What Makes Women Gain Weight?

2-38pm

Women’s weight is ALWAYS going to be an issue. Most feel they are overweight. Some feel they are ‘just right.’ And a minority feel they are ‘underweight.’ What makes women gain weight?

Eating More Than You Need – Just thinking off the top of my head, let’s start at the beginning and say eating more than you need makes women gain weight. Think of Christmas and holidays – we always start the new year with a few extra kilogrammes attached to our bellies. We’ve over eaten all the yummy Christmas fare. If during normal times of the year,  you are a compulsive grazer, you will gain weight. Generally we eat too much.  A large part of losing weight is actually looking at appetite control and letting your brain communicate with your stomach to let it know when you are hungry. We may think we need food, but we may be thirsty, bored, tired, hormonal, irritated etc. So think before you eat.

Eating The Wrong Kind of Food – The second reason why women gain weight is because they are eating the wrong kind of food. High carb snacks such as biscuits, chips, pies, crackers, pastries are all guaranteed to put on weight. If that’s what you fill your plate with, cut it out to reduce your weight. If you are obese (I’ll define that in a moment), you need to go onto a low carb diet. Cut all carbs and sugar and look for the LCHF section at the top of this page.

Baby-Bearers – Another reason why women gain weight is because we are the baby-bearers. Pregnancy makes us gain weight. Eating for two makes us gain weight. The more you gain, the longer it takes for you to shed it after pregnancy. (Breast feeding is a great way to lose pregnancy weight by the way!). When we are not wanting to be pregnant, we take contraception, some of which makes us gain weight. The pill is a good example as is “the injection”.

Menopause – when women arrive in their late 30s, suddenly it’s harder to quickly shed those unwanted kilogrammes. In our 20s, eat a little less, move a little more and they melt away.  But from our 40s onwards, you have to eat less and move a lot more to make them go away. Our metabolism slows down & we get that ‘tyre around the waist’ thing going on! We burn less fat after menopause and due to oestrogen levels dropping, it seems we store fat in different places. No longer on our legs, more commonly round our waists.

(Copy and paste this for more information: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2300487/Women-really-DO-spare-tyre-fat-menopause–putting-higher-risk-heart-disease.html)

Emotional Issues – These include depression, stress, lack of sleep, which according to research could trigger the body into more of a fat-storing mode. Some antidepressant medication adds to weight gain as well.

Illness – Some illnesses result in weight gain, such as thyroid issues, ovarian cyst and heart and kidney problems. Fibromyalgia can also contribute to weight gain.

I, Helga van Niekerk, have been trying to lose a few kilograms (say just 3kg) for the last 9 years, without success. I exercise about 6 hours a week, I eat the right things…I aim for 80% eating right. I have not been able to shed the last few kilogrammes. I am not obese, BUT my Body Mass Index (BMI) is slightly too high. A number of people have said that maybe I’m just supposed to be this weight, but I don’t agree. So I’m trying something different and if it works, I’ll let you know about it.

The normal BMI for a woman is between 18.5 and 24.9 If it is less than 18.5, you are considered underweight. If it is 25 or  higher, it means you are over weight and anything above 30 is obese.

Go here  to get your BMI calculated, but remember to come back!

Mine is 25.6, so I’m slightly overweight. Shedding just one or two kg will sort that out and I am determined to do that. You may not be overweight at all. Take for example a 53 year old woman who is 165cm tall and weighs 63kg. Her BMI is 23.7.  Her weight is absolutely fine. Remember comparison is toxic. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Aim to be as healthy as you can. If your BMI is normal, be happy! Eat, exercise, enjoy your life. It’s too short to do anything else.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

Good commendation!

And remember this…

Ha!

God bless you!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂

Gratitude/Happiness Pic…chocolate & blog…yay for some healthy chocolate