510 - Risk Factors for Weight Gain | Menopause Taylor

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:07]Hello my dear students. I'm so glad to see you here in class today. You are in attendance at Menopause Taylor University where I teach you everything you need to know in order to succeed with your menopause management. And for the majority of women, weight management is part of their menopause management.

[00:00:29]So this is a unit on metabolism, weight gain, and cravings, all of which require management at menopause.

[00:00:38]This is the fifth video in the unit.

[00:00:40]I've already given you tutorials on the basic biology of metabolism in video number 506, mother nature's food plan versus modern woman's food plan in video number 507, and your body's food clock in video number 508.

[00:00:58]and the effect of your sex hormones on your metabolism, weight, and cravings in video number 509.

[00:01:07]Now that you understand these basics, it's time to shift our focus to the risk factors for weight gain. You see, a real education enables you to connect all the dots. You absolutely have to understand the basics that I've given you in the previous four videos in order to make sense of the one I'm giving you today.

[00:01:33]So, please be sure to get this education in order. The chapter on weight gain in my book is chapter 24, but the format of the delivery is not as detailed as it is in these videos. I think it's critical to know that the book and the videos differ a bit. I also think it's critical to review what you already know from the preceding four videos, and that's because we'll be using it all again today. So, video number 506 taught you that your metabolism is still programmed to defend your body against starvation.

[00:02:11]So, anything that results in either infrequent food intake or insufficient food intake induces your body to do two things. slow down your metabolism and store as much as possible in the form of fat, mostly in your midsection.

[00:02:27]So, your body adapts to both weight loss and decreased physical activity with metabolic adjustments that keep your weight at a set point.

[00:02:39]Then, video number 507 explained that most of modern woman's food plan constitutes an absolute transgression against mother nature's food plan.

[00:02:50]Then video number 508 explained that your body has its own food clock. As such, it expects you to eat every two to three hours. It expresses the feeling of hunger according to how often it expects food. It expects to receive the largest meal of the day at the beginning of the day and smaller meals thereafter. And it expects every meal to contain carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

[00:03:19]Video 509 taught you that the three sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all have specific effects on your metabolism, weight, and cravings.

[00:03:31]At pmenopause, the stress of losing your progesterone and having completely chaotic estrogen causes your body to drastically and rapidly slow down your metabolism and store as much as possible in the form of fat, mostly in your midsection.

[00:03:51]And again, at postmenopause, the permanent stress of having no estrogen causes weight gain because it induces your body to slow down your metabolism and store as much as possible in the form of fat, mostly in your midsection.

[00:04:10]Loss of testosterone 2 years into post-menopause causes you to lose muscle mass and muscle tone.

[00:04:18]Now, why in the world would I need to review all that in order to delineate the risk factors for weight gain?

[00:04:27]Because everything I've just told you is at the very root of the risk factors for weight gain. That's why.

[00:04:36]In fact, they are all so intertwined that it's almost a chicken and egg phenomenon.

[00:04:44]Which came first? the chicken or the egg.

[00:04:50]And if you're unaware that these things that are at the root of your menopausal weight gain are really the problem, you will fail in your efforts to avoid menopausal weight gain.

[00:05:04]In addition to these basics, there are a few other risk factors which you will ultimately discover are very basic also.

[00:05:14]So, let's get to it.

[00:05:16]I think the best way to organize this material is by category. And in the end, you'll see that it all comes full circle, sort of like the chicken and the egg.

[00:05:28]So, we'll divide the risk factors into 12 categories. The categories are as follows.

[00:05:35]Metabolic programming, genetics and family history, your body's rhythms, sex hormones, diseases, medications, food intake, lifestyle, physical activity, discipline and willpower, aging, and your gut microbiome.

[00:05:57]And each of these will have several subcategories.

[00:06:02]Of course, I'm in the habit of making you a chart for all lists of risk factors. So, I'll make you a chart for these weight gain risk factors, too. And we'll build it as we go along.

