Top 4 Causes of Menopausal Weight Gain

What is going on? Why am I gaining all this weight in menopause?

If you are reading this, you are likely approaching menopause or in the throws of menopause. Are you wondering what happened to your figure? Is your once toned body turning into a flabby mess? This is in spite of the fact that you are exercising more and eating less. Do you feel like no matter what you do you are only getting fatter?

What are the top 4 causes of menopausal weight gain?

To understand what is causing the weight gain, STOP what you are doing right now! STOP actually is an acronym for the top 4 causes of menopausal weight gain:

Stress and Emotions

Toxins

Out of Balance Hormones

Poor Sleep

Let’s look at each one of these a little closer. Stress is at the very root of all health problems including menopausal weight gain. This is because chronic prolonged stress leads to high cortisol and eventually adrenal fatigue and burn out. Your body goes into survival mode and the cortisol receptors in the belly will lead to fat storage and also food cravings.

Unresolved emotional blocks adds to this stress further and the body compensates further by releasing neuro-hormonal factors that put you in survival mode and guess what? Contributes to inflammation and weight gain.

If that was not enough your body is put under even more stress due to toxic overload. Toxins in our food, water, and environment stress the liver and the digestive track. Both of which are very important to helping your body to stay in balance and reduce inflammation. When your body is inflamed your hormones become out of balance and your are at greater risk for disease. Protection against food sensitivities, infections, immune dysfunction is compromised. When you are inflamed you swell up inside and the essential nutrients needed to make your hormones work optimally in a time of reducing hormone levels will be accelerated. This inflammation causes weight gain.
It does not take a specialist to tell you what you already know, menopause causes your hormones to be out of balance.

So which hormones contribute to weight gain?

Estrogen as you probably know falls during menopause. Your smart efficient body tries to help out by increasing fat storage to help you hold on to that estrogen around your mid-section. If that is not enough, many women also develop low thyroid function and insulin resistance.

More fat storage!

I can’t sleep!! Is this you? Many women complain of poor sleep during menopause. Those darn hormones are causing night sweats that wake you from your slumber. This seems to happen for many women between 2-4 a.m. There are various opinions on why this happens at this time. There is likely a shift in hormones, blood sugar levels, adrenal repair and liver detoxification that may well be occurring during this time and raising your body temperature and waking you up. Add to that changes in neuro-chemical balance due to low serotonin affecting mood and lower melatonin affecting sleep.

Losing even one hour of sleep a night can sabotage your weight loss efforts by increasing leptin and ghrelin. Two very important hormones that help regulate appetite and weight.

So what can you do?

Reduce stress, and emotional challenges. Decrease your toxic burden through a healthy diet, drinking filtered water, and limit exposure to environmental toxins.

Learn how to optimize hormone balance. Two books I would recommend you read that can help you are my book, Seeds 4 Change: A Path to Health and Healing and Dr. Sara Gottfried’s book, The Hormone Reset Diet.

Don’t make your hard work of extreme exercise and eating like a bird continue. Out smart your own body and get it working for you again.

Want to learn more about surviving menopause? Go to: www.menopausesisters.com