Video: 5 Reasons For Menopause Weight Gain

It doesn’t surprise me that over 80% of women who have completed the My Menopause Transformation Symptoms Quiz tell me that they’re overweight.

I still remember the weight gain myself in my late 40s and early 50s. It was really going on around the breasts, underneath, around the diaphragm and certainly the belly. It seemed that all my efforts weren’t working. The high-intensity exercise, the weight training, changing my diet, nothing was really helping my fat loss.

After I started to work with women and completed my doctoral studies, I began to understand that I was approaching it all wrong. There are certain things we need to be doing as we come through the menopause transition into post-menopause, especially those of us who enter menopause already overweight or obese.

It can be such a challenging time and can increase the risk of post-menopausal cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, not to mention making movement and mobility more difficult.

I’m Dr Wendy Sweet from My Menopause Transformation. My Transform Me Weight Loss Program has been changing the lives of many women and I’m opening a new intake around mid-July. I encourage you to pre-register because there are five things I’m going to help you focus on.

The first is understanding the importance of sleeping through the night. We need to focus on sleep because sleeping well helps stop further weight gain. If you really think about it, you cannot lose weight until you stop gaining weight. We need to change your metabolism, and one of the most important ways to do that is by improving sleep. Even if you are sleeping all night, it’s important that the quality of your sleep is good.

The second area is focusing on two organs that change during the menopause transition: the liver and the pancreas. These organs can store excess fat, known as liver fat and pancreatic fat. This can contribute to problems with blood sugar regulation, type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. If you’re already overweight or obese, excess fat storage in these organs may be one of the reasons you’re struggling to lose weight despite your efforts.

There are several strategies for improving liver health. Reducing saturated fats and supporting the liver’s ability to clear toxins can be an important starting point for improving metabolism.

The third area is managing stress. Stress is everywhere, and in menopause it can come from emotional overwhelm, excessive exercise, shift work or physically demanding jobs. Chronic stress can elevate cortisol levels, which may affect the thyroid, sleep quality, anxiety levels and heart rate. When cortisol remains high, the body can remain in a fight-or-flight state, making it more likely to hold onto fat as a survival mechanism.

The fourth area is understanding the role of fat itself. Fat cells are not simply storage sites. Excess body fat can store and even produce estrogen. This means that reducing excess estrogen and supporting the body’s ability to clear it becomes important. Gut health, particularly adequate soluble fibre intake, plays a key role in helping the body remove excess estrogen.

The fifth area is vitamin D. Low vitamin D levels can contribute to weight gain during menopause. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, which is important not only for bone and dental health but also for muscle function. Without adequate vitamin D and calcium, the body may struggle to maintain healthy physiological balance.

When we address these five factors, we can help bring the body’s systems back into balance, including the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid-adrenal axis. As the body resets and adapts to menopause, it becomes easier to manage weight and improve overall health.

I hope you’ll join me. I’m Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD) from My Menopause Transformation. My PhD focused on women’s health and aging through the menopause transition. I’ve worked hard to help women understand the lifestyle science needed to navigate menopause and post-menopause successfully.

If you’re finding your weight is becoming difficult to manage, visit My Menopause Transformation, click on the Programs link and learn more about the Transform Me Program. Watch the video and hopefully I’ll see you inside the member area.