Why do women gain weight at the menopause?
This process, during the menopause, becomes even harder because our bodies want to store the fat for later – a bit like “puppy fat” stored at puberty. We develop “insulin resistance” making our bodies store, rather than burn, calories. What changes is how you handle food due to the increased “insulin resistance”. For example , if you eat 1000 calories before the Menopause you will burn 700 of them and maybe store 300. After the Menopause you will store 700 and burn only 300! HRT can only partly help reverse this process. NB – Watch out for an underactive thyroid especially if there is a family history. The only things that can effectively increase your metabolism are activity and exercise. Therefore, calculate (honestly) what percentage of your day is spent being active (actually on the move) and how much of it sitting, driving and sleeping. Compare that to when you were 40 years old and 30 and 20…! Watch a small child – they are constantly on the go and usually their mothers are too
