Busting myths about midlife weight gain
Linda Henshaw didn’t believe middle-age spread would happen to her — until it did. She’d known that the women in her family, from Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, tended to pack on 10 to 15 pounds in their late forties. But Henshaw, a certified exercise physiologist and former competitive gymnast, thought she could avoid the family curse.
She couldn’t. Just like her mother and older sister, Henshaw started gaining weight around age 49. The Aurora, Ont., mother of two was as active as ever, but her sudden carb cravings made her unable to resist snacking on bread while cooking dinner. Within a couple of years, her weight zoomed from 117 to 141 pounds — too much for her petite five-foot-two frame. “It was pretty discouraging trying to lose the weight, and eventually I just gave up trying,” Henshaw says.
And so do many women. Acquiring extra weight in midlife — a meno pot, back fat, boobs spilling outside the bra — is so common that it seems normal and natural. According to the Mayo Clinic, the gain often begins during perimenopause and continues through post-menopause, with an average gain of one pound a year.
It’s an unfortunate fact that metabolism slows with age. Starting at age 20, our dietary needs decrease by about 150 daily calories per decade — the equivalent of a small bag of potato chips or a ½ cup of ice cream. It’s also true that midlife women are more likely to develop belly bulge. “As the balance between estrogen and testosterone changes, women are more prone to male-pattern obesity,” says Arya Sharma, chair of obesity research and management at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and scientific director of the Can-adian Obesity Network. “That means more abdominal fat.”
Biology, not destiny
Perfect. Shall we just give up right now? Crack open the Dibs and reach for the Thanksgiving pants?
Not so fast. While we’re more likely to chunk up as we get older, it’s a myth that we’re doomed. There are lots of women who have escaped extra poundage and maintain girlish waistlines despite the tolls of menopause and age (case in point: Bikini-licious Helen Mirren is 64). Weight gain in midlife doesn’t have to be a slippery slope; it’s sometimes just a small hill to be navigated, managed and overcome.
Henshaw did it. After a few years, her cravings — which she thinks stemmed from anxiety — began to subside. Over the next two years, the pounds came off easily and consistently, just as they did for her female relatives. “I’m almost back down to my weight when I got married,” says a trim-looking Henshaw, who, at 56, celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary this year.
Keep reading as we bust some of the most pervasive myths about midlife weight gain.
