Exercise burns off ‘menopause middle’
Lifestyle changes, not hormones, may be more to blame for bulge
Menopause has long been blamed for the middle-age spread that makes women long for elasticized waistbands. Yet it looks more and more likely that lifestyle, not the change of life, is at fault.
One of the first inklings that something other than menopause is behind the expanding waistline of women in their 40s and 50s occurred in the early ’90s when a longterm study of middle-aged women found that weight gain was similar among all study subjects regardless of whether they were premenopausal or post-menopausal.
More recently, a 2008 study out of Louisiana State University confirmed those initial findings after following 150 premenopausal women age 43 and older for a period four years. Like the study a decade and a half earlier, all the women put on weight, no matter whether they were premenopausal, transitioning into menopause or post-menopausal, suggesting that there may be more to mid-life weight gain than just hormonal status.
“There were no significant differences in body weight, fatness or lean mass in relation to menopause onset,” said the researchers in their 2008 article published in the International Journal on Obesity.
Weight gain wasn’t the only thing the women in the study had in common. They also reduced their level of physical activity over the four-year period they were followed, burning about 200 fewer calories daily, which is significant enough to result in substantial weight gain over time.
“Overall, in women who transitioned to menopause during the study, activity counts dropped by half, from four years prior to menopause to menopause onset,” said the research team.
Most of that dip in activity occurred in the two years just prior to menopause and remained fairly stable up to two years post-menopause.
Interestingly, during this time, the women in the study started to reduce the number of calories they consumed, probably in response to their weight gain. The researchers commented that had the women not cut back on their food intake, the weight gain over that four-year period would have been more significant. That said, the nature of their diet also changed. Protein, carbohydrate and fibre intake decreased, while cholesterol and saturated fat intake increased.
Despite the debate whether or not menopause causes weight gain in middle-aged women, there’s no doubt declining levels of estrogen change the location of where fat is stored. Even if you manage to maintain your weight into your middle years, your body could look quite different than it did even a decade earlier.
As menopause approaches, fat tends to collect around the waistline, with more of it located deeper within the abdominal core as compared to premenopausal women or post-menopausal women on hormone replacement therapy. This increase in visceral abdominal fat raises the risk of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Adding to that change in body composition is a natural loss of muscle and decrease in metabolism that comes with age. Statistics suggest body weight increases by about 250 grams ( just over half a pound) per year regardless of your gender and menstrual status.
How much exercise will it take to fight off the extra weight that comes with age? That remains unclear. What we do know is that sustained aerobic activity burns more calories than any other form of exercise and that weight training helps reduce the loss of muscle mass that slows metabolism and alters body composition. So a combination of daily aerobic exercise combined with regular weight-training workouts will probably offer the best results.
Remember, however, that the scale may not be the best judge of your success. A 2009 study in the Journal of The North American Menopause Society suggests that, while exercise can positively affect body composition post-menopause, actual weight loss may be elusive.
The news isn’t all bad. The women in the study lost body fat and inches around the middle, even though the numbers on the scale didn’t move. This is probably due to the fact that added muscle weighs more but takes up less space than fat.
If you’re hoping to avoid the “menopause middle,” you’ll need to significantly change your lifestyle in the years leading up to and beyond menopause. Improving the quality of your diet and watching your caloric intake is crucial to your success. So, too, is getting lots of exercise, be it in the gym or just finding more ways to be active in everyday life.