Menopause and weight gain

Words JANET McGEEVER

As I turn the corner into my 60s, I am blessed to finally realise that weight gain through my 50s and menopause isn’t something I need to take into the next decade.

Despite a well-worn fallacy that ‘it’s just what happens in menopause’, my research and personal weight loss (with Deborah Murtagh) has challenged that belief.

My menopausal ‘spread’, about 8-9 kilos extra that mostly resided around my mid-section but generally all over, was not just weight gain but chronic inflammation. I had normal weight fluctuations through my 20s to 40s. I’d always exercised, ate sensibly and generally kept foods out of my house that I could binge on if things got a bit intense.

But 45 had a different plan for me: a big relationship breakup, the tragic death of a family member, and glandular fever, after which I became chronically fatigued with adrenal burnout. I had to change the way I exercised. I was told to “just take gentle walks, take it easy, go slow”… it was frustrating.

The next decade was just as challenging with the chronic stress of supporting a family member whose addictions sent me down many roads of despair. Thankfully this has been resolved, but I am still healing from its effects and the years of comfort-eating when I felt so desperate in the moment.

I think everyone has a little ‘go to’ to comfort, soothe and placate untenable feelings.

Now years later, I understand the weight gain was not just from overeating. It was also a result of the chronic stress and overproduction of adrenaline and cortisol. These stress hormones are meant for occasional activation, not long-term elevation. Your metabolic function suffers, leading to chronic inflammation. Menopausal midsection weight gain is a clear sign your body is in stress/survival mode.

I see a pattern once a woman hits her 40s. Her ways to ‘keep herself together’ are failing. Resilience thins, children can become more challenging, relationship stress escalates, and she faces losses she never expected. She’s pushed for too long, holding too much, with too little.

Ladies, we just need to give ourselves a break. It’s worth finding a nutritional pathway that heals our digestion and liver and discovering ways to reduce stress. Making love in relaxation soothes and calms the nervous system, and a quick way to bring cortisol down is 20 deep conscious outbreaths. It can work wonders.

And treat yourself like you are your own best friend. God knows you deserve it.

Janet is a psychotherapist, speaker and author. She is co-author of Tantric Sex and Menopause, presenter of The Making Love Retreat in Australia and creator of Womantime – Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Day Woman. www.janetmcgeever.com