If you’re a man and you’re noticing that your belly isn’t just extra fat, it’s also getting in the way of your wardrobe and your self-esteem, then you might be suffering from menopause belly. This is a common problem among men over 50, but there’s no need to suffer with it any longer. Liposuction can help!
Menopause belly has a lot to do with estrogen levels in the body. During menopause, your estrogen levels drop significantly. This causes certain fat deposits under your skin to become more prominent, as well as affects how fat is stored overall. Because of this, many menopausal women find themselves gaining weight around their midsection while losing muscle mass—a combination that makes it difficult to wear clothing that flatters their shape or feel confident in their bodies. It can be especially hard on men who are experiencing changes in their appearance due to age or weight gain, because they may feel like they’re losing their masculinity as well as their attractiveness. In this guide, we review the aspects of Liposuction For Post Menopausal Belly Fat, menopause makeover plastic surgery, Does menopause belly fat go away after menopause, and How does a postmenopausal woman lose belly fat?
Fortunately, liposuction is one of the best ways for menopausal women (and men!) to treat their stubborn midsections without having to engage in extreme dieting or exercise routines that may not be sustainable long term anyway.
Right here on Cosmeticsurgerytips, you are privy to a litany of relevant information on can you get rid of a menopause belly, coolsculpting for menopause belly, what causes menopause belly, and so much more. Take out time to visit our catalog for more information on similar topics.
Liposuction For Post Menopausal Belly Fat
- Many women gain weight around their midsection before, during, and after menopause.
- This weight gain largely stems from dropping hormone levels, which can also make it difficult to lose weight after putting it on during menopause.
- Sustained changes to your diet and exercise routines can help you lose weight or prevent you from gaining it in the first place.
- Surgical options are also available for weight loss and body contouring.
Menopause comes with many symptoms and side effects — and unfortunately, one of the most reliable ones is gaining weight around your midsection.
This abdominal weight gain stems from hormonal and lifestyle changes, and while these changes are inevitable, gaining weight (or keeping weight you’ve already gained) is not.
Here, we’ll explain the hormonal and physical changes that occur during menopause and how these contribute to weight gain.
We’ll also explore how diet and exercise can help you lose weight, briefly outline some surgical options, and offer some preventative tips for keeping the weight off in the first place.
What happens during menopause
Each woman is born with a finite number of eggs, and menopause occurs when your body stops releasing an egg every month and menstruating.
Menopause usually occurs naturally when a woman reaches her 40s or 50s, but it can also happen earlier due to a number of factors, such as hysterectomy or chemotherapy. When menopause happens before the age of 40, it is called premature menopause.
For one to two years leading up to menopause (a period known as perimenopause), the ovaries make less and less estrogen and eventually stop producing it almost entirely.
Symptoms of menopause include the infamous hot flashes, irregular or skipped periods, mood swings, fatigue, depression, irritability, racing heart, headaches, joint and muscle pain, changes in sex drive, vaginal dryness, and bladder control issues.
Why women gain weight during menopause
Many women find that they begin gaining weight around their midsection as they enter menopause, even if their calorie and activity levels remain the same. Indeed, some women don’t gain weight overall, but still find fat from their hips, thighs, and bottom resettling around their abdomen.
“Life events such as pregnancy, weight loss, and menopause can lead to stubborn fat, skin laxity, poor body shape, and stretch marks,” says Dr. Joseph Cruise, a board-certified plastic surgeon who has been practicing for over 15 years. “Problem areas for women typically include the upper and lower abdomen, hips, thighs, and back.”
Falling hormone levels
“As far as fat distribution is concerned, estrogen unequally distributes more fat in what is called subcutaneous tissues like the arms, legs, and buttocks when compared to abdominal fat. This is what is likely associated with the pear shape in women,” explains Dr. Latasha Murphy, M.D., a skilled gynecologist and surgeon at The Gynecology Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
“After estrogen levels fall during menopause, the fat distribution is more equal, so there is the similar amount of fat being stored around the abdomen (visceral fat),” says Dr. Murphy.
For example, a recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that women undergoing hormone therapy for menopause symptoms tended to gain less weight due to their ingestion of estrogen, progesterone, and/or progestin, which raises these hormone levels.
Other factors
The body’s resting metabolism rate falls as you age, partly due to drops in estrogen for women and drops in testosterone for men.
