89. The Truth About Losing Weight in Your 40s and During Menopause (Plus 4 Easy Habits To Reduce Unwanted Body Changes) | Reset Female Hormones For Weight Loss Series

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Welcome to the Mind and My Wellness Podcast. Your podcast for all things macros, movement, mindset, and everything in between. I'm your host, Dani Merenberg, an ex yo yo dieting cardio junkie turned sustainable nutrition coach who's helped over 1000 women feel confident in their skin by learning.

How to eat for their goals without.

Sacrificing a life well lived. I created the Mind and My Wellness Podcast to give you simple, effective and manageable tips you can take away from each episode and implement in your daily life to look and feel like the best version of you. Each week, my guests and I teach you the secrets to mastering your health and owning your power. Nutrition, mindset, movement, and women's health are all topics you'll find here. Think of our time together as your productive little health break from the day. So grab your headphones, fill up your water, and let's dive into today's episode.

Welcome back to the Mind and My Wellness Podcast. This is your host, Dani, and today we are talking about a topic that is such a needed topic to talk about and that is perimenopause. That is a phase that so many women are experiencing and not knowing how to navigate. And about 40% of the women that I work with are in this perimenopause phase. And the question that I get is that is this midlife weight gain inevitable for me or is there something that I can do about it? So today we are going to dive into the science and uncover the truths behind those stubborn pounds that just seem to acquire during your 40s and 50s. And this is part two of our hormone series for the month of March. So before we dive in, I want to speak to a huge myth around perimenopause, and it's that perimenopause actually means that you're going to gain weight. They're just synonymous. The reality is that perimenopause and menopause doesn't have as much to do with overall weight as it does with where you're storing body fat. And so we're going to dive into that in today's episode, and I'm going to give you practical tips and how to implement certain lifestyle changes to help mitigate this during perimenopause. So first, I want to talk about a study that was conducted. It's called the Swan study, and it tracked a diverse group of women and their health over a period of 13 to 15 years. Somewhere in there, what they found was that during perimenopause, there were no sudden changes in overall body weight. Their body weight actually stayed the same, but body composition shifted dramatically, meaning that how they were storing body fat versus muscle completely changed. There was an increase in body fat, especially visceral fat. We'll get into that a little bit more in this episode. And then there was a decrease in lean muscle mass. Those were the two things they saw from this study. So let's break it down a little bit further. And what does this mean for you, and how can you help mitigate this? So when we talk about weight gain during menopause, it's not just about the number on the scale. I have a whole episode on all the things that go into that number on the scale, but it's where the weight tends to settle, and that's largely influenced by hormonal changes, especially during this time in this phase of life. So there's a huge hormonal shift that's happening throughout perimenopause, obviously, and this is the shift that's behind fat redistribution. So as women transition into menopause, estrogen levels decline significantly. This is the female hormone. They're declining during this phase. Estrogen is oftentimes known as the reproductive hormone for, you know, good reasons. But it also plays a human huge role in regulating body fat distribution. So this shift in hormone levels affects our metabolism, it affects our appetite, our energy levels, even our mood. And it's going to affect where body fat is distributed on the body. So pre perimenopause and menopause, estrogen helps direct fat storage, typically to the hips, the thighs, the bum area. We talked about this in Last week's episode. This is often referred to as like a pear shaped distribution. This is where estrogen is directing that fat before we enter perimenopause. Now, as we enter perimenopause and in menopause, with less estrogen in the body, the body starts to store more fat around the core area, the abdominal area. And this is what leads to that stubborn belly fat that seems to just kind of appear overnight in many women during this phase of life. And it's so frustrating, right? This is often called visceral fat, which wraps around internal organs and it can increase health risks like insulin resistance, which we talked about in last week's episode, and cardiovascular disease. But here's the key takeaway that I want you to really take away from all of this, is that hormonal shifts might change where your body prefers to store fat. But perimenopause and these hormonal shifts in estrogen, they do not dictate how much fat you will gain. That's where lifestyle comes in. And the good news is, is that with specific lifestyle choices, which we'll talk about in this episode, by making these specific lifestyle choices, it can lead to huge improvements in overall fat distribution this time of life. So being proactive can be so helpful, but also if you have to be reactive, it's okay. These same principles will apply. So while hormones do play a really, really big hand in all of this, there are four lifestyle factors that can and should be focused on to see body composition changes and mitigate that unwanted fat storage, specifically in the abdomen area. Now, we can't spot treat body fat, but with these lifestyle factors, we can help to move in the direction of reducing body fat overall, which will ultimately also reduce body fat in the abdomen area. Number one, nutrition. Nutrition is always going to be number one. And it's not just about whatever you're eating. It's quality over quantity. So protein, protein is queen. As muscle mass naturally declines during this phase of life thanks to both aging and these hormonal shifts, eating enough protein is critical and really helps to preserve lean muscle mass. So aiming anywhere from.08 to.1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is going to be a great place to start. Also focusing on fiber, high fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, these are the types of foods