Many mature women wonder, “Do hormones help with menopause weight gain?” The answer is yes, as hormone therapy can help prevent the belly fat that starts to increase when menopause occurs.
Why Do Women Gain Weight During Menopause?
Menopause occurs when a woman ends her period and stops ovulating, usually occurring between a woman’s 40s and 50s.
During menopause, the estrogen levels a woman produces decrease. She also faces age-related tissue loss. Additionally, lifestyle factors can also contribute to a woman gaining weight at this time.
A woman who already has other factors that contribute to her weight gain may add more pounds whether or not she takes hormone therapy. However, it does help reduce the belly or stomach fat gained. The start of the treatment can result in breast tenderness and bloating, but this symptom is only temporary.
Factors That Contribute to Menopause Weight Gain
Besides expected estrogen loss, other factors contribute to menopause weight gain, such as:
- A woman’s age
- Decrease of or no physical activity or exercise
- A family history of obesity or other health problems
- Chemotherapy treatments
- Lifestyle changes (eating out more, stopping exercising, sleeping more, etc.)
- Medications that a woman takes (antipsychotics or antidepressants, for example)
- Metabolic rate decrease
- Number of children a woman has had
Managing Menopause-Related Weight Gain
Doctors recommend weight loss to prevent diabetes and cardiovascular diseases for some women. It is a typical recommendation for women’s health. In addition, many women choose to lose weight to improve confidence.
Luckily, women in their 40s and 50s can incorporate effective ways to prevent weight gain and maintain a healthy weight into their lives.
- Perform 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise each day to remain active. Jogging, stretching, yoga, and dancing offer enjoyable ways to get the body moving regularly. Yoga, specifically, serves as a beneficial form of exercise for weight loss and decreasing your waist size.
- Grow and maintain your current muscle mass with strength training.
- Eat a well-balanced and healthy diet for your body. Consult your doctor before undergoing a severe lifestyle change. They can recommend potential programs or diets for your age, weight, and body type that could help you deal with menopause. One tip to improve your eating habits includes consuming fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
- Make an overall shift in your lifestyle that reflects your changing body and aging. It encompasses multiple moving parts that all make up your health and wellness. Women in their 40s and 50s experience age-related changes that affect their hormones, weight, and lifestyle. Women must come to accept these unavoidable changes, which are perfectly natural, expected, and okay.
While diet and exercise remain very beneficial lifestyle changes to combatting or managing menopausal weight gain, female hormone therapy can also help in addition to these changes.
Beware of Crash or Fad Diets for Weight Loss
Many people resort to extreme diets with appealing promises when they try to lose weight for their health and wellbeing. Countless advertisements and new diets pop up every other month promising impossible weight loss results with little to no effort from the user.
These crash, or sometimes fad, diets can lead people to gain back more weight than they lost or cause them to consume unhealthy meal portions. Consult your doctor before trying an extreme diet.
The fat hormone, known as leptin, is related to a person’s appetite control and metabolism. After these diets in which a person dramatically reduces the amount of food they eat, leptin levels drop. As a result, appetite increases while metabolism decreases, causing the person dieting to gain more weight and worsen their efforts.
Do Hormones Help With Menopause Weight Gain?
Yes, they often do. Female hormone therapy helps reduce the risk of diabetes and abdominal fat in women. It has also helped many women prevent bone fractures and loss, night sweats, hot flashes, urinary issues, sexual function issues, and vaginal dryness, all commonly associated with menopause.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), does not cause weight gain and helps women fight against it. This treatment may be helpful for you.
Contact Infinite Wellness Integrative Medical Center Today!
Now that we have answered, “Do hormones help with menopause weight gain?” you may be considering your own experiences with menopause and weight gain. We at Infinity Wellness Integrative Medical Center offer our patients female hormone balancing and can help improve your wellness.
Our team can provide you with an individually tailored plan to improve your life after menopause. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you or ask questions about our services. Call us today at (618) 747-3200 to schedule an appointment or consultation with our experienced team.
