How Menopause Changes Your Hormones

Menopause weight gain is something many women experience so don't be depressed thinking you're alone and what's more, there are several ideas to help you cope and feel better about yourself, even when you stop producing egg cells. Weight gain is naturally observed in women who are undergoing peri-menopause and on the average, a pound is added to the scales every year as soon as the symptoms show, even when you eat the same amount of food and exercise for the same amount of time.
The weight is commonly distributed along the lower torso so most women who gain weight during peri-menopause tend to have an apple-shaped body. It is indispensable that you keep your regular healthy lifestyle, but without the obvious results, things might become frustrating. You should realize that unlike in your younger years, you exercise to keep fat away; in menopause years, fat is not the only enemy since your hormones become imbalanced as you age.
Changes in the hormonal levels may play a crucial part in menopause weight gain. Estrogen is one of the primary culprits. Estrogen production slows down during the start of menopause, and since the body was made to cope (survival mechanism), it will look for other sources to provide the necessary amount of hormone. Unfortunately estrogen is produced from fat cells and the body begins to increase body fat. So during low levels of estrogen, fat cell formation is more favored than the burning of unwanted calories. Excess fat cells mean weight gain. That's just one way your body puts on weight. Over eating to cope with the added weight is why some women gain an extreme amount of menopause weight entering and during Peri-menopause.
Progesterone is another female hormone that may contribute to your feeling of heaviness. If your progesterone levels are comparably lower than your estrogen levels, you might be experiencing a medical case called estrogen dominance and this actually causes water retention and in some, hypothyroidism, which negatively affects your metabolism. Testosterone is commonly known as a male hormone although women produce it also. This hormone is responsible for muscle formation and as menopause begins, its level decreases leading to lower muscle mass. Lower muscle mass, in turn, leads to a decrease in metabolism.
Hormone therapy is a very attractive solution since you discovered that the weight gain might be caused by the fluctuation of body substances but there are side effects that you should consider. Before you undergo HRT or hormone replacement therapy, you should consult a doctor first. Supplements can be custom-combined by pharmacists, although most are commercially produced. The method may seem logical, however, there are studies relating the use of supplemental estrogen and breast cancer that is why you need to consult first.
While it seems that the only hope for menopause weight gain is to rehabilitate your hormone levels, you can also try more natural methods like keeping an active lifestyle. Instead of providing your body with synthetic hormones, you can try natural food products that contain the same chemicals. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables and avoid refined products like sugar and rice. Starving yourself is a big no-no (even for those who are not in their menopause period yet) because it only leads to slower metabolism.
Exercise has been shown to help many woman combat the menopause weight gain challenge. exercise has many benefits physiologically and physically. In addition when a woman exercises at the proper intensity and frequency she will be able to manage her hormone level naturally without HRT or any other over the counter drugs. I'm not against HRT's, but I have that exercise and a proper menopause diet can be a positive alternative to gain menopause weight and not fully loving the body you have to live in.
In the guide the 7 Day Menopause Diet Guide there is step by step plan for losing menopause weight, and keeping it off forever. After coaching hundreds of menopausal I discovered the patterns and trends and how to lessen the severity of most menopause symptoms. The results are not immediate, but rehabilitating your body to its normal state really takes time. Continue living a healthy active lifestyle and you will see that your body will cooperate and it will heal itself. I advise all women over 42 to begin eating whole foods and becoming physically active for 30 minutes per day 4-5 times per week. Within a short few week most women begin to experience far less menopause symptoms and start to lose body weight.
Menopause Fat Loss Expert, Personal Trainer, Nutrition Expert
If you would like to receive my 7 Day Menopause Diet Guide pick a FREE COPY at http://www.7daymenopausediet.com/
Since early 1999, Kris has been teaching women around the world how to use simple effective strategies to lose fat, tone and shape their bodies and feel amazing in their own skin. Kris is the Author of "The Menopause Cookbook" sold through Amazon Books.
Kris has been coined "The Menopause Savior" because of his unique and profound understanding of the women's body and how it works.
"Kris sees the female Body like no other male."


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Understanding the Hormonal Changes of Menopause

Our brains and how we think literally begin to change at perimenopause. Like the rising heat in our bodies, our brains also become fired up! Sparked by the hormonal fluctuations that are typical during the menopausal transition, a switch goes on that signals change in our brain - specifically, the region associated with enhanced intuition. How this will affect us depends largely upon how willing we are to make the changes in our lives that our hormones are urging us to make over the 10+ years or so of perimenopause.

Western culture leads us to believe that our mood swings are simply the result of raging hormones and do not have anything tangible to do with our lives, yet there is solid evidence that repeated episodes of stress are actually behind many of the hormonal changes in the brain and body. Unresolved emotional stress can aggravate a perimenopausal hormone imbalance.

As a woman makes the transition to this second phase of her life, she might find herself in a struggle not only with her own aversion to conflict and confrontation, but also with society's view of how women "should" be. The body's inner wisdom gets its last, best chance of breaking through culturally erected barriers, while shining a light on aspects of a woman's life that need work. To resolve the situation, it's up to the individual woman to meet her body's wisdom halfway.

Until midlife, it is characteristic for a woman's energies to be focused on caring for others. She is encouraged to do so, in part, by the hormones that drive her menstrual cycles, the hormones that foster her instincts for nurturing, her devotion to relationships and harmony within her world. As a woman enters the age of menopause, she steps out of the primarily child-bearing, caretaking role that was hormonally scripted for her. This is not to say that the postmenopausal woman is no longer an effective nurturer. Rather, she becomes freer to choose where she will direct her creative energies. Some women funnel this heightened energy into new businesses and new careers. Some discover and cultivate artistic talents they never knew they had.

I love the Chinese paradigm for midlife and aging. To the Chinese, this is the time when a woman truly comes into her own. When the distractions of the householding, childbearing, and child-rearing years wind down and her inner beauty emerges. A mature woman is a work of art, crafted by her experiences and her own inner resources. She now refines her wisdom and finds traditional or inventive ways to make it useful in the world. Far from ceasing to grow, she embarks on a new path of self-realization.

In the Chinese perspective, menopause is a time for celebration in a woman's life, when she is possessed of wisdom and graceful beauty. Aging does not have to be a downhill slide. This is the time to energize and revitalize yourself - to re-fashion your purpose in life.

The truth is, no one need be a helpless victim to menopause. With guidance, safe herbal support, and the right plan, every woman can turn menopause into an empowering experience of rejuvenation. It's Your Time!

Valerie Martinez is a nutritional health consultant who (together with her business partner Carine Horner -- a holistic nutritionist), is dedicated to helping women just like you learn how to achieve relief from their menopausal symptoms naturally and safely vs. the outdated traditional approach of HRT (hormone replacement therapy). To learn more about effective, SAFE, all-natural menopause symptom relief, visit our website at http://www.menopauserelieftoday.com/ and pick up your FREE Report.

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