Weight Gain After Menopause and How to Avoid it
Remember the days when you had a model figure like the ones you see on the cover of glossy magazines. It would seem like ages ago especially when you have reached the menopause stage. By that time bulging in the abdomen would be pretty obvious and would continue to gain around one pound per year. This may not be a good thing, but women need to face up to it.
Why do menopausal women find it so difficult to maintain their low weight? There is a certain amount of people who think a change in hormonal levels is the cause of weight gain. But what is more evident is the alteration in the mature person’s lifestyle.
Gone are the days when a woman is so full of energy to actively engage in various activities including exercise. The vigor though seems to have relocated in the eating habit, as the consumption of food becomes an amusing pastime. Moreover, as one ages lesser calories get burned as the body promotes the substitution of muscle with fat.
Compared to muscle, fat burns fewer calories, and it decreases the body’s metabolic rate. If this doesn’t seem applicable, there could be another reason. Since family members and relatives show a genetic tendency to gain weight, the increase in weight could be due to this.
Being slightly overweight may not be uncomfortable for some, but putting on too much weight can cause real problems. You may know people who suffer from the consequences of obesity, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
The worst-case scenario is a fatal heart attack or stroke. On top of that if you gain weight your risk for high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes becomes greater. Those ladies who gain more than 25lbs. after going through menopause have a better chance of having breast cancer.
Maybe you are asking yourself, hos can a woman reverse this menopausal phenomenon? You get fat by eating too much and exercising too little, so you can get slimmer by exercising more and eating less. The end result is an exercise program which will shed fat and build healthy muscle tissue.
Aerobic and weight training exercise are effective means of losing weight and also full of fun. There is pysical activities you can do such as dancing, biking, moving to the groove, and just walking if exercising is to strenuous.
There are many delicious meals and snacks whose calorie count is not too high. Moderation is the key to a person’s success in any endeavor.
In the end, prevention is always the best and cheapest medicine. Consequently, one doesn’t have to wait for menopause to cram on weight loss programs. While still young, one should focus on maintaining the ideal weight by eating the right kind of food that promotes proper nutrition. The key to good health throughout life is patience and discipline. Menopause or not, maintain that healthy body and weight with the right attitude.
