Menopause Doesn't Have To Mean Getting Fatter
Most of us feel that it is harder to lose weight, especially around our waist, as we get older.
Estrogen Deficiency
If you are not on hormonal therapies and you become menopausal (one year of having no periods at all) you get into an “estrogen deficiency” state.
It has been classically thought that estrogen insufficiency impairs women's ability to use fat as an energy source.
It’s been thought that without estrogen, we can’t burn off fat.
A study conducted at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä shows that menopausal state or blood estrogen levels do not clearly determine the rate at which middle-aged women are able to use fat at rest or during exercise.
These authors state that estrogen is viewed as a hormone promoting fat burning. After menopause, estrogen levels drop. The resulting estrogen deficiency is thought to reduce women's ability to use fat as an energy source, leading potentially to weight gain and metabolic health impairment.
A study performed at the University of Jyväskylä found that the influence of menopause on fat utilization is likely “minor” compared with nutritional status or fitness levels.
Fat utilization of postmenopausal women did not differ from women who had not yet reached menopause or were using HRT.
"This was an expected result. Women burn fat also after menopause if their energy intake is less than their expenditure," says Doctoral Researcher Jari Karppinen.
In a bicycle test the highest rates of fat burning were achieved by women with the highest fitness and physical activity levels.
Again, postmenopausal women did not differ from women who had not reached menopause or used HRT.
"If you want to improve the ability to burn fat during exercise, focus on improving your fitness with endurance training," Karppinen continues.
“The ability to burn fat while exercising improves with training even after menopause."
Stay Fit!
Move!
Eat healthy more than not.
Eat more plants.
Consider nutritional support as today’s food is not as healthy as it used to be.
Don’t use the excuse of menopause to allow more and more fat cells to latch onto your love handles.
Consider all the hormones with your HRT, including testosterone, which promotes muscle building.
But, also know, that some body fat is protective.
Don’t aim to be a bag of elbows.
Workout
If you don’t work out, you do start to lose precious muscle mass, even during perimenopause.
Without moving more, we do lose muscle.
In a study from the University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences, they showed that while men and women who have high muscle mass are less likely to die from heart disease, it also appears that women who have higher levels of body fat -- regardless of their muscle mass -- have a greater degree of protection than women with less fat. (There is a god.)
They also found that it is not so much a gain of fat as you age, but a LOSS of muscle that is the issue.
The University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences again, showed that women undergoing perimenopause, lose lean body mass. It was the LOSS of muscle that then doubled their fat mass.
If you don’t keep moving, plus doing resistance exercises, you lose muscle. Then fat piles on.
Their research showed the real issue was cardiac health based on exercise and muscle.
Moral of this story:
Keep moving.
Consider testing your hormones as you age (25 years and upward as perimenopause is happening earlier and earlier, never say never).
Consider HRT as you age, and don’t forget T.
Do resistance exercise, not just walking. You can add weights while you walk!
Knowledge is power.
Stay buffed.
Dr. B.
References:
Associations of resting and peak fat oxidation with sex hormone profile and blood glucose control in middle-aged women. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2022.06.001
Sex Differences in the Association of Body Composition and Cardiovascular Mortality. Journal of the American Heart Association, 2021; 10 (5) DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.120.017511
Changes in body composition and weight during the menopause transition. JCI Insight, 2019; 4 (5) DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.124865