As a result, your body burns fewer calories even as you perform the same activities — so if you don’t reduce the amount of calories you’re consuming, you’ll gain weight. In addition, the more fat you develop, the more likely you are to gain even more weight since fat burns fewer calories than muscle.
Other symptoms related to menopause can also add to the weight gain, such as sleep deprivation from insomnia, increased cortisol levels as a result of stress, and reduced activity levels due to physical discomfort.
Why it’s important to reduce belly fat
If you’ve developed a menopause “muffin top,” know that you’re not alone — and that you probably didn’t do anything to cause it. However, you should look into reducing menopausal belly fat, and not just for personal appearance reasons: carrying too much visceral fat is associated with numerous health risks.
Visceral fat accumulates deep within the abdominal cavity around your organs or visera, hence the name. Visceral fat contrasts with subcutaneous fat, which is the fatty tissue just beneath the skin.
While you can see and pinch subcutaneous fat, it poses less of a health risk than visceral fat, which hides deeper within the body — and unfortunately, menopause tends to lead to an increase in visceral fat.
Excess visceral fat can lead to inflammation and has been associated with an increased risk of developing multiple conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
An animal study published in the journal Oncogene found that visceral fat cells produce large amounts of a protein called fibroblast growth factor 2 that can cause a healthy cell to turn cancerous. Keeping visceral fat low is key to living a long, healthy life.
“Visceral fat is metabolized or broken down by the liver,” Dr. Murphy explains. “This turns into LDL, or bad cholesterol, which is circulating through the body. The more LDL is circulating, the more likely it is to form plaques or blockages in the arteries. This leads to heart attacks and other cardiac disease.”
How to lose weight during menopause
During menopause, it is important to implement dietary changes that aren’t too dramatic and that can be sustained over time.
In fact, drastically cutting calories can actually lead to unintended negative side effects, such as reduced muscle mass and lower bone density, which can further reduce your metabolism and lead to osteoporosis.
Watching portion sizes and calorie counts is, of course, an important component of losing weight. However, the type of food you’re eating can be just as important as the number of calories you’re taking in.
Your menopause meal plan should include plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that offer a lot of volume with fewer calories. Seek out healthy protein options such as legumes, nuts, soy, fish, and chicken, and try to limit sweets and alcohol.
As for exercise, you should aim for 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity. Seeking out a variety of exercises — including jogging, swimming, yoga, and lifting weights — will ensure that you burn fat, build your muscles and bones, and stave off boredom.
Even brisk walking is a great way to start moving, and you can build an exercise habit from there.
Surgical options
Given the metabolic changes that occur during menopause, sometimes diet and exercise changes aren’t enough to make your belly fat budge.
If you are highly overweight, with a BMI between 35 and 40, there are several options for weight loss surgery. Popular weight loss procedures include gastric balloons, gastric banding, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, and duodenal switch surgery.
It is important to remember that surgery is only the first step in any weight loss journey.
“With all of these surgeries, however, you have to commit to a healthier life to maintain the benefits of the surgery,” Dr. Murphy counsels. “The gastric banding procedure or gastric sleeve procedure are both excellent launching tools, but the success is in the commitment to eat better and be more active.”
If you’re looking for a little bit of body contouring rather than extreme weight loss, you can also remove some of the fat cells directly through liposuction.
“For women who find diet and exercise cannot correct the problem to their satisfaction, cosmetic surgery such as liposuction or a tummy tuck may be an option for getting their body back,” says Dr. Cruise.
However, it’s important to note that liposuction is not a weight loss procedure and doesn’t address the root cause of weight gain. You’ll need to exercise and eat less to maintain the result and ensure that your body doesn’t end up gaining more visceral fat.
Weight gain prevention tips
Of course, the best way to lose weight is to never gain it in the first place. Many of the same general tips for weight loss can also help keep you from ever putting on those extra pounds in the first place: monitoring your food intake, eating a healthy diet, and exercising regularly.
Surrounding yourself with a support group who’s also trying to make healthy choices — whether that’s your spouse, workout class buddies, or other female friends going through menopause — can make weathering this life change a lot easier.
Menopause is a natural part of aging, but that doesn’t mean it’s always pleasant, and a support group makes it easier to start and maintain a healthier lifestyle.
