“In addition to weight gain, there is often a change in body shape, particularly around the stomach.”
Menopause is a necessary passage for all women, occurring around the age of 50. This period is accompanied by bodily changes and often, more or less significant weight gain.In fact, weight does not change, as one might imagine, at the age of 50, but it has often started to change during the forties. Studies date the low-key beginnings of this change at the age of 37. This is why the question of menopause and the rules called “hygienic-dietetic” should be implemented well before the first symptoms of entering menopause“, reestablishes Laurence Haurat, psychologist-nutritionist, author of “The Menopause Revolution” (Ed. Solar and Dr. Good) and founder of the Instagram account “The Psy of Kilos“So it’s pretty normal to gain weight around menopause. But is there an age when this weight gain stops?
“It is always very complicated to give a general answer since each body is different. First of all, not all women gain weight during menopause. Let’s say that (peri)menopause represents a period of major hormonal upheavals that lead to weight fluctuations, often in the direction of weight gain.“, answers Laurence Haurat. Mechanically speaking, at this time, the metabolism slows down and the body spends less energy than it used to do the same things. If there are no major changes in diet or physical activity, inevitably, there will be weight gain.”And it is important to remember that it is possible to lose it, especially by learning to recognize what the body needs. It is therefore a question of listening to one’s hunger, one’s satiety and one’s emotional desires to eat, restrict alcohol or foods that you can no longer digest, increase your protein intake, avoid drastic diets, incorporate more physical activity). Good news also, women who were rather sedentary have more room for maneuver in losing weight when they start doing sport“.
Some studies have tried to determine the age at which weight gain stops. One of them, published in the International Journal of Obesityhad shown that weight gain could continue for up to 22 years after menopause (i.e. up to 72 years for a woman who reached menopause at 50, editor’s note), with an increase of +0.43% (of total weight) per year, whether with or without hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Of course, these results remain purely theoretical and should not be taken at face value.
“Weight gain is rarely linear. There is often a “peak” in weight gain around menopause, so around 50-51 years old, but I find that this peak is often linked to changes in life (depression, separation, accident, illness, sick parent, etc.). There are also women for whom the weight quickly stabilized after menopause. So I don’t know if there is an age at which we really stop gaining weight, but what is certain is that we do not stop changing throughout our lives.“, continues our interlocutor.
Without necessarily gaining weight, there can be a change in body shape, particularly in the stomach.Where women could have a rather “feminine” silhouette (broader buttocks, hips, thighs, marked waist), the decrease in estrogen leaves more room for other hormones which promote an androgynous silhouette, that is to say of a rather masculine type: fat settles on the stomach, the waistline widens, love handles appear and are very difficult to bear, because they induce a modification of the silhouette for which we are not ready.“There is therefore also work to be done to accept change, particularly at this time.