How To Lose Weight After Menopause Without Dieting
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Not knowing how to get rid of menopause belly naturally is discouraging for many women. But don’t despair. In this article, we’ll discuss how to lose belly fat after menopause including what to eat to reduce you middle with ease. With the right lifestyle changes and dietary modifications, you can see positive results in no time.
If you had told me when I was 20 that all the diets I tried would make losing weight after 50 and menopause as difficult as building a snowman on a desert island I may have rethought my eating patterns over the years.
Over the years there were many ingenious ways to try to shed some weight.
There was the Bread Diet where you ate just bread one day and anything you wanted the next.
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Then the extremely restrictive diet where you cut calories to a ridiculously low level for seven days to drop pounds fast.
I tried everything in those days. It was a constant battle because I loved food.
But after all this time the best diet I’ve ever tried is the diet I’m on now.
No restriction just healthy whole foods. And the occasional treat.
I want you to feel as good as I do. Read on.
Is It Possible To Lose Weight After Menopause?
Estrogen is a fat-storing hormone. When women reach their 40s and 50s their estrogen levels begin to decrease.
It’s not difficult, just different and it is certainly possible. You need to understand how your body works differently to know how you go about losing the weight you have gained over the years.
What Can Cause Weight Gain After Menopause?
Weight gain after menopause is usually related to not being active, increasing your portions, and not eating the right foods. Other things that can contribute are not enough good sleep, stress, and not doing the right sort of physical activity to shed body fat.
Other causes for weight gain are hormonal changes that can happen in your body.
As estrogen levels decrease, the pituitary gland may become less sensitive to signals sent by leptin, a hormone involved in the regulation of appetite. This is why some women find it difficult to shedmel belly fat they gain in menopause.
After menopause you need to get your body working for you to lose weight.
Most women who manage to slim down after 50 will tell you it’s not about the number on the scale but how good they feel in their clothes.
Women who have had a hysterectomy and had their ovaries removed will go through menopause immediately after surgery. The battle to lose belly fat after their hyterectomy will be the same as for women who have gone into menopause natuarally.
8 Lifestyle Changes For Natural Weight Loss
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1) Don’t starve yourself
A restrictive diet just leads to eating more later on. This will slow down your metabolism and cause your body to hold onto abdominal fat for dear life while you fight a losing battle trying to get rid of it.
2) Get the right amount of sleep
Getting enough quality sleep will help keep your metabolism running smoothly. Unfortunately, the night sweats and hot flushes that can come as a result of imbalanced hormones do not positively contribute to good sleep.
All the more reason for you to do what you can to balance your hormones.
Make sure you have a good nighttime routine that will help you get enough sleep. Several hours before bed turn off electronics, dim lights and consider doing a restorative yoga routine or similar.
3) Get Regular exercise
Doing the right type of physical activity will help reduce weight gain promote weight loss faster allowing for a body transformation after menopause.
Aerobic exercise will burn calories and help melt fat faster after menopause. Even a 20-minute brisk walk that includes a hill or two will do the trick.
Strength training, or resistance exercises, can be done with weights or bands around your ankles to build muscle mass. With more muscles you have higher metabolism which speeds up weight loss even more.
Make sure to include resistance training as this will also strengthen your bones and keep muscles firm and toned look younger.
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4) Eat the right food
Lose weight naturally after menopause by eating more foods that help burn fat and fewer foods that store it such as processed foods.
Processed foods are packed with preservatives, artificial flavors, and sugar, which can lead to weight gain by adding pounds quickly.
5) Reset your hormones
As some hormones are reducing during menopause there becomes an imbalance that causes menopause symptoms.
Some of those 34 symptoms are night sweats, hot flashes, and weight gain.
It is important to do what you can to balance your hormones for weight loss after menopause.
6) Get a diet plan
But don’t think of it as a diet plan. It’s an eating plan that keeps you healthy. The best diet for a post menopausal woman is one that works for her and her lifestyle.
A healthy, balanced diet is a big factor in the equation of losing weight and keeping it off.
7) Destress
Stress is the enemy of weight loss.
Too much stress is more likely to result in weight gain. The stress hormone cortisol is to blame for this.
Cortisol also triggers the body’s appetite and fat storage mechanisms.
It’s pretty difficult to lose weight when your having cravings and everything you consume is being immediately turned into fat.k
There are many ways to reduce stress, including deep breathing techniques, yoga, meditation, laughing more often, and being with friends.
8) Keep a food diary
Keeping a food diary allows you to track what you’re eating and when. This way you can also see patterns quickly. What foods give you energy and make you feel good and what foods take away your energy or make you feel crappy.
Not only that, but your risk of breast cancer can be decreased by reducing weight. A new study published in “Cancer Causes and Control” shows that losing just 10 pounds lowers your risk of breast cancer by 5%.
This is huge news for women who have managed to maintain a healthy weight or who have lost the weight that they have put on over the years.
What If I Tried But Can’t Lose Weight After Menopause?
While it may be tempting to go on an extremely low-calorie diet to lose menopause weight fast, it’s one of the worst things you can do.
Limiting calories is shown to possibly lead to a whole range of health problems including diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. And it’s not while you’re limiting the calories that these things happen.
It’s after you fail. Because your body has been in a starvation mood your metabolism has slowed down while half starving yourself.
What if you let go of the idea of restriction?
In fact what if you let go of judgment altogether and instead, fostered a gentle curiosity around how and what you eat?
Listen and connect to your body. Be mindful about how food makes you feel, does it give you energy, does it make you sluggish?
Be mindful of how and when you eat. Are you chewing your food and taking your time.
When you eat how hungry are you?
Ravenous enough to clean the fridge out of everything bar whatever that stuff is in the back that’s been there forever.
Or are you just slightly hungry?
Are you eating because you need to fuel yourself or because you’re tired, sad or bored?
Do you have a healthy relationship and find your meals are enjoyable and nourishing?
Best Diet For Post Menopausal Weight Loss
The best way to lose menopause weight is with a post-menopause diet plan that includes the following:
A colorful rainbow mix of plant foods
These should be 75% of your meal. Include plenty of leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, and kale.
These foods take their time to convert to energy and provide good amounts of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Processed, carbs, on the other hand, should be avoided. These convert to sugar quickly and include cereals, bread, pasta, potatoes, and high sugar items.
Protein
Protein is good to keep you feeling fuller for longer and is necessary when building muscle which should be the aim of women over 50.
It will guard against losing muscle mass.
Protein also gives you all of those essential amino acids (bonus: eating protein can increase your metabolism). Eating quality protein is essential so where you can, choose grass-fed meats.
Protein should be considered a side dish not a main.
Nuts, seeds, chickpeas, black beans, and all other pulses and legumes are also great sources of plant protein.
Healthy fats and oils
There is a reason some fatty acids are called “essential” – you need them as building blocks for your hormones and brain. They allow you to absorb essential fat-soluble vitamins from your uber-healthy salads.
Use extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil, organic egg yolks and avocados. You don’t need to overdo it, just make sure you’re getting some high-quality fats.
Avoid processed fats like trans fats, vegetable oils (especially canola), and partially hydrogenated oils.
Seafood
We need omega-3 for heart health and mood balance. Include salmon which is rich in vitamin D, selenium, iodine, magnesium, and B vitamins, all great for minimizing hot flashes.
Avoid dairy…
as much as possible and certainly cut down on cow’s milk which can cause inflammation, hormone fluctuations, and other issues. This is important for menopausal women.
If you do have dairy be aware of the hormones it may contain.
Avoid gluten
Avoid gluten as much as possible. It’s not needed.
This is especially important if you have thyroid issues.
Remember above all the purpose choosing the foods you eat with care is to reverse the weight gain you had through menoapuse and to do it without deprivation or ‘dieting’.
Green Smoothie Recipe
Serves 1
Ingredients
- A handful of whatever greens take your fancy.
- 1 tbsp chia seeds.
- One cup of liquid eg: coconut water, milk, coconut milk, almond milk.
- A frozen chopped kiwi or 1 cup berries, or both.
- 1 tsp coconut oil. Adds good fat and helps the body absorb the nutrients from the greens and fruit.
- Concentrated stevia to taste if you like it a little sweeter.
Method
Add ingredients to a blender.
Wait a couple of minutes for the chia seeds to start soaking up the almond milk.
Blend, Serve and Enjoy!
Bonus: Chia seeds not only have fibre and essential omega-3 fatty acids but they contain all of the essential amino acids from protein.
Follow these simple suggestions and you will be a long way towards losing weight without dieting.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What causes belly fat after menopause?
Your body makes less estrogen at this time in your life and this causes fat cells to shift from the hips and thighs to the abdomen.
You also lose muscle mass as you age, which affects where you lose fat. Less lean tissue has less glycogen (carbohydrate stored for quick energy). As a result, you lose weight in your upper body more so than your lower.
As well as that the changes taking place also mean that fat burning is slower.
Overall women are more sedentary and indulge in higher carbohydrate foods as they start to age which only adds to the likelihood of extra belly fat.
What is the best way to lose weight after menopause?
At this time there is a tendency for your metabolism to slow due to changes in hormonal balance.
Increasing your muscle mass helps lose weight faster.
To lose fat you need to be active and exercise regularly to raise your metabolic rate. Doing exercise that increases muscle and your metabolism is important. Eat plenty of protein to help build new muscle.
Exercise needs to be challenging, done regularly and repeated of a long period.
What is the best diet for a postmenopausal woman?
During menopause, many women lose muscle as a result of decreased activity and reduced hormone levels.
Protein is the most important nutrient for muscle health. Eat protein with each meal to keep your sense of fullness longer and repair muscles.
The rest of your diet should consist of mainly healthy whole plant foods, some animal protein, plant protein, and healthy fats such as avocado and extra virgin olive oil.
Intermittent fasting works well for post-menopausal women to reduce overall calorie intake and it is an easy no-fuss way to diet without dieting. It can also help reduce other symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and night sweats.
How do I balance my hormones to lose weight?
During menopause hormones change and losing weight is not as straightforward as it once was.
To keep your hormones balanced you need to eat a healthy whole food diet, exercise regularly, lose weight slowly and destress.
Doing these things will also reduce other menopause symptoms such as hot flashes.
Do hot flashes burn calories
According to studies hot flashes can burn between 50-300 calories. It depends on the length of the hot flash and how many degrees the body temperature goes up.
