Why do women gain weight in perimenopause and menopause?
Dr. Zuleikha Tyebjee, MD, a board-certified family medicine physician, answers this in her recorded menopause masterclass. Every quote below is her exact wording, marked with where it appears in the recording.
Why does weight go to the belly?
“we also see central adiposity or central fat gain. The abdomen and the abdominal wall has a lot of estrogen receptors, and that tends to be one of the places where we see that effect of loss of estrogen. We gain weight, and we gain weight primarily in our abdomen.”
Why does what used to work stop working?
“Often women who hit a certain age will tell me, I'm doing everything the same that I've lost weight on consistently in the past. I'm eating near to nothing. I'm exercising nonstop.”
“I'm doing things that have always worked for me and they're just not working anymore. And half of that is the hormonal shift”
Why strength training matters
“Very important for this patient population is to incorporate strength training. … especially when we're doing weight loss, because weight loss can lead to muscle loss.”
“And that doesn't have to mean you're hitting the weights in the gym crazy hours during the week. It can be as simple as, you know, a very tailored, easy to incorporate training program.”
Quotes are taken from the masterclass transcript; “…” marks where words were left out, and nothing was reworded. These pages provide general education, not an individual diagnosis or treatment plan.
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