Why we put on weight during menopause

[Gabrielleohare]

Informative post from Dr Louise Newson on Instagram this morning. I can't copy and paste the text so I've attached the screenshot instead.

It explains what's causing weight gain, how it can affect appetite and also underlines the importance of a health diet, whilst recognising that it's often hard to eat well consistently.

I'm still perimenopausal but noticed a huge change in cravings over the past few years which made it extremely hard to eat the things I knew I should be doing.

It's really helpful to know there is a reason we feel like this and it's not just us being weak willed or unmotivated.

@Gabrielleohare - really useful! Can you share a link to the blog/article please?

This is interesting, thanks for posting.

Going on HRT causes one stone of weight gain without changing a thing. I’d love to know why that happened.

*caused

..and yet HRT is claimed to be the answer to all menopause problems.

My weight was steady for years and I went through earlier stages on the menopause without HRT or weight gain. As my symptoms worsened I started HRT and put on over a stone in very little time. Everything I read says HRT would usually help with weight loss so I'm mystified.

Strange, I lost half a stone when I started HRT

The article didn’t mention another factor - insomnia is a common problem during menopause, partly due to night sweats causing repeated waking, but also hormone changes disrupting the sleep pattern. Insomnia is known to trigger appetite hormones such as ghrelin, and produce carbohydrate cravings.

I always think that the extra energy we generate during hot flushes should mean that we lose weight. (Sadly, I do know from personal experience that this isn't the case.)

It’s from the Instagram feed of the menopause_doctor very useful info source from Dr Louise Newson

I’ve never seen or read anything about HRT causing weight gain. What did your doctor say? Should definitely be more awareness of that if it is a side effect.

So frustrating. You’d expect there to be more info from trials about weight gain on HRT and what you can do about it.

Going on HRT caused one stone of weight gain without changing a thing. I’d love to know why that happened.

My experience too. I had been the same size for years, then I started to find that my clothes were shrinking.

It is reversible, but you have to recognise that it is happening first.

Your right about sleep and appetite. There are many different factors which vary across women. It’s such a complex issue and takes time to work out individual circumstances.

There were trials and they showed that weight gain is not connected with HRT.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/hormone-replacement-therapy-hrt/side-effects/#:~:text=Weight%20gain%20and%20HRT,of%20whether%20you%20take%20HRT.

If you are quoting the interview with TS @Gabrielleohare , have a read of his website ZOE which is about gut health and diet. You can sign up (there is a fee) and get personalised feedback, gut health tests, blood glucose control, lipid control, and learn what food your body responds to well (and badly!)

Thank you for the link. I had not seen that before. I’m familiar with Zoe and the insights coming out about individual responses to glucose and fat metabolism and the link between gut micro biome and weight. No one size fits all!

Disappointing the item is reduced to cooking from scratch and avoiding "processed foods" though. Still waiting for advocates of this to tell me exactly what "processing" makes you fat and why. Unless you eat raw off the plant then all food requires processing, even the fabled home cooking from scratch!

Dr. Mary Claire Haver, founder of the Galveston Diet (which is simply clean eating) also covers this well.

I have definitely experienced weight gain on HRT. It's been fairly quick too. I am exercising more than ever and eating fewer calories but just can't shift it. I think some of it is water retention but most of it is just plain old fat - I can see it in the mirror, in the way my clothes fit, and on the scales.

I don't know why the official line from doctors is that HRT doesn't cause weight gain because my experience, and I know anecdotally from others too, is that it does.

Processing generally reduces the glycaemic index of food by breaking down or removing fibre. This means the calories are more accessible and more likely to cause blood sugar spikes. Hence an apple is better for you than apple juice.

But basic processing isn't so much the issue, it's ultra-processed food that causes the worst problems because it is virtually free of fibre and full of unhealthy ingredients. There was a clinical trial where they gave people diets with the same level of macronutrients but some had ultra-processed food and some had less processed food - the first group had far worse outcomes. But it's not just that, it's designed to be as appetising as possible (e.g. lots of salt, the most appealing balance of fat and sugar etc) so we want to eat more of it. There's a podcast by the van Tulleken brothers about ultra-processed food which you might find interesting.

Back to the OP, another factor is that women's insulin sensitivity also tends to increase significantly during peri which can really contribute to weight gain. Managing your blood sugar to reduce spikes can definitely help with weight gain and generally make things healthier.

Another factor is that women often lose muscle at a faster rate during peri, which makes us move less and so expend less calories. It also reduces our metabolic rate because muscles require a lot of energy to maintain. Weight bearing exercise can help to counteract this as well as being good for bone health.

The OP article mentions Tim Spector who is on Instagram.

Is it the official line? I ask as I’m pretty sure it’s an infrequent side effect on leaflet

I’d have to check though

I started HRT and put on 1/2 stone. I’d been the same weight for years so am positive HRT was the cause.

From what I can work out, Spector's advice for diet in menopause is exactly the same as his advice for diet at every other stage of adult life. So that's easy to find.

MN has had threads b4 about HRT seeming to cause weight gain. Not unusual here. Not hard to find this claim by HRT users elsewhere, too.

Yes - anecdotally lots of women say this. But the NHS plus all the menopause websites I've looked at say that there's no evidence that HRT causes weight gain apart from women saying so