The tricks your body plays on you after turning 40

Are you going through ‘the change’?
If not yet and you’re a female, it’ll happen to you sooner or later.

Some of the pesky things we have to look forward to are weight gain, difficulty in losing weight and keeping it off. Once we reach that certain ‘elegant’ age, we sure have our work cut out regarding weight management. It’s challenging, to say the least.

So if hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats and lack of energy aren’t enough, now you can add weight issues to the menopausal bucket of tricks.
Although this differs from woman to woman, the weight gain can be around 10 pounds or more. And depending on your genetics, usually, they all end up around the waist and stomach.
Goodbye hourglass figure.

There’s this website that talks just about menopause woes and they write that 90% of women gain after the age of 40.
Why is that?
The list is long. 

1) Firstly, our metabolism naturally slows by around 5% per decade.
So by the time you reach menopause or shortly after, this means you’ll have to eat about 150-250 calories less than when you were in your 20s and 30s just to maintain weight.

2) After the age of 35 each year we lose approximately 3% to 5% muscle mass unless you engage in weight training.
Less muscle means lower metabolism. So get hold of some resistance bands or buy dumbbells and start working out.

3) A drop in certain hormones causes your hunger hormones to increase. So best keep an eye on this issue because your hunger hormones can undo all the hard work you do with the weight training and trying to reduce calories. Plus, remember the old saying: if it’s in the house, it’s in your mouth! Keep your kitchen free of temptations.

4) And here’s something that nobody told me when I was young:
When our ovaries produce less estrogen, our body has a nasty [but effective] trick up her sleeves.
It can create estrogen coming from fat cells! And therefore, unlike during your reproductive years, your body works really hard to convert calories to fat to improve its estrogen levels.
Sigh.

So how can we fix all this?

Perhaps the word ‘fix’ is too strong.
But we can certainly use these following methods to reduce the impact of menopause.

Stay positive and don’t stress about this.
Stress hormones cause additional fat layering around the waist and belly.

 Include regular exercise.
Both aerobic and resistance training

Ensure better sleep.
Look around for natural solutions before asking your doctor for a sleeping tablet. Lack of sleep increases carb cravings and fat layering around the waist.

 Watch the carbs.
Reduce processed carbs and the number of starchy carbs you eat per meal. They can cause a blood sugar spike and an insulin rush. Insulin is a fat layering hormone and it deposits fat, yes you         guessed it, around the stomach and waist.

Use only high fibre carbs because they assist to lower blood sugar spikes

Increase plant protein.
It causes lower blood sugar and insulin responses and protein keeps you fuller for longer. Plus it cranks up your metabolism better than easting carbs or fat

Use some safe science-based weight loss tweaks.
I mention quite a few in our Facebook group [such as 500mls of cold water before your main meals, some apple cider vinegar, ground chia seeds, flax meal etc.]

So meet me back over here and use keyword search in the group to find all the tweaks.