our metabolisms naturally slow down, meaning that we don’t need as many calories to fuel us as we did when we were younger, and that can show on the scale when we continue to eat in the same way.  

We may not have the energy or motivation to exercise or new joint pains and aches may limit what we can do which also decreases the number of calories we burn throughout the day.  

But very importantly, our sex hormones are in a state of flux and this has a knock-on effect to other hormones that keep our bodies running as they should, leading to an imbalance which can cause us to start storing fat instead of burning it off – and its usually laid down around the middle, causing the dreaded ‘muffin top’ or ‘menopause belly’.

So, what do we often do at this point to try and lose the weight? Well, many of us turn to what we’ve always been told is the best way to lose weight – calorie counting. We start making decisions about what food we eat based entirely on the number of calories it contains, thinking that if we stick to a specific calorie deficit the scales will start moving in the right direction.  

But there are problems with this method. Firstly, when we reduce foods to simply the calories they contain we lose sight of the nutrients they contain (or don’t). We might start choosing more processed foods because the packaging tells us it contains 99 calories or less for example, without looking at the label to see what it does actually contain (often lots of unhelpful sweeteners and a bunch of fillers), or we drop certain foods from our diet because we think they are too high in calories (avocado anyone?).  

This is a big mistake. And the reason why is because when we are going through the menopause our body is already in a state of flux and our hormones need certain nutrients to function correctly. All we do when we cut calories and don’t look at the nutrients is to create a further imbalance in our hormones and make the situation worse. This is why some women find even though they cut their calories low they continue to pile on the weight.

Another reason is that our bodies are clever. When we reduce our calories at some point we reach a plateau with our weight loss. This is because our bodies have got wise to what we are doing and adjusted your metabolism to only need those calories. Now you are no longer in a calorie deficit and to lose further weight you would need to reduce your calories down further again. Of course, this isn’t sustainable and you would soon start to starve your body of enough fuel and you would notice a whole host of unpleasant side effects. Then when you raise your calories again to feel better your weight will inevitably go up because your body sees them as excess calories.

This is the diet rollercoaster that many women have been on their whole lives – following fad diet after fad diet and messing around with their metabolism so that when they reach perimenopause they don’t know how to actually nourish their body for the task ahead.

So, today I wanted to give you 5 tips that don’t revolve around calorie counting that you can do daily which will actually support your hormone balance so that you can start losing weight or stop the menopause weight gain in the first place.

1. Have a protein-rich breakfast

One of the most important things to understand about the menopause is that the hormonal flux plays havoc with your blood sugar balance. When we eat too many simple carbohydrates we end up flooding our bloodstream with glucose and we get a corresponding spike of insulin (our fat-storage hormone) which tries to bring it back down to normal levels. Whatever glucose our cells don’t actually need to make energy is extra and needs to go somewhere, so insulin works to store it as fat, mostly around our middle.

We can be going through this glucose/insulin spike many times a day – if you eat a carb-heavy breakfast (sugary breakfast cereals, toast and jam, bagels etc) you are setting off this cycle right from the beginning of your day. This sets you up for feeling starving a few hours later and grabbing that chocolate bar/packet of crisps/bag of sweets/iced bun to keep yourself going, and the cycle perpetuates throughout the day.

Having protein and healthy fat at every meal or snack actually helps to keep your blood sugar levels more stable and reduces the spikes. So, the best thing you can start doing is make sure that you start the day with a protein-rich breakfast. Think eggs, wholemeal toast with good quality nut butter, chia pudding, protein smoothie etc.

2. Look after your gut bacteria

Did you know that we have more bacteria in our gut than we do cells in our entire body? Healthy bacteria are absolutely crucial to our wellbeing – they extract the nutrients out of our food for us and actually produce some of the vitamins and hormones that we need to function correctly. They also help to make sure that our gut lining stays intact so that unhealthy bacteria or used hormones don’t get back into our bloodstream upsetting our hormone balance further.

