“You need to do a combination of weights and cardiovascular training,” says Sangeeta Kashyap, M.D., an endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic. Read on.Ī daily run or Spin class is great for your heart, but cardio workouts alone won’t do much for your waist. The good news: you can fight this process. This shift in hormones causes women to hold on to weight in their bellies. Meanwhile, testosterone levels also start to drop, but at a slower rate. In menopause, production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone slows down. “If women gain weight after menopause, it’s more likely to be in their bellies,” says Michael Jensen, M.D., professor of medicine in the Mayo Clinic’s endocrinology division.

On top of that, women have to deal with menopause. Both men and women experience a declining metabolic rate, or the number of calories the body needs to function normally.

As you get older, your body changes how it gains and loses weight.