Читать книгу Menopause Without Weight Gain: The 5 Step Solution to Challenge Your Changing Hormones - Debra Waterhouse - Страница 9

Somewhere in your mid-to late thirties, you did or will become aware of some subtle changes in your body. Your periods still come like clockwork, you are still fertile and in your childbearing years, and your hormones are still within normal ranges – but something’s definitely different. You begin to notice initial changes that will continue to intensify over the next few years.

• Your partner starts identifying that you’re having PMS before you do, and your premenstrual time is longer – meaning that almost half of your waking days are PMS. When you think about it, it seems like you are always either cranky or crampy.

• You are craving more chocolate, sugar and fat – especially premenstrually.

• Your weight is starting to climb, and your morning weigh-in becomes more important than your morning coffee.

• Your waist measurement increases by at least an inch.

• You start staring in the mirror, taking inventory of changes in your body. You’re positive that there’s more cellulite today than there was yesterday.

• You notice that your breasts are growing, and when you turn around you realize that it’s not just your breasts, you have more fat on your back, too.

• The old standby diet that used to guarantee a 5-pound weight loss in a month doesn’t work anymore, and you start browsing the diet section of bookstores.

Research has finally surfaced to explain why you and your fat cells undergo such a remarkable change during ‘the change’. Simply stated: female fat cells can tell time, they are experts in geography, and they have a built-in laboratory to produce oestrogen.

When fat cells first detect a slightly lower oestrogen level, they rise to the occasion. One fat cell says to the other, ‘See, I told you so. I’ve been counting the years and monitoring her oestrogen level. She really needs our help now – wake up, recruit the extra forces, spread the word.’ So while your fat cells are spreading the word, you’re observing the first signs of middle-age spread.

All of your other cells don’t know what to do to help; they can’t grow and produce oestrogen on command. But your fat cells know exactly what to do: activate more fat-storage enzymes and increase their size so that they will be able to produce oestrogen. As your ovaries and other glands and organs start to decrease their release of oestrogen, suddenly the only reliable source of oestrogen comes from your fat cells. The bigger they become, the more oestrogen they will be able to produce. The University of Pittsburgh found that those women with the largest fat cells produce 40 per cent more oestrogen than those with the smallest ones. To become bigger and better, from the mid-thirties on, the average woman puts on an additional 1½ pounds of fat a year. The first pound or so will go unnoticed, but as the fat accumulates you’ll no doubt have to face the fact that your wardrobe isn’t getting smaller – you’re getting bigger.

This process explains why you are gaining weight without a change in your eating or exercise habits, but why are you gaining most of that annual pound and a half of fat in your waist?

Because the geographical location of your abdominal fat cells is most conducive to producing oestrogen. These fat cells surround the liver and adrenal glands, which lend a helping hand to produce oestrogen. The adrenal glands produce a form of testosterone, the liver produces the enzyme necessary to convert the testosterone to oestrogen, and the fat cells surrounding the liver and adrenal glands provide the laboratory to get the job done. It’s a highly efficient system.

A year ago or ten years ago (depending on your age), you were more likely to store fat in your buttocks, hips and thighs. Today, it’s most likely to be in your stomach and waist. Your thighs have done their job, now it’s time to rest. And while they are recuperating from years of hard work, they relax a bit too much and lose some of their structure, collapsing in certain areas and plumping out in others. Cellulite starts to become more noticeable and is often described as ‘dimples on your fat cells’. Could it be that your thirty something fat cells are so happy to be in midlife that they are smiling at you?

It wouldn’t surprise me. This is their heyday, and they are also ecstatic about your loss of muscle mass. Muscle loss works in tandem with fat gain. Muscle is your metabolism, and when you lose muscle you lose your ability to burn calories. So from age 35 on, the average woman loses about half a pound of muscle a year while she’s gaining 1½ pounds of fat. When you lose a half pound of muscle, you burn about 40 fewer calories a day. The more muscle you lose, the fewer calories your body needs, and the extra calories are rerouted to your fat cells to store.

In addition to muscle loss, food cravings also join in to give fat cells a helping hand. A slight decrease in oestrogen and progesterone intensifies your PMS, mood changes and food cravings. When oestrogen levels diminish, the levels of certain brain chemicals follow suit. One of the most influential is serotonin. When serotonin levels drop below normal, you feel tired and moody, and your brain cells cry out for sugar, starch and chocolate as a natural way to bring this important brain chemical back into balance and make you feel better. In addition, the ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream also help to make your fat cells feel better. Your cravings for high-calorie foods ensure that you are eating sufficient calories for your fat cells to store. During the perimenopause, everything seems to work in the fat cells’ favour.

From the combination of lower oestrogen levels, less muscle mass, increased food cravings and increased fat storage enzymes, this is what your 35-year-old fat cells look like:

When you were in your twenties you may have cursed your female fat cells, but with the right approach to eating and exercising, you did see results. But by the time you celebrate your 40th birthday, you may have had a child or two, you are clinical evidence that gravity does exist, your waist is no longer the size of Scarlett O’Hara’s – and you’ve lost 2½ pounds of muscle, gained 7½ pounds of fat, and need 200 fewer calories a day.

With each subsequent birthday, your fat cells are having more of a celebration with the jelly and ice cream than you are.