The weighing scale wages war on you from your teenage years. As you look for weapons to fend it off, weight loss tips come at you from all directions, and you find yourself buried deep in wisdom and phony articles alike on the internet, claiming to help you drop your weight faster than a melting snow cone in hell. You finally manage to sift through the crap and make a peace treaty with your body. A bit of exercise mixed with clean diet, and the weight scale tips in your favour. It’s a good life.

Well, it is, until menopause symptoms decide to show up on the scene. The peace treaty hops, skips and jumps straight out of the window, taking any semblance of control you might have on your weight with it. Your body changes right in front of your eyes, and menopause symptoms come at you from all directions. They strategically attack your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing, leaving you flailing with your waistline expanding at an alarming rate.

Menopause symptoms march to battle in phases. Perimenopause, the first of the three phases, begins around the age of 40 and overstays its welcome by approximately 10 years. It settles into every nook and cranny of your body and makes weight loss seem like a pipe dream. Weight gain might seem like a physical menopause symptom, but it affects your mental and emotional health as well. So it is important during perimenopause to focus not only on any needed weight loss, but also your overall health and wellbeing that help enhance your energy, sex drive, mental clarity, happiness and helps gain control over your body again. When you keep your eye on the ball of having a happy and healthy life, weight loss will come willingly along for the ride, and you will find yourself skirting the unhealthy tips for weight loss during menopause like a pro.

Perimenopause weight loss

Usually when you gain weight around your stomach during perimenopause it is a sign of decreasing levels of oestrogen in your body courtesy of the menopause and might indicate an imbalance of your blood sugar and insulin levels. Fat stored around your abdominal region could make you vulnerable to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, affect your overall health and throw a wedge in your sex life. If you’re stuck in this situation, the solution is to balance your oestrogen, insulin and blood sugar levels. How to accomplish that? Simple, change your lifestyle!

How to Increase Oestrogen Levels in Perimenopause

Bust your stress

Stress comes as naturally as breathing for women in the 21st century. Balancing the household and a professional life can make stress a constant companion. It is important to consciously indulge in practices that are known to bring down the stress levels. Yoga and meditation rank high on the list along with massages and breathing techniques that are known to lower anxiety.

Healthy Diet

There are a number of diets that guarantee weight loss after you start experiencing menopause symptoms. A low carb diet is known to help lose weight during menopause, especially fat around the belly. The carb intake does not have to be extinguished entirely from your diet, instead it can be reduced even a little to see the difference in your weight. One of the weight loss tips during menopause include switching to a vegetarian diet as it is known to aid weight loss in menopausal women. Other food good for menopause weight loss includes eggs and diary.

Why is it difficult to lose weight during menopause?

Menopause is known to start 12 months after your last period. It comes with a number of symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia, vaginal dryness, anxiety and many others. One of the most prominent menopause symptoms is weight gain. Starting from perimenopause, weight gain can plague you for more than a decade.

There are a number of things that can contribute to your weight gain during menopause. Insulin resistance, inadequate sleep, hormone imbalance and loss of muscle mass, are some of the reasons it might be hard for you to lose weight. During younger years fat is concentrated on the hips and thigh region, but once menopause rolls in, the problem area shifts to the abdominal region. Therefore it is important to focus on exercises and other ways that focus on reducing belly fat.

Low calorie count

Counting calories can be a hassle, but it is recommended by magazines and a fad that seems to infect people of all ages, sizes and shapes. While nutritionists also focus on calories to a certain extent, they tend to recommend a wholesome diet that focuses on overall health, not just a low calorie count meant to drop weight as fast as possible. Fad diets and random tips for weight loss during menopause on the other hand, might make you believe that consuming low calories is a manic pill and you’ll drop two dress sizes overnight.

A decrease in your calorie consumption is needed to lose weight in menopause. You burn calories when you rest as well, but the amount decreases as you hit menopause. It might lead to a fall in metabolic rate and reduction of muscle mass. While short term weight loss will benefit from consumption of extremely low calories, if you’re aiming for long term, it is not a durable plan of action. It is also important to watch the amount you consume not just calories. Calories are important to keep your health up as it’s deficiency can lead to muscle loss and from there bone loss. This increases the already sky high risk of getting osteoporosis after menopause.

Get Your Body Moving

Exercise is an important element at any point of your life. It helps your mental and emotional health along with your physical one. While exercise is of paramount importance to combat menopause symptoms, it is important that you do not over do it as it might be counter intuitive and backfire easily. You might experience various menopause symptoms that feel like your soul is being sucked out your body by a dementor. That leaves a very limited amount of energy that can be actually used to exercise. It is important to utilise this strength in an positive way to help your body re-energise and work better, instead of getting up off the sofa like you’ve been hit by a bus.

If you’re already suffering from an imbalance of stress hormones, hitting the gym or the track for a longer time and higher intensity will only make it worse. When stress hormones are in a flux, sex hormones and eostrogen start imitating a drunk girl in high heels as well. So it is important to have a balanced exercise routine.

The Best Types of Exercise for Weight Loss

Menopause symptoms include loss of bone density, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and many more that bring down your energy levels during menopause. This leads to a steady decrease in the will to be active and exercise. However it is of utmost importance to keep up a steady exercise routine to lose weight and keep it off. Resistance training, strength training and aerobic exercises form some of the best weight loss programs for menopause.

Get Restful, Quality Sleep

Sleep is an important element that helps heal your body and restore it to it’s natural balance. Women who do not get sufficient amount of sleep are prone to gaining weight as they have an imbalance of hormones in their body which leads them to believe that they are hungry even when they’re not. Menopause symptoms include insomnia, which makes it hard to get the required amount of sleep.

Other Weight Loss Tips That Work

Some of the best foods of menopause weight loss include protein, food high in soluble fiber, like broccoli and sprouts. Green tea is also efficient in burning fat. It is important to have a mindful relationship with food so that you don’t eat as a reaction to anything but genuine hunger.

How to Keep the Weight Off

The ultimate goal is not only to lose weight but also to keep it off in a way that does not compromise your health. Making changes in your lifestyle to accommodate the growing needs of your body will help you in managing your other menopause symptoms as well. You cannot stop your body from changing as it is just one of the aspects of menopause, but you can control it to a certain extent using some of these tips for weight loss during menopause. It is also important to love your body regardless of the shape and size it is in. acceptance and self love will not only help you lose your weight faster by reducing unnecessary stress, but it will also help combat any mental and emotional menopause symptoms. Comparison is another thing you need to avoid. Everybody is different, and will react to menopause differently. It is important to keep your head down and focus on your own journey.