[00:06:15]If you've been a student here at Menopause Taylor University for any length of time, you know that there is a list of risk factors for each and every disease.

[00:06:27]Risk factors are all the things that can increase your risk of having a disease.

[00:06:36]And generally speaking, the more risk factors you have, the more likely you are to get the disease.

[00:06:43]Well, it also turns out that the more common the disease, the more risk factors there are for it.

[00:06:52]In all the units on diseases, I have given you the list of risk factors for each individual disease. [snorts] The list of risk factors for heart attack consisted of 15 items. The list of risk factors for osteoporosis consisted of 19 items. The list of risk factors for Alzheimer's consisted of 26 items. The list of risk factors for uterine cancer consisted of only three items. The list of risk factors for cervical cancer consisted of 11 items. The list of risk factors for breast cancer consisted of 17 items. And the list of risk factors for ovarian cancer consisted of 28 items.

[00:07:36]Golly. So you can see that most diseases can result for many different risk factors.

[00:07:45]Well, how common are heart attack, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer compared to weight gain.

[00:07:59]See what I'm getting at? The bottom line is that the more common the disease, the longer the list of risk factors.

[00:08:10]Now, notice that I keep saying weight gain rather than obesity. That's intentional.

[00:08:17]When it comes to menopause, your weight issues begin with weight gain. And we all define everything pertaining to weight differently. In video number 512, two weeks from now, you'll discover more about why that's the case. But today, I simply want you to learn about the list of risk factors for weight gain.

[00:08:39]So, if you had to guess how many risk factors there are for weight gain, how many would you expect? There are between three and 28 for all the other diseases we've addressed. So, how many would you expect for weight gain?

[00:08:57]Well, surprise. The list of risk factors for weight gain is the longest list of all. There are 36 risk factors for weight gain.

[00:09:11]So let's cite each one. I will not elaborate greatly on them today. I will merely comment briefly on each. Most of them will already be familiar to you.

[00:09:23]Okay. The very first risk factor category is your metabolic programming.

[00:09:28]So this goes back to what I taught you in video number 506.

[00:09:33]The human body is metabolically programmed for primitive human life on Earth back when food was scarce and starvation was a constant threat. It was a time when survival was unlikely.

[00:09:46]Well, things have changed a lot since then. Food is no longer scarce, starvation is no longer a threat, and survival is highly likely. The problem is that your body did not update its programming. And this risk factor for weight gain is your body's innate programming for handling food itself.

[00:10:09]So the very first risk factor is that you still have the metabolic programming of a primitive h human but you're not living the life of a primitive human. So let's start our chart with that.

[00:10:23]This is the very beginning of our chart and it's really really simple. The left column is the categories of risk factors and the right column is the individual risk factors. You can already see that the list of risk factors is vast.

[00:10:39]The second category of risk factors is your genetics and family history. This consists of three subcategories including your actual genetic predisposition for weight gain, your mother's weight gain during her pregnancy with you, and your family members who have experienced weight gain. Some of these are things on which you can have an impact. Some of these are things on which you can't. You see, your family's influence is not only due to the genes you inherit. It's also due to the habits you share.

[00:11:22]Your family influences the food you eat, the activities you adopt, all that stuff. You learn to live a certain way through your family situation. And those ways of living become your habits.

[00:11:37]Habits can ultimately dictate whether or not you gain weight. But just because your family members have habits that contribute to weight gain does not mean that you have to adopt them too. So family is not first here. It may be fourth or fifth but it is not first. So here this is on our chart.

[00:12:01]The third category of risk factors is your body's rhythms. You know, everything in nature has rhythms.

[00:12:09]Rhythms include everything that occurs on a schedule. The schedule can be daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, or annually.

[00:12:20]Well, most of your body's rhythms are daily.

[00:12:25]And your body has daily rhythms for many, many things. When it comes to your risk factors for weight gain, the bodily rhythms that matter the most are for food and sleep.

[00:12:37]Your body wants frequent and regular food as well as frequent and regular sleep.

[00:12:44]Your body actually wants food and sleep patterns very similar to the ones you followed when you were a baby. Yep. Your body wants that boring, predictable, monotonous pattern of eating every two to three hours during the day, going to sleep at the very same time every night, and sleeping for the very same length of time every single night. The problem is that adult humans do not continue this boring, predictable, monotonous pattern.

[00:13:18]Instead, we disrupt our body's rhythms.

[00:13:21]We eat food infrequently, irregularly and emotionally. We sleep infrequently, irregularly and insufficiently.

[00:13:31]And all those disruptions are risk factors for weight gain. Sleep deficiency is a huge contributor to weight gain. And this is an especially important one for menopausal women.

[00:13:45]You see, your sleep affects your hormones of digestion.

[00:13:50]And sleep deprivation increases your hunger hormones so that you feel crappy and decreases your satiety hormones so that you do not feel happy. The result is that you crave more, eat more, and weigh more. So here's this body rhythm stuff on our chart.

[00:14:14]The fourth category of risk factors for weight gain is your sex hormones. In video number 509, just before this one, I presented all the effects of your sex hormones on your metabolism, weight, and cravings. And boy, are there loads of them. There are three sex hormones: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. And every up and down of each one has an effect on your weight.

[00:14:43]Well, our primary focus is on menopause and loss of estrogen at the time of menopause from the beginning of perry menopause and throughout your remaining postmenopausal life constitutes a huge risk factor for weight gain and becoming huge.

[00:15:05]When it comes to progesterone and testosterone, the effect is just the opposite. The very presence of testosterone and pre progesterone increase your risk of weight gain. So estrogen prevents weight gain while progesterone and testosterone cause weight gain. Do not make the mistake of blaming estrogen for weight gain. If you do, you'll gain weight for sure. Here it is on our chart.

[00:15:39]The fifth category of risk factors for weight gain is chronic diseases. Now, I'm not going to list all the chronic diseases that can increase your risk for weight gain. There are many, but the most common ones are metabolic diseases and muscularkeeletal diseases.

[00:16:00]Metabolic diseases are all the diseases that interfere with your metabolism. The most common is type 2 diabetes.

[00:16:09]Muscularkeeletal diseases are all the diseases that interfere with your ability to perform physical activities and the end result is that you gain weight due to insufficient movement. So let's add these to our chart.

[00:16:28]The sixth category of risk factors for weight gain are medications.

[00:16:33]There are more medications that list weight gain as a possible side effect than you can possibly imagine. They are rampant.

[00:16:42]Sometimes the side effect of weight gain creates a new situation.

[00:16:48]Sometimes the medication is for a disease that is already a risk factor for weight gain. Sometimes the weight gain becomes a bigger problem than the the disease for which the person is taking the medication. It can create a vicious cycle.

[00:17:05]Medications that include weight gain include anti-csychotics, anti-depressants, sleep aids, neurologic medications, beta blockers, insulin, just to name a few. So, here it is on our chart.

[00:17:22]The seventh category of risk factors for weight gain is food intake. Now, food intake is the largest category. But even though it's the largest category, it is not the most significant category.

[00:17:38]It's the largest category because it consists of so many different factors.

[00:17:43]It includes infrequent food intake, excessive food quantity, poor food quality, processed food, sugar, excessive carbohydrates, inadequate protein, and restaurant meals.

[00:18:01]Everything about your food matters. And so much of what and how you eat can be a risk factor for weight gain.

[00:18:10]Heck, even the speed at which you eat can be a risk factor for weight gain.

[00:18:14]And eating speed is not even on the list of risk factors. So, you are what you eat, when you eat, and how you eat.

[00:18:24]But do not make the mistake of thinking that the primary or only reason behind weight gain is food itself. It isn't.

[00:18:34]Food alone does not cause weight gain.

[00:18:37]There's much more to it than that, and I'll be teaching you more about this in subsequent video tutorials. Video 513 on dieting for weight management will be particularly important. For now, we'll add this to our chart.

[00:18:53]The eighth category of risk factors for weight gain is physical activity.

[00:18:58]Some people incorrectly equate physical activity with food intake. They are not equivalent. Food has a much more significant impact as a risk factor than does physical activity.

[00:19:11]You cannot out exercise a bad diet. So do not equate the two. It is not a simple matter of balancing calories in and calories out. There's much more to weight gain than that.

[00:19:27]And physical activity is not limited to exercise. It pertains to all movement for any purpose.

[00:19:36]This means that transportation devices are risk factors for weight gain. Face it, if you're driving, you're not walking. Walking takes more energy and burns more calories than driving. So, the more we use machinery to move, the higher our risk for weight gain. Here it is on our chart.

[00:20:00]The ninth category of risk factors for weight gain is lifestyle.

[00:20:05]Now lifestyle is a term that encompasses many different things.

[00:20:11]But there are certain lifestyle factors that increase your risk for weight gain specifically.

[00:20:17]One of them is simply the absence of routines. And this goes back to the category of risk factors that pertains to your body's rhythms. Your body views routines and rhythms as one and the same.

[00:20:32]When every day has a routine and a rhythm, your body responds with weight stability.

[00:20:40]But when every day is random and unpredictable, your body responds with weight gain. So this is one area of life and menopause where stability and routine win over variability and spontaneity.

[00:20:59]Another lifestyle factor that increases your risk of weight gain is stress. It can be any kind of stress, psychological, emotional, physical. Your body's response to all stress is the same. It responds to stress as a threat to survival. So your body does what it's programmed to do in order to protect him itself, which is gain weight.

[00:21:26]I guess you could say that stress and weight fluctuate in tandem. Your weight measure is your stress meter.

[00:21:35]Another lifestyle factor that increases your risk of weight and especially weight gain is travel.

[00:21:43]When you travel, you definitely disrupt your routines and rhythms. When you travel, you have little or no control over your food.

[00:21:54]And when you travel, you may be more sedentary or skip your exercise.

[00:21:59]So, travel may be exciting and fun for your brain, but it's not fun or good for your body.

[00:22:08]Yet another lifestyle factor that increases your risk for weight gain is social activity temptations.

[00:22:17]Just think about what people do for social activities.

[00:22:22]Social activities involve staying up late at night, drinking alcohol, eating all sorts of unhealthy foods. Even social activities centered around sports include some or all of these things. So, the lifestyle risk factors for weight gain tap back into some of the other risk factors we've already discussed.

[00:22:43]So, let's put this on our chart.

[00:22:49]The 10th category of risk factors for weight gain is discipline and willpower.

[00:22:54]Now, some people mistakenly think that this is the primary cause of weight gain. Such is not the case.

[00:23:05]Just reflect on the long list of risk factors for weight gain. It includes all sorts of things that have nothing whatsoever to do with discipline and willpower. But discipline and willpower do play a part. If you need to avoid weight gain, you will need to adhere to food protocols and exercise protocols.

[00:23:28]And that's where this risk factor comes in. Difficulty adhering to food protocols and exercise protocols are both risk factors.

[00:23:38]Likewise, difficulty avoiding temptation is a risk factor, too. It can be temptations of food, social activities, or just disrupted routines and rhythms.

[00:23:50]Most people who try adhering to practices that avoid or reverse weight gain struggle with discipline and willpower. I'm sure you know some of these people. So, all the slogans and cliches come into play here. Bet you can't eat just one. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach. You bit off more than you can chew. And here it is on our chart.

[00:24:15]The 11th category of risk factors for weight gain is aging. Aging brings with it all sorts of things that increase your risk of weight gain. Most of them point back to the risk factors we've already discussed.

[00:24:30]Aging itself causes a slowing of your metabolism.

[00:24:36]It's just more difficult to lose weight as you age.

[00:24:41]Aging also makes it difficult to adopt new, more weight friendly habits if you haven't already done so during your youth.

[00:24:49]It is extremely difficult for an elderly person to learn how to exercise.

[00:24:55]It is extremely difficult for an older person to adopt a healthy diet for the first time.

