All of these hormones, acting together are responsible for the expected and “normal” weight gain and change in body shape so common in menopause. About 93% of menopausal women gain weight between the ages of 35 and 55. This can be as little as 10 lb to as much as 75 lbs or even more.
Tips to Help the Menopausal Women with Weight Gain
1. Giving Up Control: It’s very hard for anyone, female or male to accept that the fact that there are changes going on in their bodies over which they have little control.
2. Weight gain in menopause is natural: The first step to reversing the weight gain associated with menopause is to understand that it’s due to the “normal” change in hormones with aging.
3. Stop driving yourself crazy: Beating yourself up and feeling like a failure will not help.
4. Making some sensible changes: Changing your diet, physical activity, the times of eating, estrogen replacement are among the many positive changes you can make.
5. The HCG diet offers the menopausal women a great answer to her slower metabolism.
Is Your Lack of Simple Daily Activities Slowing Your Metabolism?
NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis, coined by Dr. James Levine from the Mayo Clinic) are the activities than burn calories not related to planned exercise, or food digestion. It’s the calorie burned by everyone as they do day to day activities like shopping for shoes in a mall, walking in a hall way of school, or walking to the school bus. NEAT can account for much greater calorie consumption than standard exercise. It can differ by 100 or even 1000 calorie among individuals. Thermogenesis is the scientific word for calorie burning.
Three Components of Energy Expenditure
In the figure to the right The dark column represents how all of the day’s calories are used: part of the calories for NEAT, & those calories for basal metabolism (digestion, heart beat, body heat). Not included are any calories burned up by planned exercise.
Dr. Levine divides NEAT into 2 types for adults and one type for children.
Occupational NEAT represents those calories burned doing one’s occupation. A highly ambulatory or strenuous job like a package delivery man or a construction worker burns 1000 calories a day, while most of us with sedentary jobs only burn 100-200 calories a day. Remember, “being busy” is not the same as being strenuous. A good definition of a strenuous job means that 75% or more of the day’s work occurs outside a building or vehicle.
Non-occupational NEAT are those calories burned doing our daily activities, excluding those related to occupation. Dr. Levine found that thin people, even with sedentary jobs, spend 150 minutes more a day on their feet than overweight people. Overweight people spend 160 minutes more than thin people sitting. This is not a genetic change because it happened only in the last 20-30 years but an
adaptation to the sitting environment made by
What are the thin people with sedentary occupations doing to increase their metabolism? They are fidgeting, standing on their feet instead of sitting, climbing steps instead of using the elevator, going from room to room- often with little purpose, cleaning, watering the yard, and cleaning their car. They get out of their car, instead of going to drive- thru restaurants, banks, and even pharmacies.
The ”Time Spent in Activities: figure shows the time lean and obese people spend in various activities. The time and calories do not include occupational or additional exercise beyond the normal day. Graphs are courtesy of The American Heart Association and Dr. James A. Levine, who I thank for sharing this very important information.
The overweight person has learned to do daily tasks with the least amount of effort. Instead of getting up from his feet to get a file 4 feet away, he will slide his chair, or ask a colleague to grab it for him. If you are among these individual, adding a little more activities to your day and taking HCG will result in a much faster metabolism and more rapid weight loss.
Do You Have a Medical Condition Slowing Your Metabolism?
HCG and Thyroid Disorder: Only disorders of the thyroid-
Here are the Symptoms of an Underactive Thyroid Gland
•Facial expressions become dull.
•Voice is hoarse.
•Speech slow, eyelids droop and the eyes and face become puffy and swollen.
•Weight gain and constipation.
•Intolerance to cold.
•The hair becomes sparse, coarse, dry, scaly and thick.
•Many people develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which makes the hands tingle or hurt.
•The pulse may slow
•The palms and soles appear slightly orange
•The side part of the eyebrow hairs slowly fall out.
If you are feeling these symptoms and are thinking about losing weight on the HCG or any diet plan, you need to see your physician and check your thyroid function. This is a simple and inexpensive blood test. If you do have a low thyroid and are taking thyroid medication, DO NOT STOP YOUR MEDICATION(S) ON THE HCG DIET OR ANY OTHER DIET. HCG WILL NOT MAKE YOUR THYROID NORMAL.
Diabetes Mellitus: Diabetes and especially its treatment may be another condition that causes metabolism to slow down. It's not completely clear why diabetics have slow metabolisms, but they seem to have more trouble taking off weight than non-diabetics. This may be related to their higher blood sugar levels, which fools the body into believing there's lots of energy around, resulting in a reduction in metabolism. Adding HCG may increase your metabolism while the marked changes in the foods in the HCG plan will lower your blood sugar-- both are very positive changes.
Are Your Medications Slowing Your Metabolism?
Numerous drugs have been associated with unusual weight changes. These drugs are well known causes of weight gain and include the well known medications such as steroids, estrogens, and birth control medications and drugs for diabetes including insulin and oral anti diabetes medications. While no one knows exactly how many prescription drugs can cause weight gain, experts estimate the list includes more than 50 common medications. The medication-associated weight gain can be a few pounds -- or as much as 30 pounds over several months.
Chapter 3
How You Can Speed Up Your Metabolism
Dr. Simeons wrote his HCG protocol 55 years ago, we have learned how to help speed up metabolism by increasing the activities of daily