So, we need to look after them. They need particular types of food to survive and thrive – these are called prebiotics and can be found in foods such as apples, green bananas, oats, leeks, onion, garlic, legumes & pulses, artichokes, asparagus, leafy greens, flaxseed, blueberries and wholegrains.
So, make sure that you are having at least 2 servings a day.

3. Get moving

Yes, exercise and movement burns calories but it does so much more than that! It does fire up your metabolism and help you to burn fat but regular exercise and movement also has a positive effect on your insulin sensitivity, so that your cells are better able to utilise the insulin available to allow glucose into the cells for conversion into energy and not to lay them down as fat.

And that’s not to mention that exercise is great for boosting our mood and increasing our energy levels, making it more likely that we will make healthier food and lifestyle choices afterwards instead of needing to reach for something unhealthy as a pick-me-up.

But remember, that our bodies are meant to move – not sit at a computer screen all day. So even if you are able to fit in a formal workout, it’s still important to find ways to move throughout the day, whether that be by getting up from your desk every hour and going up and down the stairs, going for a walk at lunchtime or even pacing the room whilst you are on a phone call rather than chatting on the sofa.

4. Manage your Stress

When our brains perceive a stressor, it sets in motion a process that releases the stress hormone, cortisol. This hormone makes physiological changes to our body that allows us to be able to run away or stay and fight in reaction to that stressor, and that includes increasing our insulin levels and releasing stored sugars into our bloodstream in order to give our muscles enough energy to cope with the stress.  

Now if we are dealing with a real physical danger then this would be absolutely vital and indeed, it’s a survival mechanism that has kept humans alive all these years. However, it was never designed to cope with the type of stressors we are bombarded with in modern times. These days most of our stressors are psychological rather than physical and whereas with a physical danger, when that danger has passed our cortisol level will drop and it will have done its job, nowadays we just don’t get a break from the psychological stressors so our bodies never get the chance to relax and bring the cortisol levels back down.

So, our cortisol levels can remain unhealthily high which in turn means our insulin levels and blood sugars will spike often, which can cause fat storage and weight gain.

Finding ways to activate our parasympathetic nervous system (our calming system) is key in order to bring down our cortisol and insulin levels. Deep breathing exercises have been shown to be very effective in a short amount of time and can be done anywhere. Spending time in nature and in quiet meditation has also been found to be effective.

5. Get to bed early

I know it’s all too easy to end up getting to bed late, especially if you have teenagers who want to stay up late or you want to have some time to yourself after younger children have gone to bed. But studies have shown than most people need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep a night to really feel rested.

When we don’t get enough restful sleep, it messes with our circadian rhythm (our sleep/wake cycle) which involves (you guessed it…) cortisol again. Cortisol levels are meant to be high in the morning to wake you up and get you going and then they reduce as melatonin (the sleep hormone) increases until it gets to a high level in the evening to make you feel sleepy.  

When we don’t get enough sleep, it’s actually perceived as a stressor to our body as sleep is the time that our brains repair and heal. And of course, when we are stressed that increases our cortisol levels, which further impacts our sleep/wake cycle and we end up in a vicious circle where we find it hard to sleep. At the same time the increased cortisol levels affect our insulin levels again and cause more fat storage.

These 5 tips are not only helpful for stopping menopause weight gain but also for easing other menopausal symptoms which may be having a negative impact on your life. When it comes to our hormones, everything is interlinked, so making progress in one area of your nutrition or lifestyle choices will inevitably end up having a positive effect on many symptoms.

And remember, to start small. Don’t go trying to change everything at once all gung-ho – that’s a FastTrack to overwhelm and giving up and you want to be able to sustain your healthy habits for the long-term so that you can ease your body through this transitional period but also so that you can feel good, strong and happy post-menopause too. So, give yourself small achievable targets and build on them once you are being consistent with them.

If you’d like support and guidance to formulate your own menopause action plan and find out what changes would be of most help for you to reach your goals so you can take back control of your body and mind and feel like yourself again, let’s chat. Book yourself a free session with me to discuss where you are at, what you feel is holding you back and where you would like to be at https://calendly.com/feelgoodforlife

Share by: