How Can You Avoid Weight Gain During Menopause?

If you polled multiple women in the midst of menopause about which symptom they find most challenging to manage, we’d bet that hot flushes or menopause-related weight gain would be neck and neck for pole position. While menopause can bring a whole range of challenging symptoms and subsequent health impacts, for many of us, the impact it has on our ability to manage our weight can be one of the most complex we need to come to terms with.

For many women, their relationship to their weight can be a layered one, with different natural life seasons creating different complications when it comes to healthily managing their weight. Menopause brings with it a new season of weight management, also presenting a new opportunity to build a healthy and sustainable relationship with our weight and with how we relate to our bodies. After all, we only get one of them – it’s important that we treat them with the highest level of respect!

Understanding how to avoid or reduce weight gain during menopause can also be a powerful way to check the health of your relationship to your body. While menopause will bring challenges around weight management, it’s also an era when you’re invited to treat your body with kindness and compassion like never before.

Why menopause leads to weight gain

There isn’t a secret, suspicious reason why menopause can often bring with it unwanted weight gain: it’s simply science. The physiological changes menopause brings with it can contribute to weight gain in a multitude of ways. Since one of the largest changes menopause introduces is a reduction in the amount of naturally occurring oestrogen production, this can directly lead our bodies to hold onto more fat, especially in the areas around our abdomen. 

Menopause often also takes place for women in their late 40s or 50s, when muscle mass is already decreasing, and our metabolism is beginning to slow down. These natural ageing processes can create a parallel effect on weight gain, contributing to more of it. This is why some women can experience confusion during this season – while they may be eating and exercising like they have for years, a sudden experience of weight gain can be put down to decreasing muscle mass and reductions in metabolic activity. 

Unfortunately, menopause’s symptoms can also play their own part in contributing to menopause-related weight gain. Since many of its symptoms can increase stress levels (we’re looking at you, fatigue and night sweats!), these heightened stress levels can also increase the production of cortisol, which has its own direct influence on promoting fat storage. With poor sleep linked to challenges in reading hunger hormones correctly, menopause’s symptoms can have a whirlwind effect on eating habits and subsequent weight gain. 

Find personalised treatment plans for all aspects of your menopausal health and wellbeing at the Australian Menopause Centre.

Tips and tricks for avoiding weight gain during menopause

Since there’s no single reason why weight gain can be so prevalent during menopause, there’s no single fix. However, there are a number of simple changes that can make a world of difference when it comes to avoiding weight gain during menopause.

Of course, it’s important to consider the role your diet plays throughout this season. Emphasising a variety of nutrient-dense foods is one simple way you can give your body the best fuel possible when it comes to keeping up with menopause’s many demands. While menopausal symptoms may have you craving foods that are high in sugar or salt, protein, healthy fats, and strong sources of fibre are your best food friends during menopause and beyond.

Regular exercise continues to play a crucial role in weight management, as well as delivering a number of other significant health benefits that are well worthy of your time during menopause. Strength training, regular cardio, and finding ways to increase your movement levels throughout the day can all contribute to healthier weight management during your menopausal years. We believe that the best exercises are those you enjoy and genuinely want to engage with – so if you’ve never loved swimming, now’s not the time to force yourself into the pool daily! Give your brain, body and soul the benefits of exercises you truly enjoy, cultivating an exercise routine that can support your physical and emotional health in every session.

It’s likely no surprise that stress management is also crucial to avoiding menopause-related weight gain. Whether stress is coming from home or from work, now’s the time to reduce those levels by all means necessary. Learning how to manage your stress – whether that’s through mindfulness and relaxation techniques, through building healthy boundaries, or through staying close with friends and family – is an integral part of a healthy menopause experience, and for many women, this can be a highly rewarding part of their overall menopause journey. 

Cultivating and maintaining a positive body image during menopause

While maintaining a healthy weight throughout menopause is important to your overall health and wellbeing, so, too, is maintaining a positive body image. Your body is experiencing huge and ongoing changes – and your ability to have self-compassion throughout these changes will only become more and more important. Rather than seeing these changes as a negative, they can be reframed as a reminder of the beauty of ageing, and of growing in areas such as experiences, wisdom, skills, and relationships. By focusing on your holistic health and wellbeing, not just the number on the scales, throughout menopause, you can build a positive relationship to your body that will continue to serve you well through the years to come.

Conclusion

With menopause bringing so many changes, understanding how to equip yourself for the road ahead is a crucial part of navigating with grace, awareness, and ease. By understanding more about the reasons why weight gain is so common during menopause, you can be better prepared for the changes ahead.

Unsure what to do next when it comes to managing your weight throughout menopause? We’re here to help. Find expert support for every aspect of your menopause healthcare at the Australian Menopause Centre.