Losing Weight During Menopause

Losing weight is never easy, but it is possible, even for those women who packed on additional pounds as they transitioned through peri-menopause and into menopause. According to Dr. Marcelle Pick of Womentowomen.com and the author of "The Core Balance Diet," the menopausal woman may have more obstacles to hurdle in her effort to lose weight than a 25-year-old woman but weight loss is still achievable and realistic.

Eating Patterns

If you are going to be successful in your weight loss, it is important to determine if you are engaging in emotional eating and, if so, why and what your eating patterns are. Where are all your calories coming from? Do you eat unconsciously after battling with your spouse? Are you stressed out over your elderly parents, who require more and more of your help and care? Pick explains that comfort foods, such as sweets, breads and pasta, can ruin your hormonal and neurotransmitter balance because your insulin and serotonin levels get out of sync when you eat these foods.

Neurotransmitters

Brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, including serotonin (the "feel good" chemical), cortisol (the "fight or flight" response chemical), norepinephrine and epinephrine are vital when it comes to metabolism but are often not taken into consideration. The hypothalamus manages these chemicals, which directly affect appetite, curbing hunger, acting as natural appetite suppressants. Pick explains it this way: In the beginning, the fight or flight response kicked in because an individual was frightened and running for her life, trying to get away from a furious dinosaur, but it was never expected that she would stop during her flight and eat along the way. However, it also was not expected that humans would be in fight or flight mode all the time, which many are nowadays. When the neurotransmitters are in crisis fight or flight mode, this can prompt mood swings and serious foods cravings. If you are perpetually stressed and upset, you are probably going to have a hard time losing weight.

Equilibrium

Restoring your brain's chemical equilibrium in regard to neurotransmitters is part of the battle in losing weight. A brain that feels safe will switch into calorie losing mode instead of calorie-saving mode, during which time calories are converted into fat. If your neurotransmitter balance continues to be off, this creates serotonin depletion and you are then even less able to handle stress. Emotional eating may occur. Menopause can be a stressful time. Women may be coping with children, grandchildren and their elderly parents as well as working full-time and are finding solace in food.

Hormones

The sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, which have been put through the wringer during peri-menopause, have an impact on a woman's weight. Adequate levels--not high, not low--of estrogen appear to help hunger regulation, resulting in that being full effect also brought about by serotonin. However, if the ratio between estrogen and progesterone is off, cravings can be triggered. This happens prior to a menstrual period when a woman is experiencing pre-menstrual syndrome and cannot stop eating. She is binging because of the hormonal imbalance and this same thing can happen later on in her life when she is going through menopause. If a woman is stressed while she is going through peri-menopause, she is emitting cortisol, the fight or flight hormone. This coupled with the other hormonal imbalances contributes to her weight gain. Most of the weight gained will be in her belly. Cortisol is the major hormone culprit when it comes to immense food cravings and binge eating.

Efficient Body Functions

The quantity of food you eat is governed by your central nervous system, which is influenced by your environment, your fat cells and your brains. The cells in your body convert food into energy; however, how efficiently this is done depends on your endocrine and immune systems as well as your respiratory and musculoskeletal systems. In other words, if you are a physical wreck, fatigued, stressed out, consuming a lousy diet and never get a full night's sleep, your body is not going to be able to function as it is supposed to and you are going to have a hard time losing weight. Pick says this is why women must take a holistic approach to weight loss and take all factors in consideration.

Core Imbalances

Pick advises that a woman must get healthy from the inside out before she will be successful at losing weight and this is particularly true for menopausal women. Core imbalances must be corrected, according to Pick, before the weight is going to come off and stay off. A diet that worked for you when you were 30 may not work for you when you are 50 because your body is different and has different needs and requirements.

Sedentary Lifestyle

The Mayo Clinic cautions that weight gain during peri-menopause and menopause can put a woman at higher risk of developing breast cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. It is the clinic's position that weight gain is not due to hormonal changes but to lifestyle changes. We tend to get more sedentary the older we get. The number of calories an individual needs for energy decreases as we age because age encourages the replacement of muscle with fat. When you have more fat than muscle your metabolism slows down and you gain weight. Muscles burn more calories than fat so you want to hold onto those muscles. The best way to combat weight gain, according to the Mayo Clinic, is to eat less and move more.