That being said, if you haven’t had success with lifestyle changes and still want to lose some abdominal weight, it might be time to ask a doctor for more information about which surgical procedure could be right for you.
Coolsculpting For Menopause Belly
The war against fat can be a frustrating one. No matter what the scale says, you may have developed unwelcome deposits of fat where you least want them, and no amount of targeted exercise seems to help. Thankfully, our CoolSculpting® technology can solve the problem, helping reshape many areas of your body by eliminating fat.
At Tahoe Women’s Care, Dr. Gary Willen and our team have equipped our practice with the latest technologies to help women look and feel their best. As part of our services, we’re pleased to offer CoolSculpting, which can eliminate up to one-quarter of the fat in your target areas, and we explore some of those areas here.
The CoolSculpting technology
Before we get into the many areas where CoolSculpting can help you achieve your fat-reduction goals, let’s quickly review why this technology is so effective.
Throughout your life, you generally carry the same number of fat cells, which expand in size when you gain weight. With CoolSculpting, we target these cells and eliminate them for good, as they don’t regenerate themselves.
Another advantage of CoolSculpting is that we’re able to bypass the biological directives in your body that dictate where you store fat. When you embark on weight loss, you can shed pounds through diet and exercise, but your body decides where it loses the weight.
For women, this can be especially frustrating since their bodies are more inclined to store fat in certain areas, namely around their pelvic regions. With CoolSculpting, we have the perfect workaround solution that bypasses biology to target your fat directly.
Beyond your belly
The cooling energy we deliver with CoolSculpting is absorbed by your fat cells without affecting the surface area. What this means is that this noninvasive solution is safe to use most anywhere on your body where there are fat pockets, including your:
- Thighs
- Buttocks, including the banana roll underneath
- Back
- Flanks
- Upper arms
- Distal fat (above your knee)
- Bra fat
- Under your chin
This last area is one that we’d like to highlight further. Submental fat can develop in women of all sizes and doesn’t necessarily have to do with weight, although if you’re carrying extra pounds, you may be more susceptible to a double chin.
That said, even slender people can develop a double chin thanks to genetics, facial structure, or age. With CoolSculpting, we can target the fat in this area, shrinking your double chin and restoring a more youthful profile to your face.
And we can achieve this same effect in all of the other areas we list above
menopause makeover plastic surgery
“Menopause is the ultimate women’s liberation. You’re not being defined as a baby-maker anymore. So you have the freedom to reinvent yourself and live your dreams. Think about all the women who get into politics, philanthropy or start businesses after their kids leave home. Taking control of my health and beauty during menopause has me feeling like I’m 12 years old again. That was when I felt total freedom. I’ve never been happier!”
Many post-menopausal women however, who have taken all the necessary steps to feel healthier and happier, may note that their physical appearance may have changed. That is because our skin and bodies take a dramatic physical turn due to a variety of factors including hormonal changes or simply genetic makeup. The Menopause Makeover is designed to address particular concerns that often result from the aging process, including: facial aging, breast sagging or loss of volume, and weight gain in stubborn areas around the waist.
A facelift or necklift can improve signs of aging in the face and neck by addressing sagging in the middle of the face and jowls. It also smoothes the jaw line and tightens loose skin in the neck to reduce the double chin look or the dreaded “turkey wattle”. Rejuvenation procedures typically performed in conjunction with a facelift are brow lifts, to correct a sagging or deeply furrowed brow and eyelid surgery, also known as Blepharoplasty, to rejuvenate aging eyes.
As we age, hormonal changes can also cause the breasts to lose volume and firmness. One of the major reasons this happens is due to the reduced amount of estrogen being produced which in turn causes changes in elasticity. With less elasticity, the breasts loose volume and begin to look saggy. It is also common for women to notice changes in the breast cup size as well. Breast lift or Mastopexy is a procedure in which a new breast contour is created by tightening the breast tissue and removing excess skin. In the process, the areola is repositioned and resized to a new aesthetically pleasing position. Minimal droopiness may be corrected with implants alone.
For those who aren’t quite ready to undergo surgery, non-invasive procedures such as botox and various dermal fillers, laser resurfacing and chemical peels are great alternatives. The famous “liquid facelift” is the use of dermal fillers and botox or dysport injections in areas to add volume, lift and contour facial features.
