"Something has changed", she confides. "It's all happened since I hit menopause a year ago. I haven't changed my dietary habits, and I walk the seawall every day - sometimes twice - but the spare tire just won't go away".

Janice, aged 47, has similar concerns. Although she maintains a healthy weight and has always done so, perimenopause (the five to ten years preceeding menopause) is causing her to gain weight easily.

"I need to know what to do now to prevent additional weight gain in the future," says Janice. "At the moment, I have only five pounds to lose but my mother and older sister have gained quite a bit and are finding it difficult to control their weight."

Sheila and Janice speak for many women "of a certain age" who suddenly find themselves not fitting into their standard dress size.

"I can handle the hot flashes", says Sheila, "but not the weight gain. I feel so out of control and angry with myself for not halting the process before it hit 14 pounds. But I always thought it would be easy to take it off again."

Like most women, Sheila and Janice blame their weight gain on hormones - or rather the lack of them. However, decreasing hormone levels at middle age are not the primary reason for gaining weight.

The Role of Hormones

Although waning estrogen levels have been cited as the main reason for menopausal weight gain, recent research suggests that estrogen reduction is, at most, merely a contributing factor. Estrogen does, however, seem to play a role in the distribution of fat. Women of reproductive age tend to store fat on the hips and thighs, resulting in a pear shape, while women who are past their childbearing years tend to carry excess fat around the abdomen, giving rise to an apple shape.

(It is important to control excess tummy weight as it is linked with a number of health conditions. The fat you can actually see on the outside of your body is a sign that visceral fat is also accumulating inside your abdomen. Visceral fat has been linked to the development of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes as well as the increased incidence of breast and other hormone-related, post-menopausal cancers.)

Starting a few years before menopause, estrogen levels begin to decline, eventually causing the body to stop ovulating and menstruation to cease. As the ovaries produce less estrogen, the body turns to other places to obtain this hormone. Since fat cells are capable of manufacturing estrogen, the body works harder to convert calories into fat than it did during times when estrogen was readily available. Unfortunately, fat cells don't burn calories to the same degree as muscle cells, resulting in weight gain. This fat is particularly difficult to lose, because the body strives to maintain an acceptable level of estrogen. (Estrogen is involved in many vital body functions from the functioning of the central nervous system to breast, heart and bone health.)

Estrogen is not the only hormone that plays a role in midlife weight gain. Women also produce testosterone - although the level of this hormone is considerably lower than that produced by men. Testosterone helps your body create lean muscle mass from the calories you consume. This, in turn, increases your metabolism. When testosterone levels dip, calories are instead directed towards the fat cells, resulting in a loss of lean muscle mass and falling of metabolic rate. The lower your metabolic rate, the lower your need for calories, and any excess will be stored as fat.

Other Reasons for Weight Gain

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