Is Jogging Good for Weight Gain During Perimenopause?
Gaining weight during perimenopause despite your best efforts? Find out how jogging supports fat burning, metabolic health, and sustainable weight management.
Why Weight Gain Happens in Perimenopause
Weight gain during perimenopause, especially around the abdomen, is extremely common and has real physiological causes. Declining estrogen shifts fat storage patterns from the hips and thighs toward the midsection. Muscle mass begins to decline after 40 without deliberate effort to maintain it, and less muscle means a slower resting metabolism. Insulin sensitivity also tends to worsen, making the body more prone to storing calories as fat. The result is weight gain even when diet and activity levels have not changed.
How Jogging Helps with Perimenopause Weight Gain
Jogging is one of the most effective forms of calorie-burning exercise available. A 30-minute jog at a moderate pace burns between 250 and 400 calories depending on body weight and terrain. Beyond immediate calorie burn, jogging improves insulin sensitivity, meaning your body processes carbohydrates more efficiently and is less likely to store them as fat. It also reduces visceral fat specifically, the metabolically active abdominal fat that increases cardiovascular risk, which is a priority area for perimenopausal women.
Building a Calorie Deficit Without Extreme Dieting
One of the most practical benefits of jogging for weight management is that it creates a meaningful energy deficit without requiring severe dietary restriction. Extreme calorie cutting in perimenopause is counterproductive: it slows the metabolism further, causes muscle loss, and worsens fatigue and mood. A moderate approach of eating well and jogging regularly maintains muscle, keeps metabolism healthy, and produces sustainable, gradual fat loss that is far more maintainable long-term.
Combining Jogging with Strength Training
Jogging alone is very effective, but combining it with two sessions of strength training per week produces better results for perimenopausal weight management. Strength training builds and preserves muscle mass, which raises your resting metabolic rate. The combination of cardio and resistance work creates a more favourable hormonal environment for fat loss and muscle retention. Many women find that alternating jog days with strength days gives them the benefits of both without excessive fatigue.
Managing Expectations and Frustration
Weight management during perimenopause often feels slower and less predictable than it did in earlier decades. This is not a failure of effort. The hormonal environment genuinely makes fat loss harder. Tracking your jogging consistency and your overall energy and body composition trends, rather than fixating on a daily scale number, is a healthier and more accurate way to assess progress. Many women find that their body shape improves with regular jogging even when the scale does not move as quickly as expected.
Getting Started and Staying Consistent
If you are returning to running after a break, or starting for the first time, a run-walk approach is the most sustainable entry point. Alternate one to two minutes of jogging with equal periods of walking, building gradually over four to six weeks until you can jog continuously for 20 to 30 minutes. Consistency over months matters far more than intensity. Three to four jogs a week of moderate effort, maintained over time, will produce far better results than sporadic hard efforts that lead to injury or burnout.
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