Does menopause belly fat go away after menopause
It’s not your imagination: Most women’s bellies get bigger as they get older, even if the women continue to exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. Here’s what causes belly fat in women and why changing hormones make belly fat harder to lose.
Blame low estrogen levels.
As women go through perimenopause—the multi-year period that precedes the total cessation of menstrual cycles—their ovaries gradually produce fewer female hormones, particularly estrogen. By the time a woman’s menstrual cycles have stopped, her body produces almost no estrogen.
It’s this lack of estrogen that seems to trigger a shift in fat. Almost all women (and men, for that matter) gain weight as they get older, but studies have found that women who have entered menopause have significantly more visceral fat, or fat located deep in the abdomen, than similar-aged women who have not yet experienced menopause. Some women remain the same weight before and after menopause but notice a significant challenge in their silhouette. In almost every case, women add inches to their waist after menopause.
Women who use hormone therapy to treat menopausal symptoms tend to have less visceral or belly fat than other menopausal women, which lends support to the theory that lack of estrogen drives the accumulation of belly fat. Unfortunately, when women stop hormone therapy, they gain belly fat.
Age, genetics and overall health also affect belly fat.
As humans age, muscle mass declines. People who have a lot of muscle mass burn more calories per hour than people with less muscle mass. So losing muscle mass can slow your metabolism and make it easier for you to put on weight.
Some people are also genetically predisposed to hold more weight in the belly. Studies have also shown that people who were small at birth more readily gain belly fat later in life, compared to people who were of average weight at birth.
Your overall health affects belly fat too. If you have arthritis or joint problems that make it difficult to exercise, for instance, you are probably more likely to gain belly fat than women who are able to move without pain.
There are ways to manage belly fat.
Belly fat is not just a cosmetic issue—it has real health consequences. Excess visceral fat increases your risk of cancer, and a waist size of larger than 35 inches (for women) is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. You may not be able to completely prevent or halt the accumulation of belly fat, but you can keep it in check.
Exercise is the most effective way to lose belly fat. Eating a healthy diet (and eating sweets and drinking alcohol only in moderation) is beneficial, but diet alone cannot reduce belly fat. So, incorporate physical activity into each day. Studies have found walking 50 minutes a day three times a week or 30 minutes a day six days a week can prevent (or help you lose) belly fat.
Taking estrogen can keep belly fat under control, but because estrogen may also increase the risk of developing endometrial or breast cancer as well as the risk of stroke, heart attack, and dementia, estrogen therapy is not recommended solely to control weight or belly fat. There are risks and benefits to hormone therapy after menopause; your healthcare provider can help you understand these factors in the context of your personal health history.
How does a postmenopausal woman lose belly fat
Finding it difficult to button up your favorite jeans? Midsection weight gain (aka “meno belly”) in perimenopause and menopause is real – and frustrating. It often feels like this stubborn weight just isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much you diet or exercise.
The secret for how to get rid of menopause belly is actually fairly simple: you first need to address the underlying hormonal imbalance driving this weight gain. When you do, your body can finally let go of this weight – and you can look and feel the way you want!
Dr. Mary James, ND, one of our Women’s Health Network experts, gives her tips for losing “meno belly” fat in her new video. Watch it now — or read the video transcript below for her easy steps.
[This transcript has been lightly edited and updated for clarity and extended information.]
If you are dealing with “meno belly,” the nickname for stubborn weight that often shows up around a woman’s midsection during perimenopause, I am here to help you understand why this is happening — and more importantly what you can do to lose this weight.
Belly fat’s hormonal connection
Perimenopause and menopause are stages of major flux in a woman’s hormone levels. Estrogen may be dropping but also spiking. In this state of imbalance, hormonal or metabolic imbalances that were once simmering invisibly on the back burner can start making themselves known.
One of estrogen’s actions is to deposit fat onto your hips. As estrogen levels decline, that signal can weaken and fat deposition shifts to your abdomen, resulting in an expanding waistline. Sometimes this happens without weight gain — it’s more about body fat redistribution. If you were pear shaped as a younger woman, you might become more apple shaped as you age.
Chronic stress feeds belly fat
Some underlying triggers for this weight shift may be out of our control, but other aspects are very much within our control. One factor that we can influence is stress. Belly fat contains receptors for cortisol, our body’s main stress hormone. When we’re stressed our adrenals release cortisol and this stimulates these belly fat receptors — resulting in the formation of even more belly fat.
