Perimenopausal and menopausal stubborn fat gain is not only frustrating but it brings so many health risks, increased rates of cardiovascular disease, brain fog, cognitive decline, intense mood changes, fatigue, loss of muscle mass, insulin resistance, high inflammatory markers, less resilience to stress and low libido.
Many of the women who come to see me and are entering perimenopause experience the following symptoms:
- Low estrogen
- High insulin
- High cortisol
This lethal triad creates the perfect environment for excess belly fat and the accumulation of dangerous visceral fat around the organs.
Visceral fat is the worst fat of all because it is strongly linked with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease and stroke, and belly fat is the primary indicator of insulin resistance and inflammation.
DID YOU KNOW: Visceral fat has cortisol receptors, which means that when stress hormones like cortisol are elevated, it can promote the accumulation of visceral fat, which in turn can contribute to insulin resistance due to its disruption of normal fat burning signals in the body.
Many of my female clients find themselves in situations where they are over exercising, restricting calories severely, skipping meals, they have removed processed foods, gluten, dairy and the fat doesn’t budge…
Here’s the thing, fat loss in women isn’t just about cutting calories or nutrients and exercising. It does matter but it’s not just your diet or exercise routine that impacts fat loss.
Your body has an incredible intelligence to it, it is about the change in your oestrogen levels at perimenopause.
When oestrogen starts to decline, not only are we losing muscle, which as we know muscle is really important for insulin sensitivity, and that you need oestrogen to help build muscle, but also lower estrogen means higher insulin and higher inflammation.
In addition, during perimenopause we become so sensitive to stress, which is why I don’t advocate radical calorie restriction, cold water therapy, HIIT, fasting and everything else all at once despite our best efforts to combat the changing female body.
So when we understand what is happening in the body, we need to be strategic in order to combat it.
Here’s what to do:
- Get your hormones tested – see what is happening with your pathology. Full hormone panel. Work with someone you trust who understands the role and interplay of insulin, estrogen and cortisol.
- Morning sunlight first thing to set your circadian rhythm – 8 hours is what you need so the 3am wake up time many of you experience is compounding the problem. Morning sunlight sets the stage for the hormonal cascade that takes place every day.
- Move – walk everywhere, get moving. Especially after meals. One of the best low stress exercises. If you can do it outside and add some hills or a weighted vest do it to add more intensity
- Lift weights, as we age we lose muscle, which leads to the changing body shape and we become more insulin resistant, muscle is the glucose disposal organ – build it and eat to build it. Your body will radically change
- Stop snacking, 3 meals, 5 hours apart and no food 3 hours before bed. Hydrate
- Some cold water therapy once or twice a week is excellent.
- Supplements spotlight: Ashwagandha & magnesium for stress and sleep, bergamot is just amazing for visceral fat in combination with berberine. This duo works so well. I love Verdant Vitex, Black Cohosh, Black Maca for early perimenopause.
- Ditch all processed foods, reduce carbohydrate consumption and alcohol (We know alcohol causes more visceral adipose tissue)
- Follow a keto type protocol with some berries and greens
- Sleep, invest in it – where everything happens
- Bio-identical hormones are worth exploring, especially DHEA, progesterone and testosterone. Remember the role of oestrogen. Oestrogen is going to help us build muscle. We always think of testosterone for muscle but for women, oestrogen is crucial for building muscle, it’s anti-inflammatory. When your oestrogen drops, your metabolic rate is going to drop a little too. So it can make a huge difference to do bio-identical hormone replacement therapy with a doctor well trained in menopause.
My one piece of advice is to get your body into a parasympathetic state – aka learn to calm down, reflect, be kind to yourself– you are navigating a new journey and need different tools and it is so rewarding when things start to fall into place with so much grace.
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