[00:25:02]And face it, an older body is just less forgiving.

[00:25:07]When you're young, you can get away with all sorts of bad habits without gaining weight. But those same bad habits later in life will leave you with a bunch of extra weight on your body. So, let's add this to our chart.

[00:25:24]And finally, the 12th category of risk factors for weight gain is your gut microbiome.

[00:25:30]My term for your gut microbiome is simply gut bucks. This is yet another chicken versus egg phenomenon.

[00:25:40]If you don't have a wide enough variety of gut bugs, you will gain weight. And if you gain weight, you will not have a wide enough variety of gut bugs. I touched on this in video number 507 on mother nature's food plan versus modern woman's food plan. And the fact is that our modern diet just doesn't endow us with a wide enough variety of gut bugs.

[00:26:09]So if you have a limited variety of gut bugs, it will definitely increase your risk of weight gain. So let's complete our chart.

[00:26:22]So now you can see that there are at least 36 factors for weight gain and there are some hidden ones that do not appear on this list.

[00:26:34]Not only that, notice that some of the risk factors for weight gain are due to things occurring inside your body, while other risk factors for weight gain are due to things occurring outside your body.

[00:26:48]Well, with so many risk factors in just about every area of your life, weight gain is a real threat to a whole lot of people. And your menopause alone makes you one of those people.

[00:27:02]The key to understanding weight gain at any age and especially at the time of menopause is to realize that weight gain entails a convoluted web of contributing factors. I call it the weight web. As we work our way through this unit, you will see just how these factors intertwine.

[00:27:23]And that will help you understand why weight gain is such a common problem for society at large and for menopausal women in particular.

[00:27:32]Well, with all these risk factors all around you, the statistics on obesity are fattening and are getting fatter.

[00:27:43]There's a great book by Thomas Freriedman entitled The World is Flat.

[00:27:48]It's about how the world transformed into a globalized society with the coming of the 21st century.

[00:27:56]So describing the world as flat is a metaphor for the fact that there is easy access to everything worldwide. I read the book ages ago. The reason it came to mind is because this long list of risk factors for weight gain has resulted in skyrocketing statistics on weight gain the world over. So the world is fat.

[00:28:20]Currently one out of every two adults and one out of every five children meet the definition of obesity.

[00:28:30]All told 1 billion of Earth's 8 billion humans are obese.

[00:28:38]Now you might have noticed that I have used the nouns weight gain and obesity.

[00:28:43]I have not used the word overweight.

[00:28:47]You see, proper grammar is very important to me. And maybe I should have been an English teacher because every time I see or hear someone use the words overweight and obesity together, I cringe. Overweight is an adjective, but obesity is a noun. They do not belong together. So, if you're using nouns, you use the terms weight, gain, and obesity.

[00:29:08]And if you're using adjectives, you use the terms overweight and obese. So, I will adhere to proper grammar. Well, we have a situation in which the human population has undergone insane weight gain during the 21st century. So, the world is fat.

[00:29:28]Without going into any detail on them, I'm going to show you some graphs depicting this. All these graphs simply demonstrate weight gain of the human population over time.

[00:29:43]Yep. No matter where or how you look at it, weight gain and obesity statistics are literally spiraling out of control.

[00:29:52]In this unit, I'll be sure to address everything you need in order to manage your weight gain. So, the chart is your summary for today. You can find it in the description box for this video or you can go to menopause.me.

[00:30:07]My goal is to lay a foundation for the fact that weight gain entails many different contributors. And knowing this will help you understand why weight gain is a problem for you at menopause.

[00:30:21]So this is where I'll stop today. Next week I'll propose a direct, straightforward, definite cause of weight gain. Please be sure to come back for that.

[00:30:34]You can learn about risk factors for weight gain by subscribing to my newsletter and to this channel. The topic is a very common one and I even talk about weight gain on social media.

[00:30:46]So you can follow me there too. In the meantime, stay well well and I will be back in a week. Bye. [laughter]