Constantly feeling stressed out may seem like the norm in today’s fast-paced society —but that does not mean that it’s healthy. To tame your cortisol levels, do whatever works for you to slow down and de-stress: unplug, delegate, meditate, stretch and relax. Taking a high quality adrenal supplement also helps to support balanced cortisol levels.
Keep in mind that stress can also be physical, mostly due to inflammation. Chronic inflammation alone can make it hard to lose added weight because it inhibits some enzymes that normally break down fats in the body. So, get some help to optimize your health and tackle inflammation. Take care of gut imbalances and other inflammatory conditions, like thyroid disease or Hashimoto’s. Slowing of your metabolism, weight gain and trouble losing it commonly go along with low thyroid function.
These issues may not produce symptoms until you hit menopause, so it’s a good idea for any woman hitting menopause to get her thyroid function checked, including thyroid antibodies, especially if there’s a family history of thyroid problems. [Take our Thyroid Quiz to learn more about your thyroid health.]
Insulin resistance is a trigger for meno belly weight gain
Insulin resistance can also contribute to weight gain. If your insulin receptors have become less sensitive to insulin, you can have higher levels of blood sugar and lower energy and also increased disease risk for diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Chronic stress and abdominal fat can encourage insulin resistance. This results in higher insulin levels that can make the body more easily turn calories into fat — even if you’re dieting.
The good news is you can do something about insulin resistance. Strength training to build muscle also boosts your metabolism and makes those insulin receptors more sensitive, helping you to lose weight. Ever notice how men tend to lose weight more easily than women? It’s because they have more lean muscle mass.
Sleep your way to weight loss
Finally, how much sleep are you getting at night? Is perimenopause robbing you of sleep by causing night sweats and making you wake up at odd hours of the night? Is your system still too wired at bedtime to get into sleep mode, or are you simply just not getting to bed early enough to get seven or eight hours of sleep?
A chronic sleep deficit — whatever the cause — can promote weight gain. This is because of the effects that sleep has on two hormones that regulate appetite. When you get enough sleep your body releases leptin, a hormone that controls appetite. Not enough sleep means a bigger release of ghrelin, a hormone that literally makes you crave junk food!
You may feel like you just have lousy self-discipline when in fact it’s your body chemistry that’s making it more difficult to eat healthy and to know when to stop. Whatever it takes, really try to make sure you get enough sleep at night.
Crash diets don’t work — here’s the meno belly diet that does
You’ve probably noticed that crash diets don’t work — the weight just comes right back again. The reason for this when you’re in perimenopause is that weight loss is more complex than “calories in/calories out.” To be successful a meno belly diet requires the added step of focusing meals and snacks around foods that help restore and maintain hormonal balance.
Meno belly diet — six key ingredients
How to get rid of meno belly with exercise
The good news is that losing a meno belly doesn’t require long, strenuous workouts. In fact, working out at too high an intensity can stress the body and trigger added cortisol production. The best forms of exercise for shedding meno belly fat are those that energize the body and work muscles at a more moderate level. Here are some exercises to try:
Walking. As simple as it gets, going for a brisk 20-30 minute walk on most days of the week is a cardio workout that relieves stress, gently works your muscles and lifts your aerobic output, helping you burn calories and belly fat. You can walk indoors on a treadmill, but try to get outside. Sunshine’s added Vitamin D boost helps your body maintain hormonal balance.
Yoga. Practicing yoga helps to calm your mind and reduce cortisol. It’s also a great whole body exercise for core muscle toning and balance.
Swimming and water aerobics. If your knees and other joints tend to hurt during exercise, try swimming and water aerobics. The buoyancy of water takes pressure off your joints, giving you the ability to exercise without pain. Plus, the added resistance of water gives your workout more muscle-strengthening power.
Strength training. Engage in exercises that focus on the major muscle groups — your arms, legs and core. Try a strength-training exercise like Pilates or hit the gym for a more traditional workout with weights. Regular strength training can help you reduce body fat, strengthen your muscles and burn calories more efficiently.
With so many approaches to try, here’s the encouraging message: just because that meno belly fat hasn’t budged lately doesn’t mean that it won’t when you try a different approach!