Does Menopause Affect Weight Loss? Metabolism As You Age

Description

Included in this episode:
Over 43% of menopausal women have obesity.

**hormonal changes don’t just happen to women. We need to be focused on preventative measures to live your most fulfilled, aging life.

For many women there is a decrease in estrogen and progesterone, combined with general aging, that triggers metabolic changes in the body. More often than not these metabolic changes are negative - causing a decrease in muscle mass which results in fewer caloric needs for the body. ***just because you have hormonal changes and metabolic changes in the body, the laws of thermodynamics do not change. You don’t magically change how you process calories as you age.
- What largely contributes to the overall issue within menopause and weight gain is a chain reaction of events.
Women gain on average of 1 pound per year. The overall increase being 10 lbs on average.

In short, menopause is a hormonal change in the body which causes behavioral impact that makes you overeat and gain weight.

Why should you care about addressing menopause?

Comorbidities - heart disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, cancer, respiratory insufficiency, sleep apnea.

What are the solutions?

Lifestyle and behavior modifications
Nutrition, calorie deficit
Exercise
- 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity.
- Full body muscle strength training more than two days a week.
Medications that help you be more consistent with lifestyle changes.
- GLP1
- Hormone therapy.

Common issues I see:

Alcohol.
People underestimate just how much your body needs to be healthy.
Having compassion for where you are and where you have been but discipline and harsh truth to get you where you want to go. The reality is, if you want a different outcome, different body composition, things have to change.
I see a lot of women who have spent their entire lives neglecting their health, taking care of everyone else, wondering why the years of neglecting their health have ended up so badly.
- For all the years you have spent not doing the necessary requirements for healthy weight and health prevention is all of the years you are going to have to spend undoing it.

Studies covered: