In researching weight gain related to menopause, I was hoping to find some new and exciting information that would change how I instruct my clients and show amazing weight loss results. What I actually found is pretty much just the opposite.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, If you are perimenopausal and have gained 10-15 pounds, you are a normal American woman. The research indicates that almost all American women gain weight during the perimenopausal years. Here is the interesting part: women of menopausal age gain weight regardless of wether or not they start menopause. Karvonen-Gutierrez and Kim found in their review that aging is what causes weight gain rather than menopause itself.

According to Guthrie, Dennerstein and Dudley in their 5 year prospective study of weight gain and menopause, there has not been a connection made between hormone changes during menopause and weight gain. There has however been a connection made between hormone changes during menopause and body composition and fat distribution changes. Namely, body fat percentages increase and body fat storage shifts from around the hips, butt and thighs to the abdomen. So, if you are feeling softer than usual around the middle or your tummy has a permanent bloated appearance, menopause may be to blame.

Now, just because that is what your body tends to want to do at this stage in life, doesn't mean that you have to sit idly by (please don't!) and let it. You can fight off the weight gain and fat accumulation in the abdomen. Will it be harder to do than when you were 20? Yes. Is it impossible? No! Will you have to accept a modest amount of weight gain? Maybe.

If you decide not to let nature take its toll and get up and get fighting for your waistline, you should start with looking at your nutrition. The doctors from webmd.com inform us that as we age, our muscle mass decreases and our metabolism slows down. So even if nothing else in your lifestyle has changed, and you are gaining weight, you may need to cut back on your calorie intake. Secondarily to that, focus on low glycemic foods as, according to webmd again, our body's use of blood sugar also seems to slow right alongside our metabolism.

Then look at what you are doing in the gym (or on the pavement, carpet, or wherever it is you exercise). Are you and have you been meeting the ACSM's recommended amounts of physical activity? Do you exercise for at least 30 minutes a day five days a week? If not, start slowly adding in a few minutes of exercise until you do meet those recommendations. Still gaining weight? Keep increasing until you are exercising for an hour, five days per week. This doesn't have to be an hour of extreme intensity exercise, this can be walking outside at a brisk pace, swimming laps in the pool, taking a water aerobics class or whatever else you enjoy that elevates your heart rate and keeps it there for the duration of the exercise session.

And let's not forget about strength training. Strength training at least twice a week will help combat those body composition and metabolism changes I mentioned before as well as helping combat bone density loss. Choose at least eight exercies that work the whole body and perform 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise.

Making healthy eating choices, slowly increasing your physical activity amounts and modestly decreasing your caloric intake can make a huge impact on your perimenopausal health. Don't wait. Start making small changes today! You won't regret it.