True or False....
Getting older means that I can't lose weight like I used to.....
The answer to this question is in fact YES! It is harder to lose weight like you used to but probably not for the reasons you believe.....
Weight loss is fairly straight forward, when we eat less than our body needs eventually we will lose weight....BUT!!!!..... A large percentage of women have spent a large proportion of their life on and off one diet or another in a bid to stay thin at all cost. This yo-yo dieting mentality leads to dysfunctional thinking about what it takes to lose weight and keep it off. When I speak to women they will often mention strict regimes they followed to lose weight as younger women, only to rebound and gain more weight, or spend weeks feeling exhausted and depressed. 1200-calorie diet plans have messed with our heads, our muscle mass, and our understanding of what our body actually needs to thrive. Poor eating habits, stress, daily alcohol consumption, inactivity and the wrong types of exercise contribute to changes in our body composition and hormone function. If you throw numerous bouts of low calorie dieting into the mix, you have a recipe for longterm weight gain.
From the age of around 20, to the age of about 65, believe it or not, our metabolism doesn't really change. What does change is the amount of muscle tissue we now have and our sensitivity to insulin.
Many women tell me that it's their metabolism holding them back as they age, but this is not true either. From the age of around 20, to the age of about 65, believe it or not, our metabolism doesn't really change. What does change is the amount of muscle tissue we now have and our sensitivity to insulin. Yo-yo dieting combined with low muscle mass = gains in body fat over the long-term. Crash diets worked when we were young, but they don't work anymore. Now it is time for a more intelligent approach.
So what do we need to do?
We need to build muscle mass for healthy ageing and healthy weight management.
We need to eat in a way that is designed to preserve and build muscle mass.
We need to exercise with muscle & bone mass preservation in mind.
We need to understand how stress is impacting our waistlines.
We need to treat our bodies with the love and respect they deserve.
Yes things are changing, and you need to think differently now, but you can still lose weight, just not the way you used to do it.
No more punishing diet plans.
No more on and off dieting.
No more good foods vs bad foods mentality.
No more unnecessarily punishing workout routines.
I have almost finished writing a talk called - 5 Powerful Tools Peri & Post Menopause Women Can Use To Optimise Their - Fitness Nutrition & Lifestyle....If you are interested to be there when I deliver the first session, let me know. I will be delivering this talk in the Newcastle area but the audience will be very small so if this interests you let me know as soon as you can. Date and location TBA.
In this talk I take a deep dive into all the topics discussed above so that you can learn what works and what doesn't and why. You will leave feeling empowered to take the reins of your own health & fitness and kick yo-yo dieting forever. Are you in? Send me a message, I am really looking forward to supporting you.
Have any questions about this post?
Hi, I am Melanie Briony and I coach and train women who are choosing a more empowering path as they head into and beyond the menopause transition. There is no age restriction on who can benefit from this coaching and fitness training. All women who live long enough will go through menopause. If you are just beginning to notice a few hormonal changes or are in full swing 'menopause transition' or post menopause, there is so much you can do to support your body at this time. I always wonder why women wait until they are at crisis point to ask for help? It doesn't have to be such a struggle. Thankfully we have so much more information and so many more resources available to us now. So, if you are looking for a helping hand, a friend to guide you and someone who is willing to push you when you need it, you are in the right place. This is a partnership, where you will be supported to hone in on what you already know and add additional knowledge and skills to your toolkit. We need to throw everything we can at our health and wellness if we are to come out the other side fighting fit, mentally agile and ready to take on the next amazing part of our lives. Want to know more? Send me a message telling me all about your journey so far. What's working for you? How do you feel? What do you need to thrive?