How do I lose weight during menopause?

The most important things in brief

• During the menopause, women may gain weight without eating more or differently than before.
• First of all, this is not uncommon and nothing to worry about.
• Hormone changes in the female body often lead to water retention, which causes weight to skyrocket.
• This is often accompanied by an increasing waist circumference.

An increase in belly size after menopause does not necessarily mean weight gain. Rather, it is often because the body is now producing less and less estrogen and more and more testosterone. This means that the female organism now reacts in a very "manly" way when it comes to fat deposits - and stores body fat on the stomach. But that doesn't explain the increasing weight.

The weight gain has other causes

It has already been mentioned that water retention can lead to increased body weight, but there are usually more reasons why women gain weight during menopause. On the one hand, there is a regression of muscles, which leads to a slower metabolism and ultimately to a reduced need for calories. The problem: This does not automatically reduce your appetite.

But not only the constant desire for wholesome nutrition becomes a problem after the menopause, but also the power of habit. Right now, in a phase of drastic physical changes, women don't necessarily want to try out a completely new nutritional concept - which is completely understandable. Quite apart from the fact that women already eat much healthier than men who are about the same age.

Concentrate on what is feasible when losing weight - and move a lot

Would you like to lose weight during menopause? The good news is that this is not impossible. An important building block for this is sleeping a lot and well, which minimizes the stress on the organism. And it only makes sense to make the necessary dietary changes when you are relaxed: little sugar, few carbohydrates, but lots of fruit and vegetables. You can also consume large amounts of protein in the form of fish, nuts, dairy products and legumes.

In order to combat the water retention mentioned, regular consumption of nettle tea is recommended. However, you should take a break every now and then, because the body gets used to the substances in the nettle and the effects are gone after just a few weeks.

But the ultimate when it comes to losing weight during menopause is: exercise. Sports and fitness exercises not only improve general fitness and mood, but primarily strengthen the muscles. And it's muscles that – even at rest! – burn the most calories in the body.

Bodily processes have a great influence

Women going through the menopause often have an underactive thyroid gland that goes unnoticed. This can lead to tiredness and hair loss, but also to weight gain. In addition, the organism often (not only during the menopause) releases too little somatropin. This hormone helps break down body fat.

Speaking of hormonal changes: the increasing lack of estrogen actually makes losing weight even more difficult. At the same time, because the body's so-called basal metabolic rate, i.e. energy consumption, is no longer as high as it used to be, weight loss becomes more and more difficult if you don't show a minimum of discipline when it comes to nutrition and exercise. But keep your head up - you can do it!