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Weight Gain During Menopause

Weight Gain During Menopause

Weight Gain During Menopause

Weight Gain During Menopause is a real issue for most women after a certain age. You reach for that favorite pair of jeans, you try to slide them on but they wont button. You struggle from day to day to keep the weight gain off of your once fabulous body. But the rolls and layers of fat keep coming on that body of yours. You diet and exercise on a daily basis but those 10 to 30 pounds just wont come off. You join a gym or a woman’s work out class but you still jump on the scale and it still reads the same. You just want to scream or jump back in bed and hide under the covers. Is this you?

Weight Gain During Menopause

If you are coming on to that age of reaching that big 40 or you are gaining ground to the 50 age mark then you are more than likely in what is called the menopausal stage of life and this weight issue is one of the common symptoms of the menopausal stage. There are many other symptoms to the menopausal stage of life but in this article weight gain is what we are going to concentrate on. The reason for this article is that in today’s society our looks mean so much to woman. Weight gain during menopause, even if it is 10 or 20 pounds, can mean so much to a woman at this stage in life. Weight gain can bring on depression and anxiety which in turns can bring on the terrible hot flashes.

Weight Gain During Menopause – Why?

What causes weight gain during menopause in these bodies of ours? It can be one thing or a combination of many things. Toxins, stress, exercise, diet, emotions, anxiety, and hormones all can play a major role in weight gain. As the old saying goes, putting the weight on is easy and fun but taking it off is the hardest thing to do. Especially if you are in the stage of life called permenopause or menopause.

If you are in the stage of life of perimenopause or menopause more than likely your hormones are playing a huge factor in your weight. These hormonal imbalances are causing your body to store unwanted fat. The reason for this is that your body is feeling the affect that your hormones are hitting rock bottom and they are looking else where for a replacement of the hormones so the body turns to these fat cells. Studies have shown that woman tend to be insulin resistance do to their diet. When this happens the body converts every calorie it can to fat.

Stress and Menopausal weight gain

Stress plays a large role during this time in life of perimenopause or menopause. Stress hormones can block weight loss in a female. Even if you are dieting long term stress causes the body to go into what is called hoarding. Your body is putting on this fat and then you start to stress out about it and you start what is called yoyo dieting which in turns causes more fat to hoard in your body. It is a no win situation. Stress at this point can not only cause weight gain, but can cause depression, anxiety and make you feel unwanted and insecure about yourself.

You need to break this curse. You need to find yourself a support group and also have open dialogue with your partner at home. Also talk to a qualified physician about what you are going through. I mentioned qualified physician only because there are many physicians that do not understand what women are going through during perimenopause or menopause. Many physicians will say that these symptoms are all in your head and that you need a therapist instead of a medical doctor. Don’t fall for this, ask around and talk to your girl friends to find a positive qualified physician to hear your case. Don’t hold these feelings inside you, this will only cause your stress level to rise and cause other terrible symptoms to occur. Open communication is the key to good health and feeling better about yourself. Give it a try today, you will be glad you did.

Weight Gain During Menopause is an issue that many people deal with and I hope these tips help you out.

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I Spent the Day Making Cake

We made it through our first week of 2011!  I got caught up in being super productive (as usual this time of year) that by Wednesday I was totally burned out. There are only so many things that I can truly get done in a day. That said, I’m pleased with everything that I did manage to get done last week. I kept track of it all:

I took better care of my skin, I flossed daily, I didn’t eat sugar, I tackled the laundry, I finished a few freelance projects, I finished jewelry orders, I cleaned the house, I held the Floyd Creative Collective meeting at my house and set up a blog for that, I wrote articles, and updated my blog.

Things I didn’t do…exercise! I wrote that whole post about exercise excuses right in the midst of one big one: Josh was sick and I was trying to tackle a 100+ to-do list. The week before I was sick and no one was exercising. And this week was no different. And I’m feeling the results of it.

So this week, I’m scheduling exercise. And I’m starting today with a visit with Billy Blanks and continuing tomorrow morning with Julian.

I do think it’s funny that after my sugar video-which by the way- thank you for watching and leaving such encouraging/thoughtful/kind comments- I spent the day making this:

The hardest part about baking and not eating sugar is taste-testing. How would I know the cake wasn’t too dry or the icing was too buttery? I used my other senses. I felt the icing and it’s consistency and smelled the cake. It seemed to work.

This isn’t the best looking cake, but I’m proud of it nonetheless. Mainly because it speaks to my approach to life lately- just dive in. I have never (ever) made an iced cake or worked with fondant, but I knew I didn’t want to just put plastic figurines on the cake. I was up for the challenge. I marched right into Michaels, bought a cake decorating kit and white fondant.

There was a slight hesitation that it would be a total disaster, but I went in with gusto and pretty darn proud of the results. I guess the lesson here, if there is one, is that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. Even if it is daunting, new, uncomfortable and scary- and when I become fearless of the outcome- really good things can happen.

Finding life lessons in cake decorating? That’s what I do! Have you surprised yourself lately? I’d love to hear about it.