Menopause Advice: Weight Gain and Menopause

“One of the commonest issues women present to me with when they come to see me about menopausal symptoms is central weight gain, sometimes finding this more troubling than other more classic symptoms like hot flushes. 

Meno-belly, middle aged spread, the dreaded thickening…call it what you will, it’s not a popular change! But it’s not just important for aesthetic reasons, central weight gain can be linked to metabolic disease such as heart disease and diabetes so does need to be addressed.   

However, many of the current generation of menopausal women were unfortunately exposed to a toxic diet culture in their younger years and will often start to restrict their diet as a response to this weight gain/change in shape. This rarely works, and in fact often has the opposite effect.   

There is no magic wand to solve this issue and although optimising oestrogen levels is important, it’s not an isolated solution. Women need to approach things sensibly and slowly, with a balanced approach to significantly improve things. Dull but true…good quality sleep, reduced stress levels, a balanced plate way of eating with good quality protein at every meal and lifting (heavy) weights usually does it. Strong and steady wins the race!”