Among the most frustrating things that lots of women cope with through menopause is gaining weight. As your hormones start to discover a new balance and your metabolism starts to slow within the normal aging cycle, you will notice that it’s increasingly more challenging to keep your figure.
Changes
This is not something to be concerned about too much, but it could simply add to all the other stressors of menopausal life: hormonal changes, hot flashes, the stressors of being at the in-between generation and caring for your children and parents etc.. If you are in menopause, gain fat in moderation and learn how to relax about it, but do not get trapped in a weight gain/weight loss cycle.
Menopause is not the only time you might deal with routine dieting, and you might have dealt with this weight cycling even when you’re younger. Basically, you go through cycles of losing and gaining weight. In the majority of women, changes of two to five pounds are normal and may be associated with your menstrual cycle. More than that, however, and you may end up with some serious health consequences.
Take note
Weight cycling comes with problems of its own, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and gallbladder disease. Plus, your weight is intrinsically linked to a hormonal balance in a lot of ways, so weight cycling can cause your out-of-whack hormones to be less stable. Although weight cycling might be slightly healthier than being fat all the time, the strain of losing and losing and gaining again is not great for your heart or your body all around.
One of the key reasons that people wind up caught in a weight cycle is they try fad diets that promise to get them losing enormous amounts of weight if they just eat X and prevent Y. This sort of dieting is dangerous for several reasons, but one of the key reasons is that it isn’t stable. If you run across a diet which makes extreme promises which doesn’t allow you to eat your favorite foods in moderation, avoid it like the plague. Instead, focus on a lifestyle change that will let you lose weight slowly and keep a healthy weight with time.
Needless to say, different health authors and researchers still argue over what makes a “lifestyle change” bad or good. There are, however, some basic rules on the market that most people will benefit from after.
What to do?
Here are a few easy measures that you can use to make your lifestyle healthier and more conducive to weight maintenance. Eat six small meals every day. Your stomach is truly just the size of your fist, and even though it can stretch to much larger than that, it would really rather not. Eating smaller meals throughout the day keeps your belly closer to its normal size, meaning it is going to feel more uncomfortable to gorge yourself – certainly a great thing!
Also, eating smaller meals during the day will keep your blood sugar stable. Eating three big meals will spike your blood sugar and make it come crashing down, meaning that you are more likely to experience cravings for especially sugary items, and you will also be tired and hormonal. The best way to be certain you’re eating six healthy meals daily would be to fall into a routine. While you should not eat when you aren’t hungry in any way, do not wait until you are hungry to wolf down a hamburger. Plan your six meals beforehand so you have health choices available for your meals. Pair a lean protein with every meal. As a menopausal woman, you might benefit by integrating one serving of soy to your meals every day.
Conclusion
Also, eat fish and nuts, which are rich in essential fatty acids. Chicken can be a great option, too, and eating just one small serving of lean red meat a week might help you combat fatigue if you suffer from an iron deficiency. Incorporate complex carbohydrates such as whole wheat, whole oats, flax seed, and starchy vegetables into many meals in tiny amounts. These can break down slowly and keep your blood sugar level stable, and they are also able to satisfy a great deal of cravings for sugary products. Eat fruits and veggies in the colours of the rainbow daily. Different colored veggies and fruits have various minerals and vitamins, so eating several colours daily is much better than taking a multivitamin!