The truth about menopause weight gain
Hello, everyone. Welcome back. So today's podcast is gonna cover aging women into menopause. So any men any any men listening, keep listening because you need to learn this in case the other half in your life says stuff about it and you don't believe them. And you should believe them because a lot of the things that are said about it are true and some things are misunderstood.
Speaker 1:So the key thing about this topic and this podcast is what does the research say, especially randomized controlled trials, the best quality trial, research trials we can do. What does it say over long term? And what happens to women's bodies when they go into from perimenopause into menopause, that transition? What can you do about it? Basically, can you do anything about it is one of the main things.
Speaker 1:Right? So let's get cracking. So in 2024, there was a twelve week randomized control trial, and it was on fifty five healthy postmenopausal women average age of 58 years old. So the groups were the control group, which they didn't do any training and just ate the usual protein like the normal standard person would eat. There was another group that just did resistance training.
Speaker 1:So that's like using body weight or dumbbells, resistance bands, barbell, whatever machines, whatever resistance against the muscle. The other group was resistance training plus high protein, so 2.5 grams, of protein per kilogram of fat free mass. And then just high protein only, no resistance training. So what happened? What was the results?
Speaker 1:So the group that did resistance training alone and the group that did resistance training and high protein both increased muscle mass and strength by 1.2 to 1.4 kilograms of muscle in twelve weeks, that's impressive. Only resistance training alone significantly reduced fat mass, which is interesting. High protein alone had small impact, no added benefit of high protein when combined with resistance training. So this study is basically saying high protein on its own has some impact, but the main thing you can do if you're going into menopause is to do some resistance training. And if you can tie that with high protein, then you get better results.
Speaker 1:But actually, resistance training is gonna be something you should be doing to improve your muscle mass, which will stop your metabolic rate dropping, which is what happens. Okay? Let's have a look at other studies. Six month diet plus resistance training study. This was done in obese postmenopausal women.
Speaker 1:The diet was a 10% calorie deficit. So that means if your maintenance is 2,500 calories, then you'd have a 250 calorie deficit, which is 10% of 2,500. So you'd eat 2,250 calories a day. They also had a high protein, 1.2 grams of kilogram a day. And then there was another group that did the RDA, which is naught point eight grams per kilogram of body weight.
Speaker 1:So what happened to findings? This is important. The group that went for 1.2 grams per kilogram, and the parapal will put you at about 1.6 gram because that's the sweet spot. The group that ate 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram a day versus the RDA preserved 40% more lean tissue. That is incredible.
Speaker 1:And this is seen in other studies as well. So the higher protein group preserved lean tissue When you're not in a deficit, so the first study I mentioned didn't mention anything about a calorie deficit. And then when you're not in a deficit, you've got enough energy, the body's got enough building blocks. And if you don't have enough protein, you're gonna not be optimizing things, but it's not the end of the world because you're not gonna be in a catabolic state for long throughout the day. But when you are in a deficit and you are in a catabolic state and your muscle protein turnover gets higher, which means your muscle is breaking down, because you're in a deficit, there's not enough energy coming in to actually maintain what you have, the risk of muscle loss goes higher.
Speaker 1:So when you're in a deficit, higher protein is way more important than a higher protein when you're in maintenance or above. Does that make sense? It's important both, but when you're in deficit, even more important, even at a small calorie deficit of 10%. So they preserved 40% more lean tissue when combined with resistance training. Functional capacity improved, but no significant lean muscle strength gains beyond resistance training alone.
Speaker 1:So when you look into combining them, great, but high protein on its own is a good starting point in a deficit. You can add resistance training as well, obviously, but the high protein is essential if you're in a deficit and postmenopausal or going through menopause. Next study, 2021, twelve week randomized controlled trial. This was done in 44 postmenopausal women. The diet was 0.8 versus 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
Speaker 1:Right? No resistance training. The 1.5 grams per kilogram protein group, which is a high protein group avoided decline in physical performance tests. Another key marker, we know that when you lose muscle, there's an impact on your cognition. 's a study that covered in a few podcasts ago about this.
Speaker 1:We don't want to lose cognition. Maintaining muscle helps us maintain our minds, right? Especially as we age. Okay, next one, systematic randomized controlled trial method analysis 2023. Focus was resistance training impact on lean body mass.
Speaker 1:Protocol was sixteen weeks of resistance training versus control, which it did nothing. Resistance training reliably enhances lean mass in older women. Again, this is we have to focus on adding some kind of resistance training in eventually. The next one was a walking only randomized control trial 2023. So obese postmenopausal women average age 70 years old.
