Symptoms of Menopause
Menopause is a time when the estrogen decreases. When estrogen decreases, reproductive function decreases, and menstruation becomes irregular. From one day on wards, symptoms of anovulation in which ovulation does not occur, resulting in menstrual interruption and menopause.
There are many of symptoms of menopause. Estrogen stimulates the metabolism of fat and protects the body from gaining weight. As estrogen decreases, fat breakdown and metabolic ability decrease, making it easier to gain weight. In addition, decreasing estrogen affect less muscle mass, making it easier to gain weight.
Reason to gain weight easily after Menopause
Dr. Jung A Ko, founder of Ko Jung A clinic, said, “If muscle of our body reduces, less energy consumed by the body, so even if you eat the same amount of food, the body’s constitution changes that is easy to gain weight. Many of cases, people who are in the period, feels psychological issue such as depression and stress. It makes less activity cause gaining weight.
Various diseases after menopause
Gaining weight after menopause is quite dangerous because of various diseases that are easy to occur.
Before menopause, when we have enough estrogen for accumulating fat cells are mainly developed in the buttocks and thighs to make childbirth and lactation more stable. However, after menopause, when estrogen reduces, fat cells developed in the hips and thighs are concentrated in the abdomen. It means that the fat that was mainly accumulated as subcutaneous fat (fat that occurs just below the skin) in the lower body before menopause, is accumulated as visceral fat (fat that occurs in the intestines) in the abdomen after menopause. If this visceral fat continues to accumulate, it leads to visceral obesity and increases the risk of metabolic syndrome, which occurs simultaneously with diabetes and high blood pressure.
Moreover, estrogen operates a role in protecting blood vessels from the risk of cardiovascular disease, and since estrogen reduces after menopause and does not function properly, the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and angina pectoris increases rapidly after menopause. In addition, the possibility of developing female diseases such as uterine fibroids, cervical cancer and breast cancer increases.
The effective way to lose weight after menopause
The most important thing is to manage your diet and exercise appropriate for you.
Many people think that it is necessary to reduce the type and amount of food eaten when dieting, but it is important to eat well in this period. This is not to say that you must eat a lot, but that the quality of your diet is important.
Dr. Ko explained, “If you limit food intake excessively or eat only one type of food, you can’t get all the nutrients you need. On contrary, it may cause gaining weight due to the yo-yo phenomenon. The most important thing is to have a regular meal that includes the necessary carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and dietary fiber. In specific, it is good to raise protein intake, which tends to be insufficient after menopause.”
It is also important to supplement calcium with milk, bone-eating fish, and vegetables, as the calcium in the bones is rapidly lost and it is easy to get osteoporosis. Vitamin D helps calcium function properly. Vitamin D can be met by taking a walk in the sun and can be supplemented with injections or nutritional supplements.
Drinking alcohol can be said to be the biggest enemy of the diet after menopause. When alcohol enters the body, the liver uses all its energy to break down the alcohol. Food that comes with alcohol is not decomposed properly, so it causes to gain fat.
Sometimes, people depend on diet supplements to go on a diet, but in this case, the quality of the food is low, making it easy to fail the diet, and it can even harm your health.
Because of menopause is a state in which muscle mass and muscle strength are decreasing, sudden high-intensity exercise often causes the body to tire easily, and binge eat later. Thus, after increasing the amount of activity step by step, it is good to combine easy aerobic exercise and strength exercise when exercise ability improves. Doctor recommends walking for 30 minutes to ah hour a day, swimming, yoga, etc that do not push strain on the joints.
Additional treatment for fat reduction
Even if you manage your diet and exercise in this recommended way, the fat on your forearms, bra line, sides and back and inner thighs remain, so it is a good way to get help from treatment.
Dr. Ko said,” Partially difficult to lose fat can be reduced by injections that break down fat, HIFU, or High radio frequency device. When the body’s energy metabolism is off and circulation is not good, it is helpful to manage circulation in parallel.
The pre-menopausal diet and the menopausal diet should be different because fat accumulates more easily in menopause than before menopause and muscle reduces more easily. It is difficult because you don’t lose as much weight as you thought, and there are many more things to take care of. However, if you know the manage process properly, you can live a healthy middle age period.
