How to Make Weight Loss Easier After Menopause/Perimenopause

as a 51 year old woman I understand that menopause changes things and while it doesn't prevent fat loss it does require a unique strategy in this video I will discuss how fat storage changes as we move into menopause and how to work around those changes to make weight loss easier to get some insights for this video I asked members of my coaching program who are at or near menopause to answer two questions the first one was what is it about menopause that has made weight loss more challenging and the second was what have you found to be effective for weight loss during this time of life and there were a few recurring themes when it came to the challenges and at the top of the list was an increase in belly fat even in women who did not easily gain fat around their midsection earlier in life and I also heard from members who remarked that they experienced an increase in sugar cravings around the onset of menopause and Beyond and when we think about the physiology of the body as it is going through menopause both of these challenges make sense because of two hormones and the first one is estrogen it has been well documented that as the ovaries make less less estrogen fat gets redistributed to your abdominal area so when a postmenopausal woman gains weight that weight gain is most likely belly fat and it's not really clear why this happens but as far as overall weight gain after menopause we do see that when estrogen is suppressed a woman experiences a slowdown of her resting metabolic rate which of course can be a contributing factor and we also know that while the ovaries are the biggest producers of estrogen the fat cells are a secondary source so after menopause your ovaries no longer produce enough estrogen so it is possible that the body looks at the addition of fat as a way to regain some of its loss estrogen so outside of hormone replacement therapy it is a reality that after the age of 50 women have a natural tendency to put on belly fat however this belly fat and weight gain do not have to be a reality if we control another important hormone called insulin regardless of your age insulin is the hormone that has the most influence over whether your body will store fat and that fact is why I often refer to insulin as your fat storing hormone so when you eat a meal it is insulins job to move the nutrients that you consumed into your cells where they can either be burned immediately as energy or stored for later use in places like your muscles or fat cells when we were young and active our cells were very sensitive to insulin so every time insulin would drop off nutrients our cells would gladly receive them and use them but as we age ourselves become less sensitive to insulin so when insulin brings the nutrients to the cell the cell resists insulins attempt to drop it off and that is referred to as insulin resistance insulin resistance is a very common problem has two important consequences cravings and weight gain cravings for carbohydrates increased because the cells are not taking in the energy they need so your body determines that there is a need for more energy to be eaten carbs are the quickest form of food energy so they are what to you crave right the cookies cakes and candies breads pastas those types of foods weight gain increases with insulin resistance because you end up with too much insulin in your system and this happens because your cells are not responding to insulin so your pancreas pumps out more of it and in an attempt to kind of force the cells to open and that chronically high insulin encourages fat storage and insulin resistance is not just an age-related issue it is made worse by increased belly fat which is a result of lower estrogen as well as other factors like poor sleep which can be a consequence of menopause and of course other lifestyle factors are going to factor in like a long history eating a high refined carbs I at lack of exercise and chronic stress which produces more cortisol and contributes to belly fat and so what we see is that menopause has the potential to create the perfect storm of weight gain so to make weight loss easier after menopause we need to disrupt the cycle and we do that by targeting the things we can control now we're not going to turn back time and naturally rejuvenate our estrogen output but we can work with our bodies to allow them to use estrogen more efficiently and lessen the impact of insulin resistance and that starts with a diet that is high in healthy fats all of your cells are surrounded by a fatty cell membrane so making sure that your diet includes healthy fats and excludes unhealthy fats is important for the health of your cell membranes and therefore the healthy cell membranes allow for the transport of hormones into your cells which is where they do their work and I can mention as well that the addition of healthy fats will also help with hunger satiety so cravings are decreased now I have a video on healthy and unhealthy fats but essentially the whole fats we get from nuts seeds avocados fatty fish and high quality meats provide beneficial fats and the fats to stay away from in my opinion are vegetable oils like soybean oil that is so common in processed and fried foods nowadays to more effective ways you can overcome weight loss resistance after menopause are to utilize a low carb diet and intermittent fasting and these strategies allow you to work around insulin resistance because they naturally decrease your body's need for insulin carbohydrates particularly sugar and refined carbs like muffins and sandwich breads and pastas caused a spike in insulin which puts your body in that fat storing mode that we talked about earlier so avoiding sugar and refined car allows your insulin levels to remain steady which gives your body a chance to release fat intermittent fasting is a simple strategy that involves shortening the number of hours you eat during the day I have a video on intermittent fasting and women over 50 that you might want to watch for some more information but the basic premise of intermittent fasting is simply eating all of your calories for the day in a shorter eating window so instead of grazing from early morning to late evening you might not start eating until 11 a.m. and then stop by 7:00 p.m. so the basics of how to make weight loss easier after menopause include following a high fat low carb diet and practicing intermittent fasting for at least a few days out of the week and when you have those Basics in place you start to see a snowball effect happening in the opposite direction so your body is more apt to burn fat rather than to store it for instance we know from dr. Sachin pandas work on circadian rhythm that limiting late-night eating which naturally comes when you practice intermittent fasting is an effective way to help with sleep quality because your body is able to complete digestion before you go to bed better sleep quality brings more energy which makes you more active and more able to cope with stress and these things all work together and the changes can be seen quite quickly so while I acknowledge that menopause throws us some curveballs there are ways to make weight loss easier if you're looking for a guide my coaching program has low carb high fat menus worked out for you so there is no guesswork and it shows you how to incorporate intermittent fasting for better results and of course you can also join in the discussion with members of the program that are your age and share your journey so if you are interested in the program I will leave links here for you thanks for watching please subscribe to my You Tube channel and I will be back soon with another video to help you reach your goal thanks

Channel: Dr. Becky Gillaspy

Views: 749,805

Keywords: menopause, loss, insulin, estrogen, belly fat, over 50, cravings, menopause symptoms, hot flashes, dr becky, dr. becky, dr becky fitness, dr. becky fitness, perimenopause, 2 fit docs, hormone therapy, intermittent fasting, low carb, low carb diet, insulin resistance, ketogenic diet, keto diet, ketogenic, keto, fasting, fat loss, keto food, if, hormones, hot flash remedy, ketosis, post menopause, aging, womens health, lchf, keto recipes, low carb recipes

Id: Dvuh3M5dhAs

Length: 8min 53sec (533 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 23 2018