5 Ways to Avoid Weight Gain Post-Menopause
As a female, menopause is something you will experience at the latter stages of your life. At this stage, you become physically incapable of getting pregnant naturally. But there’s more to it. Most of your weight loss and other female fitness programs will look like they aren’t working anymore, as you struggle to bring down the number on the scale.
Menopause is usually a very challenging time in a woman’s life, and fat loss can be very difficult during this period. Without the right guidance, it can be tough to manage. This article will go through what menopause means, how it affects weight loss, and what you can do to make your weight loss program work for you post-menopause.
What is Menopause?
Menopause is the stage where a woman’s menstrual cycles end. It is usually diagnosed after a woman has gone for 12 months without seeing her menstrual period. This usually happens in the late forties or early fifties of a woman. Many symptoms come with menopause, like vaginal dryness, hot flashes, and sleeplessness. These symptoms can lead to moodiness, anxiety, and depression.
One other important symptom that comes with menopause is weight gain that is difficult to combat, even with the most thorough weight loss and female fitness programs available. Why does this happen?
Why Weight Gain Happens During Menopause
During the stage of menopause transition called perimenopause (when women are typically around their mid to late forties), many women begin to see changes in their bodies, and these changes continue through menopause and even post-menopause. These changes are caused by hormonal changes in the body, which causes the bodies of many women to start to collect weight around the middle of their body. It is called android fat distribution, and it happens to men too.
Also, the woman’s body becomes insulin resistant as she ages, and this makes weight gain much easier. At this stage, all female fitness programs seem to lose their effect. The lack of sleep a woman also faces as she crosses over to menopause could also have an impact on the weight of the woman, just as the loss of muscle mass occurs due to aging and reduced physical activity.
When this happens, many women tend to feel sad and frustrated. Apart from dealing with hot flashes and restlessness, now they have a large piece of weight around them that won’t go away. Many of them start to blame themselves for not being successful in their fat loss endeavors and start to lose faith in their bodies.
Apart from the physical and emotional stress that weight gain can cause, as well as the appearance change, it is also unhealthy and unsafe to move around with weight in your middle. For that reason, if you are dealing with your menopause and the weight gain it brings, you need to focus on a female fitness weight loss program that works and helps you get your desired results.
Let us look at some of the things you can do to avoid weight gain post-menopause.
Avoiding Weight Gain Post Menopause
You may never go back to the shape you had in your early 20s, but you can take certain steps post-menopause that can help you keep weight gain in check:
Try to get some quality sleep
Good, quality sleep is more than sleeping for many hours on end. It is sleeping peacefully, without stress, in a comfortable bed with no light and no disturbing noise. It might be difficult getting some good rest because of hot flashes and the effects of low levels of estrogen in the body. However, as soon as you get an opportunity, get some quality sleep. Even the best female fitness weight loss programs in the world agree that good sleep is a necessity for fat loss, especially during menopause.
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Make permanent lifestyle changes
You have to be willing to commit to weight loss over the long run. You should be willing to create a workable timetable that will allow you to eat healthily, rest well, and exercise as much as possible. Don’t work with weight loss programs that promise to handle post-menopause weight gain in a few days, and don’t eat weird supplements that claim to solve all post-menopause problems. They don’t work.
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Eat Right
Try to avoid fatty diets and diets with heavy calories. Cut down on carbs, as lots of studies have shown that a high carb diet could lead to unwanted weight gain. On the flip side, post-menopausal women who undertake a low carb diet are more likely than others to lose weight and inches from their waistline. Good female fitness weight loss programs will contain low carb diets or even vegetarian diets that can help you reduce your weight and weight gain post-menopause.
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Keep your emotional and mental health in check
It is easy to focus on your physical appearance and neglect your mental and emotional health. Don’t make that mistake. Talk to a therapist, if you need to, about insomnia you struggle with. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, for example, has been shown to help people who struggle with sleeplessness. If you can deal with the sleeplessness challenge, you have a good shot at dealing with weight gain post-menopause.
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Get involved in Stress-relief programs
Weight loss programs may not be enough to help. Sometimes, you need to deal with more foundational issues, like stress. Stress relief can go a long way in enhancing fat loss, especially during menopause. Programs like yoga are very helpful in this regard. Also, you can try out guided meditation and light exercise to help you with the process. If you are unsure how to go about it, speak to a professional in counseling.
Conclusion
It can be very challenging to see that female fitness weight loss programs and workouts don’t work like they used to before menopause. However, all hope is not lost yet. If you take it easy and relieve yourself of unnecessary stress, you can avoid weight gain. Also, remember to avoid blaming yourself for the changes in your body, and you will be fine.
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