4 reasons losing weight feels harder in perimenopause and menopause
Mary Canales, MHS ·
Functional Nutrition Practitioner · Level 1 Ayurveda Practitioner
If you're eating less than you used to and the scale still
won't move, you're not imagining it. It's also not a willpower problem.
I went through this myself. In perimenopause I gained
weight, stopped sleeping well, and had joint pain I couldn't explain. I had
spent 25 years working in women's health, and I still didn't recognize my own
body. What finally helped wasn't another diet. It was understanding what had
changed, then adjusting how I ate, slept, moved and handled stress.
These are the four reasons I see most often, in my own
experience and in the women I talk with, along with what actually helps. 🌿
1. Your hormones changed how your body handles carbs
Estrogen helps your body respond to insulin, the hormone
that moves sugar out of your blood and into your cells. As estrogen drops, many
women become less responsive to insulin. The same bowl of pasta or afternoon
granola bar now raises your blood sugar more than it did at 35, and your body
is more likely to store the extra around your middle.
That's why so many women notice weight shifting to the
middle even when the scale has barely changed.
What helps
•
Eat the protein and vegetables on your plate first,
then the carbs.
•
Don't eat carbs by themselves. Pair fruit, toast or
crackers with some protein or fat.
•
Walk for 10 to 15 minutes after your biggest meal.
Working muscles pull sugar out of your blood.
2. Constant stress is telling your body to hold on
Cortisol, your main stress hormone, raises your blood sugar
so you have fuel to deal with a problem. In short bursts, that's helpful. But
when stress never lets up (work, family, aging parents, not enough sleep),
cortisol stays elevated. Blood sugar stays higher, cravings get stronger, and
weight tends to settle around the middle.
Falling progesterone adds to this. Many women feel more
anxious and have a harder time winding down in perimenopause, so the same
stress hits harder than it used to.
In Ayurveda, midlife is the start of the Vata stage of life,
and ongoing stress pushes Vata out of balance: racing thoughts, restlessness,
poor sleep and skipped meals. In functional terms, it's a stressed nervous
system and an irregular routine.
What helps
•
Eat a real breakfast with protein instead of running on
coffee until lunch. Skipping meals is one more stressor.
•
Keep your wake time, meals and bedtime close to the
same each day.
•
Choose one thing that genuinely calms you down and do
it daily, even for five minutes. Slow breathing, a walk outside or stretching
before bed all count.
3. Poor sleep is driving your hunger
Night sweats, waking at 3 AM, getting up to use the
bathroom. 😩 Sleep gets harder in this stage, and it affects your weight
more than most people realize.
After a short night, the hormone that makes you hungry
(ghrelin) tends to rise, and the one that tells you you're full (leptin) tends
to fall. Studies show people eat more after poor sleep, and it's usually sugar
and refined carbs. Then you lean on extra coffee to get through the afternoon,
which makes the next night's sleep worse.
What helps
•
Have your last cup of coffee by noon.
•
Finish dinner two to three hours before bed.
•
Keep your bedroom cool and dark.
•
If night sweats or waking up are happening most nights,
bring it up with your doctor. There are options worth talking through, and I
always encourage working alongside your doctor.
•
Using bioidentical hormones is a personal choice that
should be discussed with your doctor but can help with symptoms if you are a
candidate for BHRT.
4. You're losing muscle, and dieting makes it worse
Women slowly lose muscle starting in our 30s, and the loss
speeds up around menopause. Muscle uses energy even when you're resting, and
it's where much of the sugar from a meal goes. Less muscle means your body
needs less food and handles carbs less well.
This is the problem with keto, carnivore and very
low-calorie plans. The weight comes off fast, but part of what you lose is
muscle. When the diet ends, the weight comes back mostly as fat, not muscle.
Each round leaves your metabolism working with less. That's the yo-yo cycle so
many women know too well. 😔
Ayurveda adds another piece: Agni (your digestive fire)
tends to weaken with age, stress and irregular eating. You may notice bloating
or feeling heavy after meals, even when you're eating well. In functional
terms, that's sluggish digestion, which can mean you're not getting the full
benefit from the protein and nutrients you eat.
What helps
•
Get protein at every meal. Many women do well aiming
for about 25 to 30 grams per meal (roughly 4 ounces of chicken or fish, or 1
cup of Greek yogurt).
•
Strength train two to three times a week. Twenty
minutes at home with dumbbells or resistance bands counts.
•
Stop cutting your food way back. Eating too little
works against the muscle you're trying to keep.
•
Make lunch your biggest meal, when Ayurveda says Agni
is strongest, and sip warm water with meals instead of ice-cold drinks.
What to expect
I'm not going to promise you'll drop 20 pounds in a month.
Weight loss in midlife is usually slower than it was in your 20s, and that's
normal.
What I do see is that when women work with their bodies
instead of against them, the weight starts to come off and stay off. And the
changes they didn't expect often come first: better sleep, more energy in the
afternoon, less joint pain, and feeling stronger.
You don't need to do everything on this list. Pick the one
that feels most doable this week and start there. 🌱
When you're ready
Every woman is different, and the biggest factor for you
might not be the biggest factor for your sister or your best friend. That's why
I don't hand out one-size-fits-all plans. If you'd like help figuring out
what's going on in your body, book your free discovery call. You can reach me
at canalesmari@yahoo.com or on Instagram at @mari.isabel.10. I'd love to hear
your story. 💛
Mary 🌿
Mari Holistic Wellness
· Nourish • Balance • Thrive
This content is
educational and is not a substitute for medical advice.
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