banish perimenopause and menopause belly fat

The meno middle, the menopot, the menopause muffin top, perimenopause and menopause belly fat – call it what you like (or don’t like) this is a common challenge for most of us midlife ladies and tends to be the number one thing midlife ladies would like to change about our body. 

In fact, midlife weight gain and perimenopause and menopause belly fat is INEVITABLE in midlife if we do not tweak what we are doing in regards to our nutrition and lifestyle to suit our age and stage. 

However, you do not just have to sit around idly accepting midlife weight gain and perimenopause and menopause belly fat as an inevitable part of midlife – HELL NO!  You just need to be a bit smarter in midlife so that you can whittle that waist back with no deprivation or drama needed. 

Where the feck has my waist gone?  And more importantly – why????

It is caused by the slowing down of our metabolism and insulin resistance in midlife, high cortisol levels (cortisol related belly fat) AND due to our declining oestrogen and progesterone levels – the triple threat shall we call them!

As our oestrogen declines, our body changes where it stores fat and we start storing fat much more like a male.  Moving from the bum and thighs in our 20’s and 30’s, to our stomach from midlife onwards (bugger).  Hello Perimenopause and Menopause Belly Fat!

Our progesterone also lowers and this decrease in both oestrogen and progesterone then creates an increase of cortisol which is our stress hormone.  This leads to cortisol related belly fat and also insulin resistance which is related to weight gained around the middle (FFS!)

Why taking action is about so much more than the skinny jeans!

Midlife, perimenopause belly fat and menopause belly fat are very different fat than that found on other parts of our body.  Fat on our arms and legs is just fat.  You may not like it visually but it is not especially harmful. 

However, the deeper belly fat (visceral fat) is around our organs and is active fat. It is metabolically active and is its own endocrine organ that secretes hormones, chemicals and inflammation into the body that is linked to an extensive list of health issues including; heart disease, strokes, cancer, high blood pressure, migraine headaches and dementia.  This visceral fat also causes issues with your blood sugar and insulin levels and your hunger hormones, which then causes easier weight gain. 

However, despite all this doom and gloom the good news is there is absolutely something you can do about midlife perimenopause and menopause belly fat.  We cannot spot reduce where you lose weight from, however, if you have excess weight around the middle then you have excess weight to lose.  You do not need to learn to live with it and you can again make friends with your skinny jeans, boost your health and feel fabulous.

The solutions to banish perimenopause and menopause belly fat: 

In midlife it is important to up our nutrition game and look at the quality of what we are eating.  We need less food than when we were younger so our food needs to pack a nutritional punch if we are not going to be hungry.  I recommend my clients eat 80% wholefoods and 20% junk so that they are nourished (but not restricted) and they can switch off their hunger hormones. 

A malnourished body will keep on
sending out hunger signals for more
and more food creating hollow legs
syndrome

  • Items such as white carbs and sugar are appetite stimulators and are a big contributor to ‘hollow legs syndrome’. Absolutely include these items as some foods are good for the soul, however I would recommend them as your 20% junk.  The rest of the time you want your meals to be a craving crushing, hormone balancing, satiating mix of fibre, protein and healthy fats. 
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  • Look at your portions. We are no longer in our 20’s and we need significantly less food.  However, aim to be satisfied not hungry as hungry women make terrible decisions around food.  Start with maybe taking a quarter or a third off your dinner and see how it feels.  When you are properly nourished as above you no longer need to overconsume. 
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  • Manage your cortisol and stress levels. As mentioned, we have a natural predisposition to high cortisol in midlife as we lose oestrogen and progesterone’s dampening effect on our cortisol. High cortisol can make us more prone to stress eating, hunger in general, but also cortisol related belly fat. 
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  • Midlife is the time where things such as cortisol reducing sleep, exercising and nourishing yourself with stress-relieving activities becomes an essential part of losing weight, particularly around the middle.  A stressed, midlife woman is likely to carry weight around the middle/li>
     

  • Move your body daily and, for belly fat particularly focus on stress relieving activities such as walking, yoga and Pilates, if these are activities you enjoy./li>
     

  • Consider HRT. It is not for everyone but HRT will replace some of that lost oestrogen which will help with storing less weight around our waist.  However, it is important to note that to receive effects and results that you want from HRT it is necessary to combine it with the lifestyle and nutrition tweaks and changes above. 

 
Eat a bit better, eat a bit less, move a bit more, consider replacing hormones, get some sleep and manage your stress by drowning in self-care, is the key to whittling down that midlife middle.  You will feel better, lesson your chance of chronic disease, help or obliterate midlife hormonal symptoms and your clothes will hang better.  All great reasons to make some midlife upgrades. 

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