Losing weight during menopause: how much per month is healthy?

Weight loss during menopause often works differently because your body undergoes changes. Hormonal fluctuations, a quicker decline in muscle mass, and a tendency for fat to accumulate around the abdomen are common. Additionally, factors such as sleep, stress, appetite, and blood sugar levels can influence your weight.

As a result, strategies that worked in the past may no longer be as effective. Simply eating less and exercising more may not yield the same results, particularly if you’re struggling with poor sleep, reduced energy, or increased hunger.

Losing weight often becomes more manageable with an approach tailored to this stage of life: less rigid, more sustainable, and focused on preserving muscle, ensuring adequate rest, and maintaining a stable routine.

A general guideline for healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 1 kilogram per week. However, during menopause, this pace may not be achievable or even desirable for everyone. For many women, losing 0.5 to 2 kilograms per month is more realistic, particularly if you aim to maintain your energy and muscle mass.

This slower pace might seem modest, but it is often easier to sustain. It allows your body time to adjust, and it’s more likely that new habits will integrate smoothly into your daily life.

Rather than focusing solely on speed, consider what you’re losing. Losing fat is different from losing muscle mass. Preserving muscle is especially important, as it plays a crucial role in strength, posture, metabolism, and blood sugar regulation.

Rapid weight loss can be tempting, particularly if your abdomen changes or your clothes feel tighter. However, strict dieting is rarely the best solution.

A significant calorie deficit may lead your body to break down muscle tissue, which is precisely what you want to avoid during menopause. Reduced muscle mass results in less strength and a lower resting metabolic rate, making it harder to maintain your weight in the long term.

Strict diets can also make daily life more difficult. You’re more likely to feel hungry, experience low energy, and struggle to maintain regular meals. This increases the likelihood of regaining weight.

Healthy weight loss doesn’t require urgency. It requires an approach that supports your body and is sustainable over time.

The scale provides a single number, but it doesn’t reflect fat, muscle mass, water, or fat distribution. During menopause, this can be particularly misleading.

For instance, weight gain during menopause often involves changes in abdominal circumference. Conversely, your weight might not decrease significantly, even as your clothes fit better and you feel stronger. That’s progress too.

This is why body composition matters. It refers to the ratio of fat mass, muscle mass, and water in your body. The location of fat also makes a difference. Abdominal fat is more strongly linked to metabolic risks than fat on the hips or thighs.

Doctors recommend not relying solely on the scale. Pay attention to your abdominal circumference, strength, sleep, and energy levels as well.

Measuring your waist circumference is a more effective way to track changes around your abdomen. This is important because your weight doesn’t always indicate where fat is stored or how your body is changing.

During menopause, fat tends to accumulate more quickly around the abdomen. This isn’t just about how your clothes fit. Increased abdominal fat is associated with a higher risk of insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and strain on the heart and blood vessels. Metabolic health involves factors such as blood sugar, blood pressure, fat levels, and how your body uses and stores energy.

Measuring your waist circumference is straightforward. Always measure at the same spot, such as around your navel. Avoid daily measurements; once a month is sufficient to observe trends.

A practical guideline is to keep your waist circumference below half your height. For example, if you’re 170 centimetres tall, a favourable limit is 85 centimetres. This isn’t a judgement but rather a measurement that provides more insight than weight alone.

Tracking progress without stressing over measurements starts with setting regular intervals. Daily weighing can cause unnecessary worry, as weight fluctuates due to factors such as water retention, salt intake, sleep, stress, and hormonal changes. A single day’s measurement doesn’t mean much.

Instead, establish a simple routine:

• weigh yourself once a week;
• measure your waist circumference once a month;
• note how your clothes fit, as well as your energy levels, strength, and sleep;
• focus on trends rather than daily fluctuations.

A BIA scale can help track trends. BIA stands for bioelectrical impedance analysis. This type of scale estimates factors such as body fat percentage, muscle mass, water content, and sometimes visceral fat.

While these measurements aren’t medically precise, they can be useful if done consistently. Focus on trends over several weeks rather than individual readings.

Healthy weight loss during menopause requires an approach that supports your muscle mass, energy, and sleep. Many women tend to diet more strictly when the number on the scale doesn’t drop. At such times, other questions become more relevant: Are you consuming enough protein? Are you maintaining your strength? Are you sleeping well? Can you sustain your approach?

These basics often help:

• include a source of protein in every meal, such as yoghurt, cottage cheese, eggs, fish, chicken, tofu, or legumes;
• engage in strength training twice a week, using body weight, resistance bands, or light weights;
• structure meals with vegetables, proteins, whole grains or legumes, and healthy fats;
• avoid crash diets, as they increase the risk of hunger, muscle loss, and relapse;
• prioritise sleep, as poor sleep can affect hunger, fatigue, and recovery.

Healthy weight loss isn’t just about eating less. It’s also about staying strong, recovering well, and finding a sustainable rhythm.

It’s advisable to seek help for weight loss if you’re gaining weight rapidly without a clear reason, developing significant abdominal fat, or feeling persistently fatigued. Guidance is also important if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, or are taking medication.

If you’re experiencing menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, poor sleep, mood swings, or joint pain alongside weight gain, it’s wise to look beyond just diet and exercise. Sleep, hormones, stress, and pain can all influence your weight, energy, and recovery.

In some cases, consulting a gynaecologist can be beneficial. At SeeMe-nopause, an intake session can provide insights beyond just weight, focusing on your symptoms, health, and what’s sustainable in your daily life. This creates a more complete picture of what suits your body and situation.

Healthy weight loss during menopause isn’t about shedding kilograms as quickly as possible. It’s about losing fat, preserving muscle mass, and maintaining enough energy to sustain your approach.

Speed isn’t everything. Pay attention to your waist circumference, strength, energy, and sleep. If these improve, there’s more progress than the scale might indicate.

Healthy weight loss isn’t a battle against your body. It’s about understanding what your body needs now.

Do you recognise that your body is changing and feel unsure about what’s right for you? The menopause test can help provide more insight into your symptoms and this phase of life.