My age is no longer a secret. I'm not ashamed to say I'm in my 50's, although I have a bit of trouble believing it myself. I always though I'd have lots of things figured out by now.
One of the important things I have figured is how to stay lean and sane when many women my age are pulling their hair out. Being lean is great, but sanity is better. I think one of the things that drives women crazy is their inability to get rid of the expanding waist line, so by solving that issue, the sanity one is also (partially) solved.
Thankfully, I don't get offended when anyone says to me regarding menopause "what's the big deal"? They clearly haven't been battling with hourly hot flushes, night sweats and disturbed sleep that I have along with the other issues many of you will have experienced.
I get lots of questions about the bug "M" so I thought I'd address a few of them here:
Why do women over 40 need a special programme and what are their biggest concerns?
Statistics show that two thirds of women will gain between 10 and 15lbs during menopause.
YIKES!!
It's centred around the abdomen and is highly correlated with cardiovascular disease, like heart disease and stroke. Women tend to develop "insulin resistance" which means their bodies ten to store fat instead of burning calories. There are other factors involved in creating the middle age spread such as hormonal imbalances, lack of sleep, dietary concerns, nutritional imbalances and high cortisol levels caused by stress, just to name a few.
Women need a programme that will address each of these concerns.
What is it about menopause that causes weight gain?
There's an assumption that weight gain is caused by menopause, however, it is more to do with lifestyle than hormone changes. In fact, those who are vigorously active are less likely to gain weight. There are really few try symptoms of menopause which are hot flashes, night sweats, sleep deprivation, mood swings and vaginal dryness.
Weight gain isn't a medically documented symptom, but is rather a result of lifestyle for 10-15 years PRIOR to the start of menopause. Typically women become increasingly sedentary during those years and the trade lean muscle for fat. Even if women weigh the same amount (which often isn't the case), body composition changes which makes it difficult to stay lean.
Women will even gain weight eating the same amount or less due to having less metabolically active lean muscle.
So, it's actually true that metabolism slows, but it's mainly due to less lean muscle than hormonal changes.
Does metabolism slow down at menopause?
As I said, it's actually the loss of lean muscle that leads to a tanking metabolism, not hormone changes per se. It also starts earlier than menopause with a loss of 1-2% of lean muscle per decade. This equates to about 10-15lbs which is replaced by fat, over time but often start to notice changes at menopause.
What's going on with our hormones that may cause weight gain?
The ovaries produce less oestrogen and the body starts searching for other places to compensate or fill up for the deficit. Fat cells in the body can generate oestrogen, so the body works harder to convert calories into fat to increase oestrogen levels. Unlike the muscle cells in the body, fat cells don't burn calories. This causes the accumulation of those unwanted pounds and the body ends up storing more fat than it used to.
Why do women gain weight around the mid section?
There are a few factors at work here:
Many women follow a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet and after time, processed and refined foods may make your body resistant to insulin. Also, insulin resistance causes the body to mistakenly turn calories ingested into fat.
At menopause, oestrogen levels drop and low oestrogen levels are associated with loss of subcutaneous fat (which is fat under the skin) and the gain of visceral fat (which is fat located inside the abdomen)
How do I keep the pounds off as I approach menopause or during menopause?
All of this can be curbed by adapting the type and duration of exercise you do. It's not about quantity, but about quality and INTENSITY of exercise. Resistance is a MUST to increase lean muscle tone. Lean muscle is calorie burning, metabolically active tissue, it takes calories to maintain it so you'll burn more calories even while sleeping if you have more meat on your bones.
With age, the body is re-compositioning: losing lean muscle and replacing it with fat. The end result of this is a 'fatter' body that is weaker, has less energy and is prone to weight gain. Resistance training can turn this cycle around. You'll look and function better and you won't be prone to weight gain as readily as your 'fatter' counterpart who basically 'weights' the same, but has a fatter composition.
How does diet factor into this?
Of course, it goes without saying that nutrition is an important factor. However, it doesn't mean a starvation diet by any means.
A diet full of lean protein, low glycemic carbs, veggies, fruits, healthy fats and an elimination of processed foods is a great place to start.
The solution to better eating is NOT to go on a 'diet'. In fact, it's best to never go on a 'diet' again. Instead, make permanent healthy changes to your eating habits.
Here are a few things to start today:
- Eat fresh produce with every meal
- Include more fish in your diet
- Drink more water
- Make every meal (and snack) count nutritionally
- Say 'no' to fast food
- Say 'no' to other liquid calories (alcohol)
- Cut out anything 'white' (rice, bread, pasta, etc)
- Cut out mindless snacking
So, is there any hope for women experiencing all this?
I'm here to say a resounding YES. I've had great success with many clients, including myself on my HOT FLUSH FREEDOM PROGRAMME.
Schedule your FREE discovery call with me NOW to discuss how I can help you