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Weight gain after menopause
Most women gain weight as they age, but it's not inevitable. How can you minimize weight gain after menopause? Step up your activity level and enjoy a healthy diet.
By Mayo Clinic staffSometime during your 40s or 50s — usually coinciding with the menopausal transition — you may notice that maintaining your usual weight becomes more difficult. Weight gain after menopause seems to be harder to lose, and the inches tend to accumulate around your abdomen, rather than your hips and thighs.
For most women, increases in weight begin during perimenopause — the years leading up to menopause. On average, women gain about a pound a year during this time. Reversing course to lose unwanted pounds requires strict attention to healthy eating habits, an active lifestyle and diligence to keep it all on track.
Causes of weight gain after menopause
Changing hormone levels associated with menopause aren't necessarily the cause of weight gain. Aging and lifestyle factors play a big role in your changing body composition, including:
- Exercising less. Menopausal women tend to exercise less than other women, which can lead to weight gain.
- Eating more. Eating more means you'll take in more calories, which are converted to fat if you don't burn them for energy.
- Burning fewer calories. The number of calories you need for energy decreases as you age because aging promotes the replacement of muscle with fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat does. When your body composition shifts to more fat and less muscle, your metabolism slows down.
Genetic factors may play a role in weight gain as well. If your parents and other close relatives carry extra weight around the abdomen, you may be predisposed to do so, too.
Weight gain can also have serious implications for your health. Excess weight increases your risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. These factors also put you at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
There's also evidence that weight gain after menopause increases breast cancer risk. Women who gain in excess of 20 pounds after menopause increase their breast cancer risk by nearly 20 percent. On the other hand, losing weight after menopause can reduce breast cancer risk.
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