What are the hormonal changes that impact weight, and how can you avoid letting the pounds accumulate? The explanations of Doctor Pierre Nys, endocrinologist and nutritionist, ex-attaché of the Hospitals of Paris.
What Happens During Premenopause?
Contrary to what we are sometimes led to believe, menopause is not a “hormonal free fall” that occurs overnight. It is a slow process that begins during what is called “premenopause” (or perimenopause), a period of transition with blurred clinical outlines and which appears several years (up to 10) before menopause.
Irregular periods, with longer or shorter cycles, sometimes very abundant (or conversely less than usual), unpredictable bleeding: the periods “get out of order” because the ovarian function declines, but if some women notice it and live with difficulty, in others these warning signs remain very discreet. Menopause occurs on average around age 52 (sometimes well before, sometimes a little later): it results in a complete disappearance of the rules. Apart from this absence, there are no well-defined clinical criteria, but it can be confirmed by a blood test which will show a drop in female hormones produced by the ovaries, estrogen (specifically estradiol) and progesterone.
How does this period affect weight gain?
If the drop in estrogen explains the appearance in some women (not all) of painful hot flashes which are in a way a hormonal backlash, it is clearly not the only one responsible for the weight gain. Of course, this estrogen deficiency will reduce thermogenesis and metabolism: we “burn” less, so we gain weight more easily. But in reality, several other hormones, the secretions of which tend to drop independently of the sex hormones, can have a more or less strong impact on the figure.
This is the case in particular with growth hormone (whose drop in secretion, which began in your thirties, becomes more pronounced): it is a regulatory factor between fat and lean masses, and its fall will promote the first to detriment of muscles. Same thing with DHEA, sometimes called “” ‘youth hormone “and whose drop can vary the weight (and drop the libido), as well as melatonin whose physiological decrease will deteriorate the quality of sleep, then causing negative repercussions on the hormones that manage hunger and storage (leptin and ghrelin). Finally, menopause is sometimes accompanied by changes in the thyroid, whose function is impaired, resulting in increased fatigue but also often weight gain.
Weight gain is not inevitable
Yes, it is a risky period because, indeed, small deviations are less “forgiven”, and are stored more easily. But just as menopause does not necessarily cause all possible inconvenience, not all women will gain weight, and not to the same extent. Average weight gain is 4 kg : like any average, it implies that some will not gain weight at all, and that others will accumulate pounds. But it should be understood that, even if the body promotes this weight gain, it can be effectively countered by a healthy lifestyle: balanced diet and sporting activity make it possible to maintain balance over time.
To conclude, if the post-quarantine period is certainly conducive to taking extra pounds, we do not have to “let it go”: on the contrary, we can act on all fronts to preserve our figure but also our health.
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