Weightloss and Wellbeing During Menopause

In fact, many women notice that they actually start putting on weight during perimenopause, which can begin a decade prior to menopause. What's more, fat storage shifts from the hips and thighs to the abdomen during menopause. This increases the risk of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and heart disease Therefore, strategies that promote the loss of belly fat are particularly important at this stage of a woman's life. During and after menopause, a woman's resting energy expenditure, or the number of calories she burns during rest, declines 11 , Although it may be tempting to try a very-low-calorie diet to lose weight quickly , this is actually the worst thing you can do.

Research shows that restricting calories to low levels causes loss of muscle mass and a further decline in metabolic rate 13 , 14 , 15 , So while very-low-calorie diets may result in short-term weight loss, their effects on muscle mass and metabolic rate will make it hard to keep the weight off. Moreover, insufficient calorie intake and decreased muscle mass may lead to bone loss.

This can increase your risk of osteoporosis Research also suggests that "dietary restraint," such as watching portion sizes instead of drastically slashing calories, may be beneficial for weight loss Adopting a healthy lifestyle that can be maintained long-term can help preserve your metabolic rate and reduce the amount of muscle mass you lose with age. Here are three healthy diets that have been shown to help with weight loss during and beyond the menopausal transition. Many studies have shown that low-carb diets are excellent for weight loss, and are also able to reduce abdominal fat 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , Although peri- and postmenopausal women have been included in several low-carb studies, there have only been a few studies looking at this population exclusively.

In one such study, postmenopausal women on a low-carb diet lost 21 lbs 9. What's more, carb intake doesn't need to be extremely low to produce weight loss. Here is a detailed guide to the low-carb diet. It includes a meal plan and menu. Although the Mediterranean Diet is best known for improving health and reducing heart disease risk, studies show it may also help you lose weight 21 , 26 , 27 , Like low-carb diet studies, most Mediterranean diet studies have looked at both males and females rather than peri- or postmenopausal women exclusively.

In one study of men and women aged 55 years and older, those who followed a Mediterranean diet had significant reductions in abdominal fat Read this for a guide to the Mediterranean diet , including a meal plan and menu. Vegetarian and vegan diets have also shown promise for weight loss One study in postmenopausal women reported significant weight loss and improvements in health among a group assigned to a vegan diet 31 , However, a more flexible vegetarian approach that includes dairy and eggs has also been shown to work well in older women It can improve mood, promote a healthy weight and protect your muscles and bones Resistance training with weights or bands can be extremely effective at preserving or even increasing lean muscle mass, which normally declines with hormonal changes and age 35 , 36 , 37 , Although all types of resistance training are beneficial, recent research suggests that performing more repetitions is better, especially for reducing abdominal fat Aerobic exercise cardio is also great for women in menopause.

Studies have shown that it can reduce belly fat while preserving muscle during weight loss 40 , 41 , A mix of strength training and aerobic exercise may be the best strategy Here are several ways to improve your quality of life and make weight loss easier during menopause. Your energy is zapped and exercise feels so much harder than it used to.

A healthy diet means you stay fit during menopause, beat osteoporosis | fitness | Hindustan Times

And even though you're still eating a healthy diet, your body just keeps storing fat in places it never used to. How can you reverse these trends actually lose weight during menopause? Click here to start a conversation! Get New Episodes Delivered to You!

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This show is all about answering your questions about health, fitness, living well, and just having happier, healthier lives in general. I know you and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last 6 months or a year, but our audience has never met you before, so I was wondering if you could start off by just telling us a little bit about your history in terms of fitness and wellness, and a little bit about your journey so far.

I needed to do something in order to just feel good, look good, be happy , and just do it, so I knew I was going to have to do something.

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Did you just change it all at once, or what was the process for you? It was a process because I was starting to read some articles about what options do I have, and there are so many resources out there. I know nothing about how my body responds to food, how good it is for me, what is not good for me.

I know you set an actual goal for yourself like you told me you set the goal of wanting to lose 50 pounds by your 50th birthday. I love that approach. I know I had a podcast interview recently. What did you do after that? After that, I knew I just had to really slow down before I even started to eat, so I would just have my plate.

Podcast Episode #028: How to Lose Weight During Menopause

I would look at it. I would just eat with my eyes first. I started with portion control and mindful eating.

I just really started with … I would eat still anything that was on my plate, but I would really be very careful of how much I put on that plate and very slow eating. I picture you sitting there and meditating over your meal, and your husband just diving into his plate. I was always in little bit active, but more in spurts.

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I would do lots, and then I would do nothing. It was that regular way of moving that I knew I had to change. I also knew I needed some motivation, so I started basically just with walking. I would walk every day , and then I knew I wanted to build up a little bit my strength too. Of course, I was intimidated to go to any kind of gym, so I thought something for women only, which first for me was the answer at the town that I lived at that time, and so I started with Curves.

They really, really helped me to … just to give me some feedback about my body, how it works. This is just not enough anymore. Now, I need to step it up again. Every time I realize that this is getting too easy, I knew I had to step it up another step. More like breathing hard.

7 Simple Ways to Lose Weight During Menopause (& Keep If Off For Good)

No, I love that you get in there and challenge yourself though. When you saw her question, Beate, did that resonate with you like do you remember going through that? Even though I was already in a considerable healthy, fit way of life, but when menopause hit, you think you hit a brick wall. This is like … so now, I got to change more? That was the biggest challenge to realize there is even more. This is a whole new ballgame. You still have to change something else. What was it for you?

Can you tell us some details on that? Yes, just the … Like the exercise, I still do the weight, still do the cardio, but I had to change how I implement those two. For me specifically, it was the HIITs like the high-intensity interval way of working out. That was very effective for me. My body is getting challenged. My heart rate is completely different. That was the biggest, the biggest realization that when I do that, my body loves it. There was absolute … I had to make decisions on how much I eat of what like when I joined your program , I learned about these ideas of the sugar, the gluten, the wheat, the healthy grains, the diary.

That was a big one. I never knew about the dairy, how it can affect you and the changes I experienced after I really drastically cut down in dairy. You had a lot of really neat little subtopics in there. For those in the audience who have never done that before, can you tell us a little bit about what would a HIIT workout look like for you? I have enough energy. I can step it up a bit.

I would do for 30 seconds, maybe go a little bit more medium way, so challenge myself a little bit, and then I would just go … I started very slow with this whole program, so then I would maybe 20 … I would slow down again for another 15, 20 seconds. Then, I would challenge myself a little bit more for 20 seconds.