Top tips that’ll help you
FROM hot flushes and mood swings to memory loss, the menopause can bring with it a whole range of uncomfortable and annoying symptoms. Supermodel Yasmin Le Bon, 53, recently opened up about how she had been affected, revealing she suffered from fatigue and aches and pains as well as developing a “layer of padding all over”.
And she’s not alone. Once women hit their 40s, they typically gain an average of 1lb a year so a woman in her early 40s could easily be a stone heavier by the time she is 55. The tendency to pile on the pounds is a natural part of ageing but the menopause is unfortunately a contributory factor.
The drop in oestrogen levels that occurs during menopause has a side effect of redistributing body fat and excess pounds start to settle around the waist.
There are also lifestyle factors to consider. Muscle mass diminishes with age while fat increases.
Other factors such as a lack of exercise, unhealthy eating and too little sleep can also contribute to weight gain.
Luckily there are plenty of simple lifestyle changes you can make to help tackle this problem.
We’ve put together a guide to help you look and feel your best during the menopause and beyond.
DON’T CRASH DIET If you’re trying to lose weight, it can be tempting to skip meals or follow an extreme diet plan, banishing carbohydrates and other vital food groups.
However, if you drastically cut calories, your body reduces production of leptin.
This is the hormone that regulates fat distribution by controlling appetite and metabolic rate, which means the body begins to burn muscle rather than fat.
The truth is that extreme or crash diets slow the metabolism down and make weight gain more likely when you start eating normally again. GET MOVING Hormonal fluctuations during the menopause can slow your metabolism, meaning it’s easy to take in more calories than you burn. If you continue to eat as you always have and don’t increase physical activity, you will gain weight.
So it’s key to keep moving. Aim to exercise at least three times a week for 45 minutes, mixing cardiovascular activity that gets your heart rate up with light weight-based exercises to increase muscle mass.
If you’re worried about fitting exercise into your schedule, incorporate it into your daily life by walking instead of driving and taking the stairs rather than waiting for the lift.
THE STRESS EFFECT If you always feel stressed, the chances are your body is producing too much cortisol.
Unfortunately, high levels of this stress hormone can encourage the body to store fat around the midriff.
Cortisol also increases the appetite and leads to cravings for foods that are high in fat and sugar.