Speaker 1:Intervention was moderate intensity walking versus no exercise. And there's a Japanese walking method, which you do three minutes normal, three minutes at a push pace, but you're still walking, three minutes on, three minutes off, but you just repeat for fifteen to twenty five minutes throughout every day. What's the outcome? Lower body weight, lower BMI, lower body fat, lower vascular inflammation markers, and there was no diet control applied. And that's annoying here, but at the same time, of course, moving and having some intensity in your exercise is gonna go a long way at this age group.
Speaker 1:Next one, long term resistance training follow-up Sweden study, fifteen week resistance training versus control, which did none. They followed up six months and two years later. So what happened? The resistance training group reduced hot flushes, improved cardiovascular lipid markers, and influenced fat distribution and inflammation compared to sedentary controls. So overall, what the studies are saying is at this point in your life when you get into it, if you've never trained before, it's time to get one or two of these sessions in, whether it's body weight, whether it's dumbbells, barbell, machine, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Get some resistance against those muscles. Tell the brain to use the muscle progressively. Load the muscle with more stress in terms of weight over time to make sure the body holds on to it or even needs to gain it. If you have to, go to the local gym, find the best personal trainer there that deals with people that are in this part of their life and get a basic worker plan done, supervised for as long as you need until you're comfortable. Then you can do it at home if you want, or you can go to the gym, you can go to group classes, whatever you're comfortable with.
Speaker 1:But seriously start thinking about this. Okay? Seriously start thinking about it. When it looks like the next part of this is, okay, we understand that things happen during menopause. Do you actually just gain more fat?
Speaker 1:Like what actually happens when you go through this phase? And by understanding it, what can we actually do and what does parapal say? Well, how does parapal help you? So the first thing is there's hormonal changes and it's basically the estrogen drop. And this plays a major role in fat distribution and metabolism.
Speaker 1:So before menopause, estrogen helps promote like a pear shaped fat pattern, hips and thighs. And then during menopause, when estrogen goes down, you basically change the shape of your fat storage and it goes more to abs area, which gives you more of an apple shape. So you might have heard of these pear versus apple shaped, which is linked to like visceral fat accumulation around the belly. So that's why people like, Oh my God, I've gained fat out of nowhere, is that it's been redistributed due the to changes in your hormones from the hips and thighs to belly basically, which obviously people don't like and it's annoying and obviously it's frustrating. Yeah, so estrogen has impact on appetite regulation and especially on your hunger and satiety ratings as well.
Speaker 1:So there was a study done in 2008. If you want the names of these studies, let me know by Lovejoy et al. And they found that the fat gained during menopause is largely due to the fall in estrogen rather than aging. So like the fat gained around the abdomen, and then the increase in visceral fat as well was due to the hormonal shifts. So we know the shift happens, fat stores in the belly, it sucks.
Speaker 1:We think, holy shit, what's going on? I'm gaining weight out of nowhere. It's been redistributed. Now what else happens on top, which is annoying, which is this is where this path is misunderstood, that your resting metabolic rate does decrease slightly with age, but less than you think, right? And it's due to the loss of lean mass during menopause.
Speaker 1:If you're not doing any resistance training or your protein intake is poor contributes to this drop mainly. So combined with unchanged eating habits, as you age, you haven't changed your lifestyle, you haven't added resistance training, your protein's been low, you're going to get slow, steady fat gain. And there was an old study in 1995 showed a resting metabolic rate drop of about 50 to 100 calories a day after menopause, mostly due to this muscle mass loss. So you can keep that up if you do some resistance training and protein and you don't go too aggressive on your calories. The next part is the appetite and cravings, right?
Speaker 1:So your estrogen modulates, a hormone called leptin and ghrelin, so the satiety hormone and the hunger hormone. So when estrogen drops, unfortunately, the hunger hormone ghrelin increases and leptin sensitivity decreases. So satiety goes down. So even when you do eat, you don't feel as satisfied from it. And this leads to being more hungry and reducing entire satiety.
Speaker 1:And obviously, you're going to probably eat more food. Estrogen is shown to suppress food intake. So when it declines, obviously appetite increases. Then there's a lot of reports about sleep disturbances. So bring sleep issues, night sweats, anxiety, hormonal imbalances, all that type of stuff.
Speaker 1:And short sleep we know is is associated with an increase in calorie intake, especially towards the end of the night. As it's the end of the next day, sorry. You snack more, you eat more calories if you are sleep deprived. So if you sleep five hours a night versus like eight, you're gonna be roughly consuming three to 500 calories a day extra as like a subconscious thing because you're hungry, right? So sleep is an important one.