that are going to help regulate your blood sugar, reduce cravings and support your gut health. All of which can help influence fat storage too, during this time and during any time really. But they can be very helpful managing carbohydrate quality. Not all Carbohydrates are created equal. And it's not about eating a low, low, low carb diet, it's about eating smart carbs. So when you're eating carbohydrates, make sure that most of them are focused on complex carbs like sweet potato, quinoa, legumes instead of more processed carbohydrates, more sugary foods that are also a form of carbohydrates that can spike your insulin levels. And if you don't know what insulin is, go back and listen to the last week's episode, we dive into it further. You can also incorporate phytoestrogen rich foods, things like flaxseeds, soy, peaches, nuts, cruciferous veggies, garlic. These can really help as well. Outside of nutrition, the other thing that you can do is exercise. Not all exercise is gonna be created equal as well. And strength training is really going to be your secret weapon. Resistance training anywhere from two to four times a week can really help to counteract muscle loss. It can boost your metabolism and it can improve your insulin sensitivity. So finding some sort of program or class that's really focused on progressive overload and building muscle compound movements that are really going to help you build muscle, that's what we want to focus on. And also in the same vein of exercise, your daily movement really does matter. So aiming for anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 steps a day to keep your metabolism active, this is really gonna help along with helping you manage your stress levels, improve your cardiovascular health. And it also burns extra calories without overloading your system with things like high intensity exercise. So your daily movement is gonna make up more of that caloric burn too. The last thing I want to mention here is really focusing on stress management. Don't underestimate this. Please, please, please. It is so important because if you listened to last week's episode, high stress and chronic stress leads to high cortisol levels. And guess what cortisol loves to do. It loves to encourage fat storage, specifically around the belly. So if we can incorporate stress reducing practices again, we talked about box breathing last week. Deep breathing, meditation, journaling, reading a book, getting outside for some fresh air, going for a walk, even combining that with exercise. For many people, that can be relaxing and that could be stress relieving. It can be so helpful. And let's not forget about sleep. This is the overlooked fat loss tool because poor sleep disrupts hunger. Hormones like ghrelin and leptin, which manage your hunger and they can increase your cravings for more high calorie foods. So aiming for anywhere from seven to eight hours of quality sleep to support your metabolism. And this balance and this shift in hormonal health can be really critical during this time too. I know it seems like, oh, sleep, whatever, I'll sleep some other time. No, it is extremely important and it is often overlooked. Now, if you're listening to this and you just have really found yourself very stuck in this season of life, first I want to acknowledge that because it's not easy. But I also want to tell you do not worry because there are so many resources out there to help you and because you're listening to this episode and because you've made it this far in this episode, I know you're probably likely deep in it right now or you know somebody who's very deep in it. So I'm going to share with you my weekly progress tracker that I use with all of my one on one clients inside my coaching programs. And I'm going to give it to you completely free. This is because I want to help you with where you're at in your journey. And I know firsthand from working with hundreds of women using this tracker that it will help to take what you've learned in this episode and implement it into your lifestyle. Track it week over week and report out on your results and progress. And if you follow this tracker and follow the lessons inside these podcast episodes, it can be so valuable for your overall experience with perimenopause. This is the exact tracking report that has helped hundreds of women in this very stage of life prioritize the actual needle movers so you're not spinning your wheels trying to figure out what will and won't work any longer. So again, I want to give this tracker to you completely free. Just because you've obviously made it this far in this episode, it's something that's important to you and it's something that's important for me to get out to the masses. So to get this tracker completely free, all you have to do is head to mindinmymacros.com tracker or you can scroll down into the show notes and I'll put the link for you down there. Now remember, lifestyle choices, what you eat, how you move, how you manage your stress and how you sleep. These are going to play such a huge role and a much bigger role than you might think. Now, if you're in this phase of life, I see you know that midlife changes are just a natural part of progression. And with the right tools, you can feel strong confident and very in control of this chapter and I hope that I can help give you these. So if you enjoy this episode, please send me a message over at Mind and My Wellness Podcast on Instagram or leave me a review and a comment on this podcast. It means more than you know. Your support is really what allows me to keep these podcast episodes free and ad free and I just love love love seeing your feedback. So thank you so much for listening. I hope this episode was helpful and until next week, keep minding your wellness.

Thanks so much for tuning in to today's episode. I love hearing from you, so shoot me a DM over on Instagram at mindandmymacros to keep the combo going. If you've learned anything from this episode or any of my past episodes, I'd really like love it if you took a few seconds to leave a quick rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I love hearing what you've learned or what you've taken away from any of these episodes. It means so much to me when you do that. And if you have any friends you know that need a little help kicking some old dieting mentalities to the curb and want some simple, effective and sustainable tips to feel their best, share a link to this episode with them. Thanks so much for listening and I'll catch you next time.