Ever since I started perimenopause I'm gaining weight like crazy!  I'm eating the same kinds of foods and same amounts.  In fact, I feel like I'm exercising all the time.  What's going on?

This is a very common complaint from women; you're not alone.  Our metabolism starts taking a dip and continues to decline between 1/2 and 1 percent per year around the age of 35.  For some women this decline is barely noticeable until around age fifty, when menopause usually kicks in. By the time we are fifty at the rate of losing 1 percent of our metabolic burn a year, we have a 15 percent slowdown.  It's quite a loss!  The best way to offset this loss is to increase the metabolic burn by exercising more.  We can't really eat much less than 1800 calories a day .  Cutting calories below 1800 will only make the body conserve fat because it thinks we are "starving"!

This is a good time to get our eating habits in order- more fruits and veggies, less meat and more fish, watch pasta and bread intakes.    Portion control is key to keeping weight under control.

But even more important is exercise.  Doing 30 minutes of exercise a day will go a long way to keep those extra pounds off and make you feel well. Pick an activity you enjoy so you'll be more likely to stick with it- whether it be walking with a friend or swimming at your local Y.

Meet the Author
Larrian Gillespie, MD
Author of "The Menopause Diet"
FREE recipe & FREE book excerpt, "Female, Fat, and Forty
hosted by Sue Spataro, RN, BSN
Millions of women in perimenopause and menopause ask themselves in frustration, "Why am I gaining weight when I'm still eating the same amounts of food and continue my exercise program?" Her books work hand in hand for any woman in her forties who is trying to lose weight and feel great.  Dr. Gillespie recipe's are delicious and easy to prepare.  Her book The Menopause Diet is excellent and educates us to how our body actually works against us during perimenopause/menopause. Find out more.

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The Low-Carb Cookbook:
The Complete Guide to the Healthy Low-Carbohydrate Lifestyle with over 250 Delicious Recipes
by Fran McCullough, Michael Eades, Mary Dan Eades

A highly respected food editor and author of the James Beard Award-winning Great Food Without Fuss and Great Feasts Without Fuss offers the most complete guide to help readers make the transition to the latest trend in healthful eating a delicious one. 100 recipes. Illustrations throughout.

HRT & Weight Gain
HRT (hormone replacement therapy) does not cause weight gain.Many women have heard that it does.
This is a myth that has been around for a long time. Find out more about this and learn more from author Dr. Larrian Gillespie gives some tips and an exercise prescription for this problem.

Sleep disturbances and perimenopause
Sleeping disturbances are extraordinarily common during perimenopause. Studies have shown that women over the age of forty have more sleep troubles than their younger counterparts. Look at the television commercial for sleeping aides. They are geared towards women who are thirty five years old and beyond.

Meet the author
Stephanie DeGraff Bender, MA
Author of "Power of Perimenopause"
She has been in the forefront of women's hormonal health for the last 20 years. Her work in unearthing the seemingly mysteries of PMS (premenstrual syndrome) has led to her current expertise in perimenopause. The Power of Perimenopause has sold thousands of copies and is a well respected women's health guide. Her appearances on Oprah, CBS Morning News, Donahue have left no doubt that she is a women's advocate in the best sense of the word.

newly revised for 2000!
Could It Be...Perimenopause?
by Steven R. Goldstein, Laurie Ashner

see the interview with Dr Goldstein
In clear, supportive prose, Goldstein offers no-baloney advice. "Today's perimenopausal women has neither the time nor the patience to go through four to fifteen years of symptoms without relief," he says. He fully delineates the roles of various hormones, how to determine if you're in perimenopause or not, as well as how to treat the various symptoms to gain control over your life.