Menopause and Weight Gain: Menopause is a tough time to beat — irritation bouts, loneliness and most importantly the frustration to beat weight gain. Most women find their abdomens increasing after attaining menopause. You may have realized that all the diet and exercise may have worked before 45-50 but not really after that. So how does one lose weight after menopause? Difficult, but possible, say experts.
Why do women gain weight during menopause?: Most women begin to gain about a pound a year at the perimenopause level itself. Experts claim that age isn’t the only factor that contributes to weight gain after menopause. It is suggested that lifestyle, genes and age can set the scales fluctuating after menopause.
How to Lose Weight after Menopause?
Before trying to lose weight you need to understand what is causing to lose muscles and gain fat. The logic is simple — your metabolism slows down with age, caloric needs also decline, as a result, you lose more muscle than fat. Muscles can burn calories which you cannot count on anymore. Hence, fat accumulates with the persistence of sluggish metabolism.
Some effective and recommended ways to lose weight after menopause are:
- Stay More Active: Need to be twice more active than before — workout in the morning and evening
- Weight Training: Include weight training in your workouts to avoid losing the muscle mass
- Reduce Alcohol Consumption: Limit your alcohol consumption to 1 or 2 glasses of wine or beer as they contain fewer calories as against frozen drinks
- Increase Calcium Intake: Experts opine that calcium contained in low-fat dairy products contributes effectively towards weight loss
- Relax: Find ways to relax and strengthen your nerves maybe through yoga, tai chi, meditation, etc.
- Read Labels Carefully: Read labels carefully while buying products and foods that can only contribute your well-being and not weight
- Limit the Intake of Sodium: Limit the intake of sodium by means of alternative seasoning and spices to add flavor to your food
- Decrease Calories Consumed: Look for healthier options rather than binging on junk or fatty foods
- Decrease Portion Size: This you can do best by reducing the size of serving plates, spoons, etc
Experts opine that extra weight after menopause can contribute to serious illnesses like breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. So if you wanted to know how important it is to shed weight after menopause — VERY is the answer! And if you wanted to know if it’s possible — yes, it is and through measures taken when you were younger; the only trick being able to understand why your metabolism works slowly and how you can tackle it.
Can Home Remedies, Yoga, Fasting and Drinking Water Treat Menopause Obesity ?
Home Remedies: These are time tested medicines, easily available in our kitchen. They are cost effective and do not require much medical supervision while taken. They have no side effects.
Yoga: It is practised in the east for more than 5000 years. It develops body, mind and the soul. It immunise the body from several ailments too.
Fasting: One can choose a particular day in the week to practise fasting. The vital organs of digestion get rest to regain energy and the body carries out its metabolism for that day by burning fat. Fasting increases longevity and boost the weak immune system of obese women too.
Drinking Water: Obese people indulge into eating lot of junk foods for pleasure. It is hard to believe that water is an appetite suppressant. Any substance is said so when it has the ability to reduce the craving for eating more.
