MENOPAUSE AND WEIGHT GAIN

 

Dr Steven R. Goldstein is a Menopause Specialist in NYC He is a Certified Menopause Practitioner and immediate past President of the International Menopause Society.

 

Many women reach menopause and battle with weight gain. It’s a well-researched fact that a woman’s metabolism slows down 2 percent a year in middle age. One patient remarked “These days I look at food and gain weight”. She’s not far off. Do the math, and it’s clear why women who don’t eat any more or exercise any less thatn they did at forty-five may be ten pounds heavier at fifty-five.

 

Another patient remarks that she’s been walking half hour a day for the last five years, but sadly it no longer does much for her weight. She didn’t like hearing this, but she had to be told the truth  that at her age she may have to do an hour a day, and that’s just for her to keep what she has.

 

Added to this easy gain, hard loss reality is the fact that a woman’s weight is going to shift to different places as she grows older, and the shift is more obvious in thinner women. One menopausal woman remarked “I spent my twenties and thirties complaining about the cellulite in my thighs. It dawned on me the other day that my thighs haven’t looked this good in years. But I have this little growing pot belly. And it feels like my breasts are getting fat”. It isn’t her imagination. Nature distributed your fat where it determined it was most needed for procreation. When estrogen production stops and menopause enters the picture, the pear-shaped woman often turns into the apple shaped woman, much to her chagrin.

 

In the August 8^th 2017 New York Times Science section, there was an extremely interesting article entitled, “Researchers Track an Unlikely Culprit in Weight Gain.” talks about the fact that it may be FSH by itself that results in the deposition of fat to the midriff as well as a loss of bone.

 

Dr Goldstein, a leading menopause specialist in NYC goes on to state:    

Those women who do choose to go on estrogen in the form of hormone replacement therapy at the time of menopause will, in fact, drive down FSH levels. Thus, regardless of whether it is actually the elevation in FSH or the actual use of estrogen that helps maintain bone mass and prevent accumulation of central fat in the belly, the end result will be the same in menopausal women who use Hormone Replacement Therapy.

 

To cope with the symptoms of Menopause, and for health maintenance in post menopausal women, Dr Goldstein, a a Hormone Specialist in NYC, and co author of the book “The Estrogen Alternative” uses hormone replacement therapy (HRT), particularly Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs). Hormone Replacement Therapy is not for everyone. A decision to use it requires a comprehensive medical and gynecological exam and a discussion with a specialist like Dr Goldstein to understand the symptoms of menopause the patient is experiencing.

 

If you are a woman experiencing the symptoms of menopause or interested in the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for health maintenance such as bone health, heart health and more, a consultation with Dr Steven R. Goldstein,  a Menopause Doctor in NYC, may be in order.