Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t any different trying to lose weight as you get older.
For most women that’s just not true.
But don’t throw your hands in the air and say, “great I’m doomed”.
There are things you can do to counterbalance the changes taking place in your body.
So let’s talk about what might be happening and what you can do to fix it.
The hormone estrogen naturally begins to decline in a woman’s late 30’s. As estrogen declines, it signals your body to store fat, especially in your hips and belly. Your body needs to do this because fat cells produce estrogen, which your body still needs.
If you are experiencing a lot of stress, that has a significant impact on your hormones which in turn effects how your body stores fat.
If you are sedentary, that impacts how your body stores fat.
And lastly if you don’t sleep well that will influence your ability to lose weight.
So what can you do?
Start with food.
Why food first?
Because what we eat affects the production of hormones and their signaling pathways.
Even though your hormones are naturally changing, you want to support your hormones with healthy unprocessed whole foods. So feed them quality fats, proteins, and fiber at every meal. Your hormones will thank you by changing more gracefully.
Next, if you’ve been experiencing unrelenting stress, learn ways to manage it. If you’d like my Simple Solutions to Manage Stress e-book let me know and I’ll email it to you.
Thirdly, start moving. Ideally do some type of enjoyable physical movement that will alter your muscle to fat ratio using the Goldilocks principle.
Forth, improve your sleep health. Sleep disturbances are a common problem during menopause and a big contributor to both weight gain and weight loss resistance. Here’s an article on secrets to a better night’s sleep.
Fifth, be patient. Weight isn’t going to come off like it did when you were 30. Even if you have mastered a healthy whole food plan, there are so many other factors that might come into play. You might need to eliminate food triggers, tame the fires of internal inflammation, and learn portions sizes best suited for you. All these things will be different for every woman.
As you make these change, if you don’t see victories on the scale right away, don’t think things aren’t working. Be patient. Take a deep breath. And take pleasure the plan you’ve put in place
Your body has been changing since you were born and none of the changes happened overnight.
The key to changing gracefully is to create a plan for the healthiest life you can live and put it into action. The day you get started is the day things begin to change for the better.
Until next time,
Patti
P.S. In September, I’ll be giving a FREE mini course to teach you how to kick the sugar habit. Click here to register and don’t worry if you can’t make it to the live training, I’ll send you the replay.
P.S.S. Whenever you’re ready there are 3 ways, I can help…
–Book a free “start losing weight again” assessment here.
–Become a member of my private The Balanced Midlife Facebook group here.
–Follow me on Instagram here.