Help! Even though I’m training harder than ever and cutting down the carbs the weight won’t shift around my midsection! Plus, I’m not sleeping right. Plus, I’m either blazing like Hell’s furnace or glacially cold. I can’t concentrate on anything for longer than five minutes. My joints hurt like I’ve just done a triathlon. And I’m an absolute misery bear to live with. Sweaty, irritable, growly and hairy. What’s wrong with me?
Sound familiar? With two-thirds of us overweight or obese, and all of us ladies facing into the menopause at some stage this subject really deserves a lot more light shining into its recesses. Many GPs will dismiss any link between weight gain and the menopause, or peri-menopause as there is no really convincing scientific data linking the two. And yet… being told to take a brisk walk and cut out fizzy drinks doesn’t quite cut it for those of us to whom exercise and healthy eating is already established as our way of life.
So, is there any definitive reason we struggle with weight and other associated issues just around the time that peri-menopause and menopause come calling?
- Even though we’re still exercising there’s a chance we’re actually moving less freely than before as joints become stiffer and less quick to bounce back after training. We’re less likely to run, jump and be playful with our training, exercising caution over going at it pull pelt.
- Menopause can play unwelcome tricks with bladder control as our pelvic floor becomes less tensile, putting many off rigorous exercise.
- As our bodies are no longer growing and reproducing, we need less energy from food – around 200kcals fewer than when we were teenagers. Plus, as we age our metabolism slows so we’re burning calories less efficiently. Most women continue to eat a similar number of calories as they’ve always done. 200kcals is a small number, but boy, does it add up across the course of a year…
- And hey – we’re losing muscle too! It’s more important than ever to exercise when you get older, so bang on those weights and lift, lift, lift to prevent sarcopenia (muscle wastage – we lose around 8 - 10% per decade after 40). Muscle demands energy to stay at peak condition as it’s much more metabolically active than fat, so a well-toned bod needs more calories in to keep it that way…
- Hormonal changes around this time of our life often affect how we store fat. No longer do we need it around the hips as our childbearing years are behind us. So, the most readily accessible place to dump it is around the midsection, killing your hopes of sashaying down Muscle Beach in that little string thong any longer. Holding onto high levels of visceral fat stores can have profound associations with heart disease, liver functionality, pancreatic illness etc so perhaps foregoing the bikini is the least of our problems.
- Many of us at this age are still working in high stress, high pressure jobs, or looking after ageing relatives or demanding grandkids. Not only can this lead to anxiety but high stress levels actually impede the process of digestion and elimination, so the body does not absorb nutrients efficiently and lays down fat stores as a precaution against the famine or flood it identifies as leading to the stress in the first place…
What to do??
- Eat fewer calories and serve your changing body with delicious, nutritious foods to support its changing function. The Mediterranean diet is the best to protect against heart disease – so choose oily fish, fresh fruit and veg, nuts, wholegrains, and white meat to lower your saturates intake.
- Avoid processed foods and anything with more than five ingredients on its label.
- Cut out sugar – the best mate of abdominal fat – and cut right down on alcohol too. Sorry about that.
- Keep moving! Weight-bearing exercise, including yoga and Pilates, weightlifting exercise, cardiovascular training all helps to protect and increase our muscle and brown fat stores – strengthening muscles, joints, bones and neural connection.
- Pelvic floor exercises – it’s never too late!
- Talk to your GP. This subject is getting much more airing than ever before so the medical profession is there to support you with much more depth of knowledge – and plenty more compassion! If HRT is right for you that’s perfect!
- Try, try, try to minimise the stress in your life. Talk therapy, reflexology, holistic and conventional treatments can really support you in tackling stress at this challenging phase in your life. You’re not alone in this.
Kathy O’Meara is a personal trainer specialising in cancer and cardiac exercise rehabilitation. She holds the National Qualification in Pre and Post Natal Exercise. She is a sports therapist, movement specialist, reflexologist and teaches a range of Les Mills classes at West Wood Club, Westmanstown www.powerdown.ie
Follow her on Instagram: @kathyomearapt or Facebook: Power Down