Menopause Weight Gain – How to Exercise for Menopause Weight Loss

Menopause weight gain is a reality and scientific fact.

menopause weight gain

Weight gain and menopause problems can start to occur during perimenopause when female hormones begin to decline (around 10 years before the final period).

Menopause typically occurs between ages 45 and 55 years. The average age of menopause in western countries is 51 years.

Fortunately menopause weight gain isn’t inevitable.

It’s possible to overcome menopause weight gain with appropriate exercise to get your body back into shape and improve your health and fitness too.

Read on to learn how overcome menopause weight gain with exercise:

  • What causes weight gain and menopause
  • Best exercise guidelines to overcome menopause weight gain
  • Physiotherapy exercise tips to boost weight loss and trim your waistline
Menopause weight gain

What Causes Menopause Weight Gain?

Decreased oestrogen is usually the underlying cause of menopause weight gain.

Understanding the effect of decreased oestrogen helps us to understand how best to exercise to overcome menopause weight gain.

Decreased oestrogen causes menopause weight gain by:

  • Decreasing lean muscle (muscle burns fat)
  • Slowing the metabolic rate so less energy is burned at rest
  • Shifting body fat from the hips to the waist making the abdomen rounder from a pear to apple shape (shown right).

What Causes Menopause Weight Gain?

Decreased oestrogen is usually the underlying cause of menopause weight gain.

Understanding the effect of decreased oestrogen helps us to understand how best to exercise to overcome menopause weight gain.

Decreased oestrogen causes menopause weight gain by:

  • Decreasing lean muscle (muscle burns fat)
  • Slowing the metabolic rate so less energy is burned at rest
  • Shifting body fat from the hips to the waist making the abdomen rounder from a pear to apple shape (shown right).

How to Exercise and Overcome Menopause Weight Gain

To decrease body fat you need to burn more energy than you consume, increase your metabolic rate and increase your muscle mass.

You can lose weight and manage your weight during menopause using the following evidence-based exercise guidelines.


Pelvic Floor Safe Exercise Saver Pack

Inside Out Strength Saver Pack Download

Inside Out eBook and exercise workout video both available in this cost effective saver pack (download or hardcopy format).

Inside Out eBook and exercise video pack helps you:

  • Lose weight and maintain body weight
  • Safely strengthen and tone
  • Understand unsafe exercises to avoid
  • Choose pelvic floor safe exercises
  • Strengthen your pelvic floor
  • Increase your lean muscle
  • Improve your bone health

1. Best Exercises for Weight Loss with Menopause

Weight loss exercises for menopause should be safe for your joints and your pelvic floor.

The most effective fat burning exercises involve the large leg muscles which burn the most energy during and after exercise.

High impact fitness exercises such as running can impact your pelvic floor which can contribute to pelvic floor problems during menopause.

Best and safest menopause weight loss exercise are low impact exercises.

Effective low impact weight loss exercises include:

  • Cycling
  • Brisk walking
  • Dancing
  • Gym equipment – cross trainer, stationary bike, treadmill, rowing, stair climbing
  • Appropriate strength or resistance training exercise for women.

2. Exercise Intensity for Weight Loss

High intensity exercise is the best intensity for weight loss and weight management.

Research1 tells us that best weight loss exercise intensity is alternating high and low intensity exercise over short time intervals for 20 minutes.

This exercise intensity has been shown to be more effective exercise for weight loss than prolonged moderate intensity exercise2.

High intensity exercise means:

  • Exercising at a level where you are working vigorously
  • Your heart rate is elevated
  • Breathing is rapid so that you are unable carry a conversation.

3. Exercise Duration for Weight Loss

If you can’t exercise at high intensity, then try to increase the duration of your workout.

The ACSM3 recommends that for weight management, moderate intensity exercise should be performed up to 3.3 – 5 hours per week.

This is approximately 40-60 minutes per day, 5 days of the week.

ACSM 2001

Moderate intensity exercise noticeably raises your heart rate and breathing but allows you to carry on a conversation.

4. Exercise Frequency for Menopause Weight Loss

If you are able to exercise at high intensity, research tells us 3 days of high intensity exercises per week will promote weight loss from the abdomen and reduce waist measures.

Alternatively if you choose to exercise at a moderate level of intensity, then try to exercise for up to one hour a day, 5 days of the week. It is a case of the more often you exercise, the more energy you will burn up.

5 Menopause Weight Loss Exercise Tips

Exercise Tip 1

Include strength exercises in your weekly workout because resistance exercises increase lean muscle and muscle burn fat.

Exercise Tip 2

menopause weight gainMix up your workouts and try to vary the type of exercises you do every day to optimize fat burning with exercise.

Exercise Tip 3

Weights before cardiovascular exercise because resistance (strength) exercises to burn fat more effectively.

Exercise Tip 4

Fasting exercise burns fat so exercising on an empty stomach can assist weight loss. Food you eat or consuming energy drinks immediately before exercising provides the body with energy used first for your workout.

Exercising without eating for 2 hours beforehand, and drinking water as opposed to high sugar drinks encourages your body to use your fat reserves for the energy to exercise.

Exercise Tip 5

Green tea before exercise may help weight loss. There is some suggestion from research that drinking green tea before exercise may promote weight loss.

Menopause Weight Gain and Pelvic Floor Problems

Pelvic floor safe exercises during menopause may reduce the risk of pelvic floor problems worsening or developing.

Carrying extra body weight places added burden on your pelvic floor.

During menopause, decreased oestrogen can cause the pelvic floor to become thin, floppy and weak. Extra body weight increases the load upon the vulnerable pelvic floor during and after menopause potentially making pelvic floor problems worse.

Exercise for menopause weight gain needs to be appropriate for weight loss and for the pelvic floor.

References

1. M. Heydari, J. Freund, and S.H. Boutcher, “The Effect of High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise on Body Composition of Overweight Young Males,” Journal of Obesity, vol. 2012, Article ID 480467, 8 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/480467


2. D.J. Chisholm, J. Freund and S.H. Boutcher “The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting levels of young women” International Journal of Obesity (2008) vol 32, no. 4, pp. 684-691.


3. American College of Sports Medicine (2001) Position Stand. Appropriate intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults. Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise 33:2145-2156.

Copyright © Pelvic Exercises. All rights reserved

Related Articles