MENOPAUSE
Meno matters
Nutrition counsellor and dietitian Amanda Bullat shares the things that could be causing you to gain weight in midlife… and what to do about them!
IF YOU’RE A WOMAN OVER 40 and have been thinking, “Whose body is this?”, you’re not alone. Unexplained weight gain is a classic symptom of perimenopause – the 7-10 years before your last period.
If you can’t understand why your weight has crept – or skyrocketed – up since your early 40s, it’s likely you’ll try your old diet tricks to get back on track but you may find they no longer work. That’s because it’s not only food choices but lifestyle – sleep habits, exercise, stress management etc – that plays a role in weight gain in midlife. Although recent evidence shows a correlation between midlife, weight gain and an increase in waist circumference, what isn’t clear is whether that’s down to age-related hormonal fluctuations or lifestyle.
For example, in midlife, you’re often juggling children with a busy work schedule, supporting ageing parents, maintaining a relationship with your partner (or dealing with the grief of separation), and much more. In other words, you have less energy or time to think about meal prep, exercise and getting to bed before midnight. All of this impacts on weight.
The following things could be causing you to hold onto weight, but my advice is to start small. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do everything at once. Pick one tip and implement it for the next five weeks. At the end of each week, check in with yourself and ask: How did it feel to practise the tip? Did it fit with my schedule or create more stress? How can I tweak it to make it work for me?
Self-reflection and mindfulness are essential to help you achieve your healthiest self after 40, regardless of dress size or the number on the scales.
1 NOT EATING ENOUGH
A reason weight can creep up, other than emotional eating, is not eating enough. If you’re like 99 per cent of my clients, the first thing you do when you see your weight increase is cut calories. But this can backfire for many reasons, especially after 40. Research shows that losing weight through restrictive calorie diets can decrease your body’s lean tissue such as muscle.
Your body is biologically designed to survive famine; if it wasn’t, our species would have died out by now. Every time you restrict your calories below what your body needs (and this is different for everyone!), your body thinks, “Famine! Quick, store all the energy for later use”. Then, when you get tired of the unsustainable food rules and start eating more, your body will want to store it all again and go back to your former weight, sometimes with additional weight you didn’t have before.
Avoid restrictive diets and practic
