Regardless of your body type, entering midlife can be a tricky time for women and weight. Research shows that starting around your mid-40s, women start gaining an average of 1.5 pounds per year.
Often, a midlife weight gain concentrates in your midsection, creating stubborn belly fat. Many factors can contribute to this, but there are steps you can take to maintain a healthy weight as you age.
Why do women struggle with weight at middle age?
Some changes come together at midlife that make it more difficult to manage your weight. Most women start to notice the effects of these changes starting in their early to mid-40s.
Several factors can play a role in why you’re seeing the number on the scale rise. These include:
- Decrease in muscle mass: As you age, you tend to lose muscle mass. And that muscle can be replaced by fat, leading to a harder time managing your weight.
- Hormonal shifts: As women go through perimenopause and menopause, hormone production changes. These changes can make it easier to gain extra pounds.
- Less exercise: You may be less active now than when you were younger. Burning fewer calories through activity can make weight management more challenging.
- Sleep disturbances: Insomnia and other sleep issues become more common with age. Not getting enough sleep is associated with eating more calories, making poor food choices and can even impact your metabolism.
- Slower metabolism: The rate at which you burn calories can decrease with age.
- Stress: Being under chronic stress impacts the release of stress-related hormones. This may lead to more fat storage and weight gain.
The connection between menopause and weight
It’s not just coincidence that women notice weight sneaking on right around the time their periods start to get wonky. The hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause play a role in weight management.
The sharp decrease in estrogen as you head toward menopause leads to numerous changes within your body. Lack of estrogen can cause a wide range of symptoms including hot flashes, mood swings and even weight gain.
The exact connections between menopause and weight aren’t completely clear. But it seems that lower estrogen levels can slow your metabolism, contribute to decreases in muscle mass and impact your sleep.
Gaining belly fat can be bad for your health
Shifting hormones at midlife also seem to play a role in a shift in body shape. If women gain weight at midlife, it tends to accumulate around their middles.
Gaining belly fat can be annoying, but it can also be unhealthy. Storing fat in the belly (as opposed to the hips and thighs) is associated with increased risk of heart disease, chronic inflammation, and breast and colon cancer.
Belly fat (also called visceral fat) produces hormones and chemicals that increase inflammation and affect cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
How to manage midlife weight challenges
Although it may feel like extra weight is inevitable, it’s still possible to maintain your health.
Strategies that can help include:
- Eat a healthy diet: Instead of obsessing over calorie counts, focus on eating whole foods while limiting your intake of ultra-processed ones.
- Exercise more: Be sure to get at least the minimum recommended 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity. It can also help to add some intervals of faster or higher intensity activity to your workout routine.
- Lift weights: To maintain (and even increase) your muscle mass as you age, you need to lift weights. Aim for two to three sessions of strength training per week.
- Manage stress: Stress may be a fact of life, but you can reduce its negative impact by managing it better. Make time for some daily stress-relieving activities — such as breathing exercises, meditation, taking a walk or talking to a friend.
