Whether it’s menopause or perimenopause, once you reach a certain age, you might find yourself looking for tips. Specifically, weight loss tips for menopause. But why?
Menopause is Inevitable…
But does weight gain have to be inevitable as you age?
Ladies, it’s either on its way, or already here. Sometimes earlier and sometimes later than expected. Sometime around your mid-thirties to mid-fourties, menopause rears its ugly head.
How do you know you’ve reached menopause?
Technically, menopause is the day you’ve reached 12 months without menstruating. But you can feel symptoms of menopause for years. Specifically, for 15, sometimes 20 years before your date of menopause.
Menopause symptoms include things like cycle abnormalities, weight gain, hormonal imbalances, mood swings, night sweats, hot flashes, and generalized discomfort and aggravation. Menopause is a phase of life that my female health coaching clients ask me to help them with most often. Well, I have good news, ladies. There’s hope!
The Issue I Hear Most About Menopause Today
Women have been dealing with “the change” for millennia. It’s an unavoidable stage of life that women experience as they pass from fertility to middle age. The issue? The more women I speak to, the more it seems that menopause is getting harder and happening a lot earlier.
Why Early Menopause?
Many women genetically inherit a predisposition to begin menopause earlier in life. Lifestyle factors such as poor diet and lack of exercise, environmental toxins can also make women more likely to experience menopause symptoms earlier.
Genetic variance, lifestyle choices, and medical situations make some women more susceptible to endometriosis, PCOS, cervical and ovarian cancers, insulin resistance, hormone dysfunction, and many others. All of these may facilitate earlier onset of menopause and/or worse perimenopause symptoms either through the change itself or resulting treatments.
With all of that being said, there is hope! Multiple approaches are being utilized by women seeking better health and wellness during this stage of life. Hormone replacement, green pharmacy supplementation, nutritional intervention and exercise may all be used either together or individually to greatly impact the effects of menopause.
Treatments for Menopause Symptoms
Hormone Replacement – A Personalized Approach
Starting with the hot topic, hormone replacement, women should be very, very selective in the treatment parameters. For instance, many practitioners treat solely based on blood work and virtually ignore symptom management. Typically, this would be a practical approach in western medicine. However, hormones are HIGHLY individualized and women going through menopause and these hormone treatments should have personalized management.
This recommendation does not change if you choose to pursue hormone treatment with bio-identical therapy. A wise practitioner working with a skilled nutritionist/lifestyle coach is essential for navigating the menopause years. Multiple approaches may be used in conjunction and most often are superior to any single therapy. If you are in the Chattanooga, TN, and North Georgia areas I recommend working with Optimize U Chattanooga for the most complete care available.
Supplements and Lifestyle Changes for Menopause
Supplements and lifestyle change are a key part of careing for yourself during your menopause experience, regardless of other therapies. This doesn’t have to be a complicated process either! A simple foundation of core nutrients, like Omega 3s, D&K, Magnesium, and a clean multi (available in the CORE 4 Daily Pack) is where I encourage my clients to start. Additionally, we combine a person and phase-specific supplement like one of THESE from Life Seasons.
Thankfully, these supplements may be all that is needed to see a positive change from menopause symptoms.
Individual Nutrients for Specific Menopause Related Issues
Of course, individual nutrients like Maca, Vitex, Borage, Wild Yam, Rhubarb, DHEA and many others can also be used to suit individual needs or practitioner recommendations. As stated before, these supplements can be used either as an adjunct therapy to hormone replacement or as the primary approach depending on the person’s individual needs and considerations. I am a fan of adjunct therapy in my coaching, having worked with hundreds of women and their primary care providers. The positive results I have seen from this approach have been life-changing for my clients and eye-opening for myself.
Nutrition During Menopause
Another factor of lifestyle change for a menopausal female is nutrition and body care. Removal of inflammatory and hormone disrupting foods and care products is essential for relief during this phase of life. During menses, women can sometimes benefit from a higher carbohydrate intake to battle the fluctuations in appetite and estrogen. And yet, this is not always necessary.
Women also require quality, non-inflammatory fats such as saturated animal and polyunsaturated omega-3 fats while they are still capable of having children due to the demands of fetal development. During and post-menopause things change. Women generally need to drastically increase protein intake and reduce, at the very least, inflammatory carbohydrate intake to ward off bone and muscle loss, as well as exacerbated menopausal symptoms and inflammation, respectively.
Food AND Skincare Needs Change
Known toxic compounds such as processed carbohydrates, seed oils, fake health foods like heart-healthy cereal and other grain-based and highly modified products, sugary beverages, non-organic feminine care products, toxic skin care products, PFOA (Poly Fluorinated Organic Alkaloids) containing hair sprays and hair care products, non-stick cookware containing much of the same contaminants (cook with stainless steel or cast iron to avoid this), and more all combine to destroy the female endocrine system.
Checking products that women use daily in a system such as EWG.org can help. Environmental Working Group exists to evaluate the safety and risks associated with everyday things in the home and this can help women build a defense against unsafe and potentially harmful products.
Exercise – the Lowest Hanging Fruit in Weight Loss Tips for Menopause
Lastly, on the lifestyle side is likely the lowest hanging fruit of all; Exercise. As difficult as it may be to even consider the thought of exercising when dealing with menopausal symptoms, this is virtually a non-negotiable necessity. Women have to move! Exercise, especially with weights, can make a significant impact not only in restoring energy balance during this phase of life, but also by fortifying bone and muscle structure for years to come.
Try LifeSeasons Products
Don’t misunderstand me though, 5 days a week in the gym is not always the key. In my experience, I have found that 3 or so hours per week of resistance exercise combined with the most basic of cardiovascular work (yes, even walking) can be enough to make significant improvements! If you or someone you know is interested in any of these approaches, reach out to our wellness consultants HERE.
Menopause Takeaways
The key takeaway from this article should be that even though menopause is likely to affect every female at some point in her life, this does not mean that it has to be a miserable and drawn-out affair. Through proper care both medically and through the green pharmacy, lifestyle management with nutrition and toxin reduction, and exercise, women can move through this stage of life with much less discomfort and uncertainty. Yes, ladies will likely all have to deal with menopause at some point, but now it’s time to shift the focus from dread and suffering to hope and understanding.
