Season 9 of the podcast “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta” explores the intersection between physique weight and well being. We delve into a variety of subjects together with the evolutionary causes behind why dropping pounds is so exhausting and new weight reduction medicine and learn how to speak to children about weight. You’ll be able to pay attention right here.

(CNN) — Menopause and weight achieve appear to go hand in hand.

“I went to sleep and I awakened the subsequent day, and I promise you, I’ve gained 20 kilos.” That’’s the grievance Dr. Monica Christmas hears on a regular basis as director of the menopause program at College of Chicago Drugs, the place she can also be an affiliate professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

This phenomenon isn’t restricted to her sufferers, Christmas instructed CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his latest podcast. “I regarded round at my family members or perhaps different those that I knew that had been in that age vary, and it did appear to be, wow, they did appear to realize quite a lot of weight in a brief time frame,” she stated.

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Girls do achieve about 1½ kilos per yr throughout their 40s and 50s. And quite a lot of that additional weight appears to land within the midsection, setting the stage for metabolic issues together with hypertension, excessive blood sugar and excessive ldl cholesterol, all of which improve the danger of heart problems.

However is menopause actually accountable for girls’s midlife weight achieve? As with so many well being points, it’s difficult.

Christmas stated it’s unimaginable to speak about weight achieve round menopause with out speaking concerning the different elephant within the room: getting older. “Menopause is inextricably tied to the getting older course of,” she stated.

“Growing old generally is related to weight achieve, extra so due to life-style modifications: being extra sedentary, not as lively as we as soon as had been,” Christmas stated.

She stated it often doesn’t occur all of sudden. As a substitute, altering life circumstances, corresponding to extra job and parenting obligations, conspire to rob us of time for spare time activities that used to maintain us lively. “We began slowly realizing … ‘I didn’t find time for these varieties of issues,’” she stated.

And there’s no less than another issue that contributes to weight achieve as we age. “The truth of it’s that our metabolism slows as we become older,” she stated. One oft-cited research discovered that it stays pretty steady between the ages of 20 and 60 however then declines.

However it’s removed from a misplaced trigger, Christmas stated. “The load achieve doesn’t occur with everyone; folks which can be actually lively, which can be meticulous about train, which can be intentional about what they gasoline their our bodies with, it’s most likely a minimal change.”

So, what are you able to do to mitigate middle-age unfold? Christmas has these 5 ideas.

Your physique, your temple

Christmas believes in treating your weight loss program such as you deal with your checking account: Be meticulous about what you select to place into it and the way you spend your energy.

“My family and friends discuss with me as a ‘meals snob.’ If it will possibly dwell in a merchandising machine for years and nonetheless be thought of contemporary, I don’t put it in my physique,” she stated through e-mail.

Christmas additionally advises towards going too heavy on the meat. “Michael Pollan stated it finest: ‘Eat actual meals, not an excessive amount of, and principally crops.’ He’s so proper,” she stated. “Each time we consider folks as ‘getting older backwards,’ they’re often vegetarians or near it. Adhering to a plant-forward weight loss program, crammed with anti-inflammatory meals (like these discovered within the Mediterranean weight loss program) and avoiding extremely processed meals containing sodium, sugar and trans fat is the very best reward you may give your self.”

This doesn’t imply you could’t ever have a deal with. “In the event you do bask in one thing decadent, cut back later,” she stated.

Train is essential to sustaining a wholesome weight and combating the muscle loss that comes with getting older and may put older adults at increased danger of incapacity.

“The adage ‘use it or lose it’ couldn’t be more true throughout the menopause transition,” Christmas stated.

“Particularly, what we’re dropping: our muscle tone, flat tummy, trim waistline — I’ll cease right here as a result of I’m miserable myself,” she stated. “Specialists suggest 150 minutes of moderate-intensity bodily exercise and two days of muscle strengthening per week.”

She is usually requested what the very best kind of train is. “My response is all the time the identical: ‘the one which you’ll do,’” she stated. “I like strolling with a mix of yoga and Pilates. Nonetheless, the choices are infinite: hip-hop aerobics, spin class, biking, mountaineering, tennis, swimming, step class, Jazzercise, lining dancing, boxing, pole dancing, weightlifting, barre. The purpose is to be intentional; discover one thing you want, take a good friend, and go typically.”

Restrict alcohol or keep away from it altogether.

“Outdoors of the additional energy, alcohol can disrupt sleep, exacerbate or set off despair and infrequently lower our inhibition,” Christmas stated. “Most individuals are inclined to eat extra — and it’s often no more veggies — once they drink alcohol.”

Prioritize sleep.

“Analysis has proven that not getting sufficient sleep is related to weight achieve,” Christmas stated. “Those who don’t get sufficient sleep typically snack extra and bask in all of the high-calorie meals we must always keep away from.”

Observe self-care and self-love

Menopause is a pure section of life which may be related to bothersome signs together with weight achieve — however don’t let that extinguish your pleasure.

“It’s necessary to be intentional about partaking in common train and adhering to a nutritious diet; nonetheless, it’s equally as necessary to create house for self-care,” Christmas stated. “For some — not all — the menopause transition could be scary. Making time to do issues that deliver us pleasure and peace are necessary to total well-being.”

She added that unhappiness, irritability, elevated nervousness and decreased motivation are quite common throughout the transition to menopause. “Session with a psychological well being specialist and, in some instances, medical remedy could be useful, particularly if despair is contributing to overeating or lack of train,” she stated.

We hope these 5 ideas enable you climate the years round menopause with a little bit of equanimity. Hearken to the complete episode right here. And be a part of us subsequent week on the “Chasing Life” podcast, once we discover what makes weight problems a “illness.”