Weight gain during menopause: The hormonal causes

*Note: The header image is AI-generated

Weight gain during menopause is partly down to hormones: when estrogen drops, your jeans get tighter around the belly even though you eat and move the same as always. It feels unfair, but it is easy to explain, and there is quite a lot you can do yourself.

Many women report that their weight changes during menopause. Not all of them, but it can genuinely happen, and when it does, you quickly start wondering what you are doing wrong. The honest answer: often nothing. It is rather a completely normal hormonal shift in the body. In this blog post you will learn how it comes about and what you can do about it.

Weight gain during menopause: Are hormones to blame?

Partly. The US SWAN study followed around 1,250 women for many years with precise body scans. The result: weight rises steadily even before menopause and does not speed up during the transition. Something else does. In this phase, fat mass grows almost twice as fast as before, while muscle mass shrinks at the same time (1).

So the kilos tend to come with the years. Where the fat ends up and how much muscle is left is largely determined by hormones.

The main player here is estrogen. When it drops, your body uses less energy at rest, the so-called basal metabolic rate (meaning: what you burn without moving). This is shown by animal experiments and small studies in women whose hormones were suppressed with medication. When the researchers added estradiol, the effect on the basal metabolic rate could be partly reversed (1).

At the same time, muscles break down. And because muscles use energy even at rest, this lowers the basal metabolic rate a little further.

The evidence sorts out like this: It is well established that as estrogen falls, more fat collects around the belly and muscle mass shrinks. The influence of estrogen deficiency on basal metabolic rate, the urge to move and appetite has been shown experimentally, though in animals and small human studies. It is still unclear why exactly muscles break down. Researchers consider several explanations plausible, but none of them has been conclusively proven.

How many kilos are normal, and how much does it vary?

Typical is around 0.7 kilos per year; depending on the analysis, the range goes up to about 1.5 kilos. In a SWAN analysis of around 3,000 women aged about 46, participants gained an average of around 0.7 kilos per year, regardless of how old they were at the start and whether they were already in the transition (2).

Other analyses arrive at up to 1.5 kilos per year, so over the whole transition up to 10 kilos can add up (2). The upper end is more the exception. The differences arise because the studies look at different time windows, groups and measurement methods.

So for you this means: if your weight gain falls somewhere within this range, you are pretty normal. But it is also completely understandable if it still annoys you.

SWAN itself shows how different the courses can be. Among white and Black American women, fat gain accelerated during the transition; among Japanese participants this was not statistically detectable, and among Chinese participants weight even fell slightly after menopause. Timing matters too: women whose last period came later gained slightly less fat each year (1).

Do these figures also apply to women in Germany?

Only as a guide. All the kilo figures above come from US long-term studies. There is so far no comparably large cohort from Germany, Austria or Switzerland, and German-language specialist publications also rely on these US data. So the figures show you an order of magnitude, not a German statistic you would have to measure yourself against exactly.

Perimenopause or postmenopause: Does it make a difference?

Yes, the hormone-related shift is concentrated in the actual transition phase, the perimenopause (meaning: the years around the last period). According to SWAN, it begins about two years before the last period: fat mass increases faster, and muscle mass decreases by around 0.2 percent per year. About 1.5 to 2 years after the last period, things settle down again, and in postmenopause weight also stabilizes (1).

Why stress adds fuel to belly fat

Because two signals come together here. Without estrogen, the body prefers to store fat in the abdominal cavity, as so-called visceral fat. That explains why your jeans feel tight around the belly in particular and hardly at the hips or thighs.

In short: Visceral fat sits inside the abdominal cavity, around the organs. You cannot see it directly, but you notice it in your waist circumference. The fat under the skin that you can pinch between two fingers is a different kind and metabolically less active.

Then there is cortisol, the stress hormone. Researchers suspect that estrogen in belly fat slows down an enzyme that converts inactive cortisone into active cortisol. If this brake is removed, more cortisol could act there and further promote storage around the belly, especially when more energy comes in than is used. There are first indications of this so far, but the mechanism has not yet been proven.

And menopause delivers stress to your door: hot flashes at night, poor sleep, plus work and family in a phase of life that is rarely calm. How much ongoing stress adds during menopause has not been precisely quantified. What is clear is that stress and estrogen deficiency pull in the same direction.

If you want to learn more about hormones in balance, this article might interest you: Tips for a balanced hormone system.

What helps now: Strength training, protein, sleep and stress regulation

The best levers act exactly where hormones are chipping away at your muscles and basal metabolic rate. Honestly, none of them is new, but each one now has a clear reason.

And supplements? A balanced diet usually covers your nutrient needs. A supplement can accompany this phase of change. It is not a weight-loss product; the levers above remain the foundation.

Advertisement: N°23 Meno Balance by CLAV is intended for women aged 45 and over and is meant to accompany menopause. Vitamin B6 contributes to the regulation of hormonal activity. Magnesium contributes to normal muscle function. In addition, there are plant extracts, including wild yam and red clover. If you take medication or hormone therapy, talk to your doctor before taking it. View the product

If you want to learn more about nutrients after 45, this article might interest you: Supplements for hormonal balance over 45.

When to see a doctor

Have it checked by a doctor if your weight gain is well above the ranges above, comes on very quickly or cannot be slowed down despite exercise and diet.

Weight gain can also have other causes, such as an underactive thyroid or side effects of medication. Your GP or gynecologist can check this specifically, for example with the TSH level in your blood. Please never stop a prescribed medication on your own. If nothing is found, at least you know for sure that you are working on the right things.

Does the scale lie? What really matters

The real hormonal signal of menopause is the shift from muscle to fat, and the scale reveals surprisingly little about it. That is why strength training does more for you than any diet that used to work: it builds up exactly what the drop in estrogen wears away.

Your next step: schedule two fixed training sessions this week. Grab a tape measure every now and then for your waist circumference; it shows the change more honestly than the scale. Add enough protein, good sleep and a bit of calm. And if the kilos come unusually fast, make an appointment with your doctor.

Sources

Common questions

Does diet further influence the hormonal effects?

Yes, indirectly. Your plate does not change the drop in estrogen itself, but it helps decide how much energy is available for storage in the first place. Meals rich in protein and fiber with legumes, vegetables and whole grains keep you full longer and provide building material for your muscles.

Can I tell from my body composition whether I am in perimenopause?

No. A larger waist and less muscle also come with age, with little exercise or for completely different reasons. Your cycle tends to give clearer clues, and your gynecologist can classify it reliably.

Does the extra belly fat disappear on its own after menopause?

No, not on its own. In SWAN, fat and muscle mass stayed roughly at the level reached after the transition (1). You can influence what has accumulated by then through strength training, everyday movement and diet.