The permanent end of menstruation and fertility is referred to as "menopause." It's at that point that a woman has definitely gone through her last menstrual cycle. The period leading up to that point is what is known as "perimenopause," and it can last for several years - years during which a woman notices gradual changes in her metabolism, her shape, her mood, and much to her dismay, her weight.
This "middle-age spread," so women are told, is simply to be expected at this point in their lives, and should be greeted with, at the very least, a cheerful resignation. Settle. Make peace with your changing body. Go gracefully through this inevitable rite of passage. Perimenopause weight gain is something that isn't going to go away.
Well, that sounds depressing. Is that the final word on the subject?
Absolutely not.
Causes of Perimenopause Weight Gain
The same metabolic set point remains true for your perimenopause body as it did before the process began. Weight gain is just another symptom of a body that is out of balance, and to restore it you need to figure out what is happening at the base of your physiology and emotions. Actually, it can be a blessing in disguise for some women. Once the masking effects of estrogen disappear, it can become much easier to understand what's not working well for your body. Many women have conditions such as insulin resistance of adrenal fatigue that may have been developing for years, but only after their estrogen began to dip were they able to notice the symptoms and address them.
It's important to understand that it's not just poor diet and lack of exercise that's creating the weight gain women experience in perimenopause. Fluctuating estrogen levels, stress, emotional issues, too little fat intake, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, menopause-triggered food allergies, years of exposure to allergens, plastics, chemicals, pesticides, bacteria, heavy metals and other poisons and irritants can so gum up a woman's system that it just can't function correctly despite her best attempts to eat well and exercise. Fasting and crash diets, in a desperate attempt to lose weight, only result in releasing these toxins back into the body, making her feel miserable. Her body at this point just wants to get back to a safe and familiar place, no matter how unhealthy that place might have been, and will sabotage her best efforts to drop those pounds.
So if your diet and exercise program seems to be having little effect, schedule an appointment with your doctor to see if there might be other factors that are impeding your progress toward your perimenopause weight loss goals. There's no reason to settle for anything, just because you've reached some arbitrary milestone in your life, and you certainly don't need to settle for perimenopause weight gain. Just because the diet and exercise you practiced before no longer seems to be working the way it once did doesn't mean that there isn't a solution. So what if your hormones are fluctuating, you've had years of exposure to toxins, and your newfound talent for retaining estrogen producing fat cells all add a little complication to the plan - that doesn't mean there isn't one that will work for you.