Speaker 1:And the subconscious, another element of the subconscious with this stuff is that reduced physical activity happens during this period. Even if you don't think it happens, it tends to happen slowly and over time. So move less, joint pain, fatigue, mood changes, lifestyle shifts, small daily decrease in walking can lead to weight gain over months or years. Right? So there was a study in 2021 that tracked this and looked at energy expenditure of thousands of people and found activity declined with age as a major driver of midlife weight gain, not just age in itself, but the fact that as we age, we move less, we eat a bit more, we sleep maybe worse, and that all adds to it.
Speaker 1:So the question is, can we maintain a younger, like a youth, a more youthful living or more youthful outcome? Like, can I be like I am when I'm 40, when I'm 50 and 60? Well, yeah, if I can keep my things in order, if I can keep my activity as high and I can keep my other lifestyle habits there, then of course, I got a better chance of going into my fifties, sixties, and seventies even, completely different to what we might think of the traditional people going into those groups because they haven't looked after their health. You know? There's a lot of people in their fifties, sixties, seventies, even eighties who are still moving a lot, still doing workouts, still doing fitness, using their brain, using their muscles and they look fit as a fiddle, their brain is sharp and you think what's the secret?
Speaker 1:And it's just they are staying alive. They are doing the things to keep the body moving and they're not just sitting down all day. So this has been studied a lot and women gain like five to 10 pounds on average during like the transition into menopause due to all of these factors. And what I'm saying is in the group and the question was asked, know, that five to 10 pounds of gain that most people go through because they're unaware of what's happening can be mitigated by the fact you could eat higher protein, you could add some resistance training, you could go into a calorie deficit, it's not too aggressive, all of which para para helps with. And you may not even gain the five to 10 pounds during the transition.
Speaker 1:You may maintain, and maintaining is a super win as well. And then you may go into this new phase of life, which is to be celebrated, but then to look, okay. The new phase of life is different. Let's maintain where I'm at and let's see how I can chip away slowly. Like one of the studies says a 10% deficit is recommended, it's a small one, but it's about chipping away slowly over time to make sure the weight can maintain and drop over time Because what happens is the opposite, which is it actually gradually increases over time after the transition is done, it slowly gains.
Speaker 1:Right? So as long as we can do the countermeasures as long as we can do these countermeasures, looking at our sleep quality, going to bed at the same time every night, making sure that the bedroom is dark and cool and all of these smaller stuff that we don't think about too much, we get our steps in the morning, go steps in midday, steps in in the afternoon, late evening or whatever, try and work out once or twice a week, hit a high protein diet, you are doing nearly everything you can to mitigate that thing. And that's it. It's fairly simple on paper, harder to do in practice, but definitely something you should all look into if you are concerned about this. Yeah, hopefully that's a good overview.
Speaker 1:Obviously, I'm not a woman. I've got a twin sister, one day when hopefully we live until we're older, she can tell me all about it and I'll be like, well, I don't feel any of that stuff. I'm a man, it's easy for me. My testosterone gradually declines over the age, over the decades. So yeah, I can't say from experience, I'm explaining only from research studies.
Speaker 1:I know that. And obviously, research studies are very useful and they look a lot of things and the variance and they keep repeating in these research studies, the variance between women is huge. So again, your experience isn't going be someone else's experience. But when it comes to it, doing the fundamentals, every single one of you will improve your life by doing the fundamentals that I've explained today. So just do them and don't overcomplicate it, do them for three, six months and see what happens and you will be in a better place.
Speaker 1:So many people on Power Pal have said, hey, my weight's in a better place on menopause. I haven't lost much total weight, but I feel lean and my clothes are fitting better, I've got more energy. I've got more energy. Do you know how much life changing that is? I've got more energy.
Speaker 1:I've got more energy to go on walks. I've got more energy to do things I've always wanted to do. I've got more energies to see my kids and my grandchildren, if you have them or your friends or whatever, Huge win. We just like brush out away as if it's nothing more energy. You try living with no energy.
Speaker 1:That's a miserable way to live with no energy. So I'd rather live with a lot of energy and vitality than who will be ten pounds lighter. You know, if I had to decide, I want to live with energy and vitality. But at the same time, we can also chip away those fat stores and get to somewhere, which is a good place for us. So hopefully this was useful.
Speaker 1:Let me know if there's any questions. Thanks for listening and use this as a prompt to go and track whatever you had eaten this morning or haven't eaten. Fill in your diary yesterday if you haven't done it, You know, get your steps in and just get cracking, build some momentum by taking a small action step right now.
