Posted on February 3, 2013
In my last blog, we discussed the catchy term MENOPOT. definition: the pot around your belly, the thickening of your midline, the loss of waist definition which occurs around the dreaded menopause. We discovered the causes are multifactorial: changes in hormones, changes in metabolism, change in muscle to fat ratio, and changes from pregnancies. So what can we do?
- Increase your base metabolic rate.(This is your metabolic rate you burn calories from just living- pumping the blood, breathing, and maintaining your body temperature.)
- Increase your NEAT. “non exercise activity thermogenesis.” A Mayo Clinic researcher J Levine coined this term, and it involves increasing the energy spent by doing trivial physical activities like “work, typing, performing yard work, and fidgeting.” This NEAT can vary between 2 people of similar size by 2000 kcal/day. This may be important in body weight regulation. For more information, you can visit Dr. Levine’s articles on PubMed.
- There is a device called gruve (gruve.com) which will track your NEAT. It encourages you to stand up, fidget, get moving, and will track it with colors so you can know how active your NEAT has been.
- Some feel that your constant activity through the day is more important than hitting the gym hard for an hour. One study found those who worked out for 1/2 hour lost more weight than those who worked out hard for an hour a day. Why? Those who did less working out were more constantly active through the day.
- SLEEP. When you are sleep deprived, in addition to snacking, chugging caffeine, and other bad habits to try keep you awake, your hormones go haywire
- increased cortisol and insulin—> lead to fat deposition
- increased ghrelin—> tells you you are hungry
- decreased leptin—>leptin tells you you are full
- Calories are spent digesting food
- increase the calories spent to digest by eating low glycemic index foods (not sugar or simple foods- you want complex foods which take your body time and energy to digest.) So avoid the pastas and breads, and eat the whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein.
- Calories spent exercising
- Increase your MUSCLE MASS. Yes, those body pump classes are important for 50 year old women. Remember in my last blog we lose muscle as we age. Muscle burns 14 calories an hour, fat just 3 We must actively work to build muscle. Work with a professional- a lot of reps with 3 pound weights is not likely going to build that muscle. You need to increase the weight amounts to build the muscle.
- Your metabolic rate decreases because of age and hormone changes. So what burned 2000 calories at age 25, now burns 1800. Don’t forget your cardio and calorie expenditure.
- “Afterburn” – you burn extra calories for the hours after a strenuous workout. One study showed a spinning class burned 500 calories in 45 minutes and an additional 190 calories in the next 14 hours.
- Plastic Surgery. Yes, I am a plastic surgeon, and I can fix many of the issues of the menopot. But liposuction and tummy tucks are not a good option until you have control of your weight changes. If your weight is still creeping up, you haven’t fixed the problem yet. If you do surgery, I can change your shape and remove your fat, but you will lose the result.