How Lifting Helps Manage Perimenopausal Weight Gain

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How Lifting Helps Manage Perimenopausal Weight Gain

Apr 23rd, 2025 - 6 mins

Weight gain during perimenopause can feel sudden, frustrating, and hard to control. Combined with all the other complex changes our female bodies are going through as we approach and enter perimenopause, this can feel like an extra kick in the teeth.

While there are a lot of things we can’t control, there are steps that women can take that will help to manage the excess weight gain in perimenopause and over into actual menopause.

We know this because of the 6000 members that have trusted Lipstick Lifters to support them with their workouts, 32% didn’t start lifting until after 40.

Many of them had never even touched a barbell before. And yet, they’re seeing results they never thought possible — not just in terms of physical appearance, but in their overall energy, confidence, and day-to-day strength.

It’s not about the number on the scale. It’s about shifting your focus from cardio and restrictive eating to building lean muscle and becoming your strongest, most powerful self. When you switch your focus to physical strength you will see your body respond in a whole new way.

In this article we will explain how lifting weights can help you manage (and even reverse) perimenopausal weight gain.

How Lifting Helps Manage Perimenopausal Weight Gain Contents

Why Weight Gain Happens In Perimenopause

Why Our Bodies Struggle To Lose Weight In Perimenopause

How Lifting Helps Perimenopausal Women

How Lifting Helps Manage Perimenopausal Weight Gain

How To Fuel Your Workouts In Perimenopause

Ready to Start Lifting?

Why Weight Gain Happens In Perimenopause

Unfortunately the lower estrogen levels that occur during perimenopause is linked to weight gain, and on top of that women can lose up to 10% of their lean muscle during perimenopause.

If you don’t know, lean muscle mass is linked to your metabolism. The more lean muscle you have, the faster your metabolism, and when you start to lose it, your metabolism slows down.

So even though you may have the same diet, and are equally as active as you once were, you just can’t seem to shift the extra lbs that perimenopause blessed you with.

Why Our Bodies Struggle To Lose Weight In Perimenopause

There are a number of reasons we struggle to lose weight in perimenopause, and the low estrogen link combined with the reduction in lean muscle mass isn’t even all of it.

We all respond differently to this change that we must go through in life, and while we may see similarities, one woman's symptoms will differ from others.

One contributing factor that isn’t spoken about nearly enough is the mental and emotional strain this change puts on some women.

Everyone has different coping mechanisms, and HRT is a valid option that you should discuss with your doctor if you think it will help.

But from what we have seen, first hand, with our members, is that few women are offered any adequate mental and emotional support as we try to navigate the symptoms of perimenopause.

This decline in mental and emotional wellbeing can result in overeating, or even just making less than ideal food choices too frequently, as well as see us lose the desire to workout all together.

How Lifting Helps Perimenopausal Women

Lifting weights and strength training in general helps women in perimenopause in a few different ways. The most prominent being that it helps to build lean muscle back up in the body, which in turn helps to reverse the slowed metabolism as a result of perimenopause.

But also, lifting is an incredibly empowering sport. Getting physically stronger and pushing our physical limits on a regular basis will keep you feeling mentally and emotionally well.

Many women who started lifting after 40 have reported that the sense of empowerment lifting gave them in perimenopause is far beyond anything they felt even long before their approach towards perimenopause.

The fact is; lifting is empowering for all women, but you have to do it so you can feel it for yourself.

How Lifting Helps Manage Perimenopausal Weight Gain

Your Metabolism Slows — Muscle Speeds It Back Up

During perimenopause, your estrogen levels begin to drop. This hormonal shift can lead to a slower metabolism, especially since you’re losing muscle mass along the way.

Muscle is metabolically active tissue — meaning it burns more energy, even when you’re not working out. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn at rest.

Lifting weights helps preserve and build that muscle, keeping your metabolic engine running.

You Might Gain Weight — But You Can Reduce Body Fat

It’s common for fat to redistribute around the belly during perimenopause. That’s due in part to hormonal changes, but also to reduced muscle and insulin sensitivity.

Heavy resistance training has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce visceral fat (the dangerous kind stored deep in the belly). So even if the scale doesn’t budge immediately, your body composition — and health markers — can improve dramatically.

Lifting Preserves Lean Mass During Fat Loss

Most traditional diets combined with excessive cardio actually promote muscle wastage, and it will happen faster in midlife. That’s the opposite of what you want.

Lifting weights trains your body to build and hold onto as much muscle as possible — which not only makes you look leaner and feel stronger, but also helps maintain a higher metabolic rate as you continue to slowly lose body fat.

It’s Not Just About Weight — It’s About Taking Your Power Back

Lifting isn’t just a physical act. It’s a mental shift. We hear it all the time from our members:

“I care less about the scale now because I just feel so much stronger and more powerful.”

Instead of chasing calorie burns, our members are chasing personal bests: adding weight to the bar, mastering new movements, feeling their strength return.

And yes — their bodies are changing too. But in a way that feels empowering and sustainable.