women gain weight in midlife. raging hormones.

The reasons behind why women have a harder time shedding pounds during midlife.

"I've gained more than 10 pounds in the past three or four years. It's so frustrating!" "I don't eat any more than I used to. I avoid fats and junk food, and I take your exercise class twice a week. It used to be that when I needed to lose a few pounds, I could be really careful for a few weeks and take it right off. Now, forget it! Lots of my friends are having the same experience, especially those going through 'the change.' Is it hormones that are causing this weight gain, or is this just my body getting older?"
 

Is it hormones?

Menopause is the permanent cessation of the monthly menstrual cycle, typically occurring between the ages of 45 and 55 (52 is the average age for North American women). Since women don't know they have reached menopause until they have had no periods for a year, more useful terms for this life stage are "midlife" or "the climacteric." Both refer to a woman's midlife years, from 40 to 60, during which many hormonal changes occur. The climacteric begins with the late premenopausal period when a woman's ovaries gradually become less responsive to the hormones that cause them to produce the monthly rise of estrogen and progesterone. This usually occurs somewhere between the ages of 40 and 50. The next phase of the climacteric is the perimenopausal period, which includes the years immediately before and after menopause. The climacteric concludes with the early postmenopausal period, during which conditions related to changes in hormonal levels continue to occur.

A wide range of physical and psychological symptoms occur during the midlife years. Only two symptoms, hot flashes and vaginal dryness, have been shown to be exclusively related to hormonal changes.3 According to researchers, other symptoms, including mood changes, depression and weight gain, may be related to hormonal changes or may be caused by other factors. For example, night sweats (which occur when hot flashes occur during the night) may cause fatigue, depression, and muscular aches and pains because of sleep disturbances. Fatigue may lead to overeating and a fear that exercise will increase feelings of tiredness. Overeating and less exercise, of course, set the stage for weight gain.

Though many midlife women report weight gain, studies show that average body weight in North America increases steadily, beginning in the 30s, for both men and women. This increase generally continues into the 60s. Weight gains are typically about 1 pound per year, with some people gaining much less and others much more. Some researchers have suggested that, since weight gains occur in both men and women, it is not menopause so much as aging and lifestyle that are responsible for the weight gains that midlife men and women complain about.