Weight Gain and Menopause
Karen Fitzpatrick-Dame, ChhC, AADP
Basic weight loss can easily be controlled if you have reserves in your body. If a person has gained a few pounds, it may be simple to cut back on eating and raise their activity levels. Their energy levels may be good, and they feel healthy - these people don’t have leptin resistance issues, because their health was good enough to keep things under control by keeping food under control and a regular bit of exercise did the trick.
As we age, leptin resistance is more of an issue, with resistance of the sympathetic nervous system to fat metabolism, and fat cells increasing in size, hence we continue to gain weight. Even if we follow a diet for a while, we may lose some weight, but gain it back, as a lot of you have experienced.
In menopause when estrogen drops your leptin levels also drop and this is where leptin resistance is an issue and you can be usually 15 or more pounds overweight.
Leptin resistance can lead to hypothyroidism. The thyroid is actually supposed to regulate the amount of fat that you have, based on what the leptin is telling your body, but if you have leptin resistance the hypothalamus gives out an incorrect signal which incorrectly tells your thyroid that there is too little fat stores and hence your body does not speed up the metabolism and burn off the extra fat.
When women reach menopause, their estrogen levels drop, therefore your leptin drops, causing hunger, which is another reason why you may gain that little extra weight.
What can you do?
Consider Homeopathic Hormone Therapy.
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