Remember the old days when losing 5 or 10 pounds simply meant eating less and exercising more? I had the formula to the letter: If I wanted to put on my “tight” jeans, I’d just stop the double order of onion rings and bike a few more miles. Whoosh! Out of camera.
Now that I’m in those wonderful years of menopause, it doesn’t work like that anymore. I hear the same laments from my clients, and I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing if you’re a female boomer. I feel your pain. So what is the problem here and what do we do about it?
1. Hormones, hormones, hormones. Aren’t you tired of hearing about these pesky little critters and experiencing the havoc they create when they’re out of balance? Hot flashes, night sweats, migraines, and of course, weight gain are just a few of the problems associated with an imbalance of estrogen and progesterone. The ovaries produce estrogen, and as production begins to decline, our bodies begin to look elsewhere for it. Fat stores are one of the places where the body accesses estrogen. So if your body is struggling to maintain hormonal balance, body fat becomes very valuable and the body holds on to it for dear life.
Solution: First, see a health professional to have your hormone levels checked. There are a wide variety of replacement therapies, and every woman is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all remedy. Keep in mind that very often, since we continue to produce estrogen, low progesterone is to blame. Natural progesterone creams are widely available and easy to administer. But get a level or you may do more harm than good.
2. Stress. Adrenaline and cortisol, the “fight or flight” hormones, are released in our bodies in response to a physical or psychological threat. When the threat passes, our bodies are meant to go back to relaxation and get on with life. This worked well for our ancestors with the occasional bear attack. But today’s stress tends to be continuous and chronic, so these hormones stay in our system. Our bodies interpret prolonged stress as famine and store every extra calorie as fat.
Solution: Stress of some kind is a given of most of our lives. It is important to identify where the stressors are and do everything possible to reduce or eliminate the cause. If that’s a problem, then learn some stress coping techniques like deep breathing, meditation, breaks (for yourself or your kids!), mini-vacations, anything that brings you peace and/or comfort. Girlfriends are especially helpful in this area. Use them, use them!
3. Diet. Combine a high-stress lifestyle with a low-fat, high-carb diet and weight gain is inevitable. Irritability and anxiety cause you to crave sweets, starchy foods (some would say comfort foods), and caffeine, resulting in a temporary lift in energy and mood. This is short lived however, his blood sugar plummets due to the surge in insulin and he crashes. And you go on and on. Yo-yo dieting also contributes to the stress placed on the body and actually destroys the metabolism. Again, the body goes into starvation mode and accumulates most of the calories it consumes.
Solution: Now, I don’t think carbs are bad, but there are some that you need to eliminate or significantly reduce if you want to get off the weight gain carousel. Carbohydrates are measured by the glycemic index with white bread topping the charts at 100. The higher the glycemic number, the faster sugar enters the bloodstream and the faster it falls. So cutting out white rice and foods made with white flour like muffins, pretzels, breadsticks, bagels, and pasta will go a long way toward improving your diet. Fruits and vegetables are your friends, the more variety the better. And protein helps keep you full longer so you don’t have those nasty cravings.
4. Reduced metabolism. As we age, we lose muscle tissue, about ½ pound a year after age 28-30. Muscle is where fat is metabolized, so the less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism will be.
Solution: Yes, we lose muscle as we age, but the good news is that no matter how old you are, you can get that muscle back and boost your metabolism. Weight training is an essential component of your exercise program, so start adding it to your regimen. If you have no idea how to do this, consult a fitness professional. If you’re already involved in an exercise program and have plateaued, it’s time to step it up. Going harder and harder one or two days a week will help jumpstart your metabolism. Also, try a different exercise routine that recruits different muscles to surprise them. When our bodies get used to a certain type of exercise and intensity, it will stick, but not progress, whether your goal is to lose weight or improve your fitness.
5. Insulin resistance. The low fat/high carb/processed food diet mentioned above makes the cells in your body resistant to insulin. Insulin delivers glucose to cells, and cells have receptor sites to let insulin in. If the receptor sites are smaller, the glucose “stays” waiting to get in and is eventually stored as fat.
Solution: Insulin resistance does not affect everyone; in reality, about 25% of the population is prone to this condition. If you know you’re one of them again, cut back on those high-glycemic carbs, eat a protein and carb together to even out your blood sugar, and eat smaller, more frequent meals.
All of these items could be an article or even a book on their own. In fact, volumes have been written. Now you have at least some idea of how to overcome the nemesis of weight gain that can wreak havoc on our physical and psychological well-being during the perimenopausal years and beyond. One last helpful tip: get help! However I look for you – girlfriends, church group, mothers, aunts, neighbors. We can all do it, with a little help from our friends.
