Menopause and weight loss

Nicole Porter

While I'm still a decade out from this, I know it's a hot topic around the gym - the effects of menopause on weight, energy, etc. What can we do as women to make sure we're in a good place going into this "life change", what to expect as horomones wreak havoc, and once you're out the other side, what's next in fitness and weight loss?

Sawyer Paull-Baird

Well, obviously I cannot speak from experience here, however this is certainly a hot topic, you're right, and thus I have done a fair amount of reading on the perimenopausal period, and associated changes in the body.. I have also worked with a fair number of individuals as they navigate this.

Below are some awesome resources that I would HIGHLY recommend everyone read, male or female, to better understand the changes during menopause:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5041043/

Highly scientific language, but I still believe everyone can glean some useful information from the above article.

https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-menopause

Written in a more easily digestible fashion.

https://sigmanutrition.com/episode279/

Podcast about HRT, which is somewhat controversial.

I would certainly urge everyone to take a read/listen through those at some point, but a few key takeaways are noted below:

Translation: There is no consensus among researchers that menopause causes weight gain. If we can draw a consensus, it seems like weight gain is more a result of aging in general, however the shift to more visceral fat, and less subcuanteous fat (under the skin), and less muscle, is related to sex hormone changes. That said, regular exercise (especially resistance exercise) can certainly help attenuate those changes.

Hope those help!

I think @Mike Stack may have some additional knowledge to share here as well.

Heather Quinlan

Although I am not premenopausal (yet... some days I wonder lol), as a woman, I greatly appreciate that this topic is here. It is most certainly relevant to all women and their health, both physical and mental. There is so much going on within our bodies that challenges the simplicity of "calories in vs. calories out". And although there is science to support that theory, it's also so much more!... which, as women, we tend to forget given the messages surrounding us daily. Thank you, @Nicole Porter , for brining up this topic and @Sawyer Paull-Baird for continuing the conversation with great resources!

Theresa Cvetanovski

Thanks for the resources Sawyer! This is something I will need to come back to read!

Theresa

Mike Stack

Thanks for tagging me @Sawyer Paull-Baird! During my 20+ year career in commercial fitness I've worked with a number of peri-menopasual women who have wondered how menopause effects fitness and body composition. The resources you posted above are spot on, as is the general consensus of the scientific community (to date) on menopause and it's effects on health, fitness, and body composition. I'll defer the experts that Sawyer cited above to explain the more complex science, as they know it better than I do.

What I will add, from a practical perspective are a few things:

1) Weight is gained with age, not because of aging per se, but because of reduction in activity (which also reduces muscle mass, which in turn reduces metabolism). This is a product of inactivity more so then anything that happens as a result of aging physiologically.

2) Once a woman reaches menopause, weight gain shifts from her lower body (the place women typically gain fat) to her abdomen (where women don't usually gain fat). This gives the perception that "additional" fat is being gained, this is not the case, it's just being gained in a NEW area. If you were to do a body composition measurement you'd see that the fat gain is not the anomaly, it's where the fat is being gained that's different. This is the important point, it's not that MORE fat is being gained, it's just being gained in a DIFFERENT area. While this may be disconcerting, it's not that excess fat is being gained, it's just being stored differently.

3) Keeping number one and two in mind, there's good news! Menopause (and aging for that matter) isn't a death sentence on your fitness and body composition. You can maintain (and even improve) levels of fitness and body composition provided you're still willing to do the work with regard to diet and exercise. I think the PN recommendations from above are spot on, that's a great place to start.

I'll end by saying this, I've seen many woman get in the best shape of their life AFTER menopause; their highest fitness levels, their lowest levels of body fatness, etc. If menopause was a predisposing physiological event to fitness and body composition deteriorating, this would not be possible. The good news it is possible if ownership of the process is undertaken. I hope this inspires many of the women that read to be empowered with the thought they can still improve their fitness and body composition with age - because they can!!

Terry Priestley

Thanks to Sawyer and Mike for their knowledge and input on this topic. I am wondering if a woman’s bodily response to natural menopause would be the same as if she went into surgical menopause due to a hysterectomy with both ovaries removed. I realize we have other sources of hormone production namely your Thyroid. Just wondering since many women have had hysterectomies for various reasons. Thoughts, anyone?

Mike Stack

Hey Terry, that's a great question! To answer it simply, the answer is yes, there would be no difference in physiological responses based on chronological menopause or surgical menopause given there aren't any other confounding health issues that exist. If there are that can certainly effect things, but just on the level of menopause the mechanism is the same, so the outcome would be the same.