I talk a lot on the blog about the experiences I have had with gaining weight in peri-menopause and having well-meaning professionals tell me to “eat LESS and exercise MORE.” Truth be told, it’s no wonder these professionals say to do this. After all, research has been shown that it works. FOR MEN. Much of the research that has been done does not translate to us as women in midlife. So, what do we do? We get smart and focused. Consider this blog post your “Midlife Road Map” to get you moving in the right direction. Here are my best tips:
STOP eating shit you hate for the sake of weight loss. You’re KALEING me people! Don’t like Kale? FINE, there are many other green veggies to choose from. Think that eliminating carbs will help you get lean because Sally from your kid’s cheer team lost 80 pounds on Keto? You DON’T have to follow Sally’s lead! You don’t know Sally’s situation. She may have been told by her doctor that she needed to lose those 80 pounds due to diabetes issues. You, my friend, do not need to cut out a whole food group unless your physician has recommended it. You can still enjoy good carbs that give you sustained energy and also lose bodyfat. How? By being in a CALORIE DEFICIT. Remember when grandma said “calories in and calories out?” She was on to something.
Setting yourself up in a calorie deficit is not as hard as it may sound. Remember last blog when I went on a rant about the diet industry and how women are made to think that they need to immediately jump down to 1200 magical calories to lose weight? I get incredibly angry thinking about it. ARRRGGHHHH! Let’s talk about it a little more here (I’ll call this the SUSPICIOUS situation): Let’s say you follow my advice and track everything you consume (liquids and solids) for a week. You find that your daily average caloric intake is 2500 calories. If you were to jump down to 1200 calories, that puts you in a massive calorie deficit (burning more calories than you consume) and you lose 2 pounds in a week. You are soooo excited that the scale is moving! YAY! But you are HANGRY. Your focus at work is even WORSE than it was from the peri-menopause brain fog, you snapped 4 more times at the kids than usual and you are looking at the Food Network like it’s 50 Shades of Gray. Plus, after a few weeks the weight loss stalls and you are left wondering if you need to take your calories even lower. OMG right? I mean, a toddler requires 1200 calories just to exist, how much lower do you have to go to start seeing results again??? Okay, let’s take a deep breath, rewind and try this again shall we?
Sustainable situation: You track your food, find that you are averaging 2500 daily calories a week and use that as your jumping off point. You decide to start walking a little more each day by taking your dog for a short walk, you’ve started weight training 2 days a week (yay for muscle protein synthesis!) and are parking your car a little further each day at the office. By the end of the week, you feel like a badass, you are proud of yourself for making good habit changes and you are thrilled to hop on the scale and learn that you have lost 2 pounds! So, what gives? If you jump down to 1200 calories, yes, you are in a deficit but you have nowhere to go from there! It’s not a sustainable and maintainable deficit. Not to mention the trip to bingeville you are setting yourself up for! Plus, in this second situation, you haven’t even decreased your calories but instead have added some daily movement that is good for you! WINNING! Once the weight loss slows down in this second situation, you can SLOWWWLY decrease some calories (say, 50 calories daily) and see what happens over a week or two (understanding that the scale fluctuates wildly due to water and hormonal changes). Since we are on the subject of wild fluctuations, many of my clients have reported weight GAIN the first few weeks that they start weight training. DO NOT BE DISSUADED by this. Weight training creates little micro breakdowns in muscles, which is a good thing because it is how we grow stronger (yay!). Since you are putting a stress on your body, your body has to adapt and recover from it. The body sends water and nutrients to the area that has been broken down (your muscles in this example) in an effort to heal it (much like when you sprain your ankle and it gets swollen!). That influx of fluid and nutrients can make the scale go up temporarily. So, please do not get disheartened.
Our goal really is not to lose WEIGHT but to lose body fat. Prioritize your protein. stay consistent with your weight training, don’t overdo your cardio and things will move in the right direction. Soon enough your clothes will start to fit better, you will start sleeping better, you will have more energy, and feel all-around better. Stay the course.
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