Health, Fitness & Lifestyle

It's not just about the number on the scale... It's about your metabolism!

If you’re a menopausal woman and your goal is to lose weight, I want to set a few things straight and help you reach your goals.

One of the biggest mistakes women make is thinking of their bodies as calculators; calories in and calories out. They think as long as they create a deficit (eat fewer calories than expended), they’ll lose weight.

Now it is true that you need a caloric deficit to lose weight. But at the same time, it's not quite that simple.

Drinking alcohol is part of life for many adults. It's often seen as a way to unwind or as something fun to do socially with friends. That being said, it also has its drawbacks when it comes to weight management.

​The menopausal transition can be a difficult time in a woman’s life. There are often so many changes happening at once in the body and in life which cause an increase in stress and unwanted side effects. As a woman in postmenopause, I understand what it’s like to go through these changes and to try to navigate through the confusion and difficulties that come along with them. But part of the problem is, a lot of women don’t actually understand what menopause really means because it’s not talked about enough.

​If there’s one thing I hear women in menopause complain about most it’s the menopause belly. It feels like it appeared overnight. One day you’ve got the classic hourglass figure, and the next thing you know, you can’t button your jeans without sucking in your stomach.

There’s one thing you can be sure about your metabolism – it’s always changing. I often hear women over 50 tell me that they used to have a fast metabolism and now they can’t eat anything without gaining weight. Or, that everything they used to do when they were younger has simply stopped working.

As we enter perimenopause or menopause the number on the scale starts creeping up, the inches around our waist begin to grow. We look in the mirror and ask “who is that?”

We haven’t really changed our lifestyle and yet our body is defying us. So naturally, we go on a diet, join a gym and start jogging. We think if we just eat healthy and get moving the weight will come off. After all, that’s what always works.

Until it doesn’t.

​We don’t think it will happen to us. After all, we know how to lose weight and stay healthy, right? We’ve been doing this our entire adult lives.

I can’t even count how many times women have come to me and said, ”I eat healthy, I don’t eat carbs, I exercise all the time but no matter what I do I just can’t lose this weight. Everything changed when I hit 50.  Why is it so hard to lose this weight?”

Frustrating, isn’t it…

Staying on track with your health and weight loss goals is something a lot of people struggle with. If you're like most people, you've probably wondered if you'll ever be able to succeed and often feel badly about yourself "failing" over and over again.

So when you decide to work towards your health and fitness goals, remember this one thing…

​Do you know someone who constantly works out and is constantly on a diet, yet his or her body never changes? Maybe this person is you. Most of my clients, who are woman over 50, come to me with the same complaint; I joined a gym, and I go about 3 or 4 times a week, I eat healthy but nothing is happening. What am I doing wrong?