It is undoubtedly true that losing weight is immensely difficult. Throw menopause into the equation and achieving success might seem unthinkable. After all, you’re going to have so much going against you. This includes stress, the natural ageing process and erratic hormones. Just remember that others have conquered their weight loss goals even while facing down menopause. As long as you have a sound strategy and sheer determination, there is a good chance that you’ll be able to do the same. Below, you’re going to find tips for losing weight during and after menopause.
Why Menopause Complicates Things
Most women have heard about menopause and most dread it. However, many women do not fully understand the implications of menopause. First and foremost, you should know that you’re going to experience menopause once you have not encountered a menstrual cycle in 12 months. During this period, every single woman is going to have a tough time losing weight. In fact, a lot of women will gain weight during this stage. There are numerous factors at work here. More about these factors will be provided below.
- Changing Insulin Resistance – Menopause actually increases the female’s resistance to insulin. It often gets worse as they age. This is one of the main reasons that it is so difficult to lose weight during and after menopause.
- Lack Of Sleep – It is also important to understand that menopause is going to disrupt your normal sleeping patterns. A lack of sleep will impact various aspects of your life and your bodyweight is definitely one thing that it will change. Failing to get enough sleep can lead to weight gain.
- Erratic Hormones – Menopause is going to cause your hormones to fluctuate erratically. This can cause your body to store more fat than it would otherwise.
- Muscle Mass Loss – Finally, you should know that you’re going to begin losing muscle mass during and after menopause.
Another thing to note is that your body’s fat storage mechanisms are going to change during menopause. Don’t be surprised when your body begins storing more fat in your thighs and hips. This is very problematic since it raises the risk that you’re going to develop heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. During this stage of life, it is vital to lose body fat. There are numerous strategies that can help you do just that.
The Importance Of Calories
As you probably already know, you need to establish a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. This can be difficult during and after menopause. After all, during this stage the number of calories you burn when resting is going to decrease. You may attempt to offset the problem by making the switch to a low calorie diet. That might work temporarily or it may lead to worse results. Research has shown that reducing your caloric intake can actually cause your metabolic rate to decrease. It can also speed up the loss of muscle mass.
Diets with very low caloric intakes can help for a short period of time. However, their impact on your muscle mass and metabolic rate makes these diets not worth it. There is also a great risk of bone loss when you’re following a diet that provides you with too few calories. Instead, you should practice dietary restraint. This means that you should focus on managing your portion sizes. It is also vital to change your lifestyle to something that can be maintained for the long run. This is the best way to balance your metabolic rate, while also decreasing the amount of muscles you lose as you continue to get older.
Which Diets Will Help?
There are some diets that have shown great promise for women going through menopause. They’ll be explored in greater depth for your consideration.
Low-Carb
First and foremost, you should know that a low-carb may actually be beneficial. These types of diets are great for achieving weight loss. They can also help you get rid of that abdominal fat. Sadly, few studies have focused on low-carb diets and women who are currently going throw menopause. One study did and it indeed confirmed that women could lose weight with these diets. It is also great that you do not need to decrease your carb intake too much to achieve your weight loss goals.
Mediterranean
Most people follow a Mediterranean diet because they want to improve their health or stave off heart disease. Regardless, this diet is also great for losing weight. Again, few studies have focused solely on the impact of the Mediterranean diet on women going through menopause. Nevertheless, research has shown that this diet can help older men and women lose abdominal fat. With that being said, experimenting with this type of diet is highly recommended.
Vegetarian Or Vegan
Finally, you have the vegetarian and vegan diets. Both are capable of promoting weight loss. One study showed that postmenopausal women were able to lose weight when following a vegan diet. Even better is the fact that the diet also improved their health. A vegetarian diet with eggs and dairy is another good option for older women.
Best Exercises
Now, you should learn more about the exercises that are going to help you lose weight during and after menopause. It is always best to make sure that you’re practicing cardio exercises. This is the best way to ensure that you’re able to slim down your belly, while also protecting your muscles. Resistance training can also help. Resistance training is very effective for ensuring that you’re able to protect your lean muscle mass. To achieve the best results, you should combine aerobic exercises with some strength training.
Battling Weight Loss During Menopause
Menopause can be an extremely difficult time for some women and it affects everyone differently. During this time in your life your body will be going through drastic chances and this can make it harder to lose weight. Here are some tips that might help you along the way.
The Importance Of Sleeping Patterns
You might be surprised to learn that sleep can impact your weight and weight loss. Not only do you need to get enough sleep every night, but also you need to make sure that sleep is of good quality.
Woman that don’t get enough sleep or who are constantly waking up during the night have higher level of ghrelin. Ghrelin is basically the hunger hormone. Under these conditions you also have lower levels of leptin, which is the fullness hormone. These conditions combined together will make you consume more food.
It is not uncommon for women to experience a lack of sleep when going through menopause, because some of the symptoms that occur during this change are night sweets, hot flashes, stress and the estrogen deficiency.
Seek Unconventional Treatments
When dealing with low estrogen some studies have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy could potentially provide the aid that you are seeking. This is a form of psychotherapy that was specifically designed to battle insomnia. However, none of these test subjects for these studies were menopausal women.
Acupuncture is an unconventional type of therapy that people have been utilizing for years to treat a variety of ailments. One study even showed that this type of treatment could reduce hot flashes by as much as 33 percent. Another study even showed that acupuncture could increase estrogen levels. All of these benefits are going to lead to better quality sleep.
Keep Stress In Check
Keeping stress in check is always important, but it will be important than ever when you are going through menopause. Excessive stress levels will increase the risk of heart disease and raise the cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that is highly attributed to belly fat.
Yoga and meditation can go a long way to helping you relieve stress levels. There are herbal supplements also available that can aid in stress relief. One such herb is pycnogenol, which is a pine bark extract.
Effective Weight Loss Tips
If you need a little extra nudge losing weight, you can combine the tips below with your current daily regimen.
- Increase your protein intake – Protein is key to feeling full, losing weight, gaining lean muscle mass and healthy skin and bones. Eating a little more protein will help you reach your weight loss quicker.
- Increase your dairy intake – Studies have revealed that dairy promotes weight loss. In fact, it will help your body burn fat, resulting in quicker weight loss.
- Include soluble fiber in your diet – Soluble fiber offers a variety of weight loss benefits. These benefits include filling full longer, prevents the brain from alerting the body that it is time to eat and decreased appetite.
- Include green tea in your diet – Green tea contains properties that are capable of helping the body burn fat. However, to get the maximum benefits of green tea, you should combine it with resistance training.
- Learn how to cope with stress – It is a fact that some people eat when they get stressed out, resulting in weight gain. If you deal with a high level of stress, you will need to learn how to deal with it without food. Practice yoga and meditation to reduce your stress in a healthy manner.
Keeping The Weight Off
Once you have reached your weight loss goal, you will be challenged with keeping the weight off. There are several ways to do this, but you must be willing to continue doing exactly what you are doing now, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. By this point, you are probably feeling a little bored with this regimen. However, it is crucial to remain true to your daily routine. If you fail to do this, you will regain all the weight you lost and maybe even more.
One way to not get discouraged is to avoid weighing too often. Some post-menopausal women focus too much on their weight and less on their accomplishments. Remember, it took you a long time to reach this point, so continue living a healthy lifestyle to avoid falling back into the routine that caused your weight gain.
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