Weight Gain from Menopause: Is it Inevitable?

In researching weight gain related to menopause, I was hoping to find some new and exciting information that would change how I instruct my clients and show amazing weight loss results. What I actually found is pretty much just the opposite.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, If you are perimenopausal and have gained 10-15 pounds, you are a normal American woman. The research indicates that almost all American women gain weight during the perimenopausal years. Here is the interesting part: women of menopausal age gain weight regardless of wether or not they start menopause. Karvonen-Gutierrez and Kim found in their review that aging is what causes weight gain rather than menopause itself.

According to Guthrie, Dennerstein and Dudley in their 5 year prospective study of weight gain and menopause, there has not been a connection made between hormone changes during menopause and weight gain. There has however been a connection made between hormone changes during menopause and body composition and fat distribution changes. Namely, body fat percentages increase and body fat storage shifts from around the hips, butt and thighs to the abdomen. So, if you are feeling softer than usual around the middle or your tummy has a permanent bloated appearance, menopause may be to blame.

Now, just because that is what your body tends to want to do at this stage in life, doesn't mean that you have to sit idly by (please don't!) and let it. You can fight off the weight gain and fat accumulation in the abdomen. Will it be harder to do than when you were 20? Yes. Is it impossible? No! Will you have to accept a modest amount of weight gain? Maybe.

If you decide not to let nature take its toll and get up and get fighting for your waistline, you should start with looking at your nutrition. The doctors from webmd.com inform us that as we age, our muscle mass decreases and our metabolism slows down. So even if nothing else in your lifestyle has changed, and you are gaining weight, you may need to cut back on your calorie intake. Secondarily to that, focus on low glycemic foods as, according to webmd again, our body's use of blood sugar also seems to slow right alongside our metabolism.

Then look at what you are doing in the gym (or on the pavement, carpet, or wherever it is you exercise). Are you and have you been meeting the ACSM's recommended amounts of physical activity? Do you exercise for at least 30 minutes a day five days a week? If not, start slowly adding in a few minutes of exercise until you do meet those recommendations. Still gaining weight? Keep increasing until you are exercising for an hour, five days per week. This doesn't have to be an hour of extreme intensity exercise, this can be walking outside at a brisk pace, swimming laps in the pool, taking a water aerobics class or whatever else you enjoy that elevates your heart rate and keeps it there for the duration of the exercise session.

And let's not forget about strength training. Strength training at least twice a week will help combat those body composition and metabolism changes I mentioned before as well as helping combat bone density loss. Choose at least eight exercies that work the whole body and perform 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise.

Making healthy eating choices, slowly increasing your physical activity amounts and modestly decreasing your caloric intake can make a huge impact on your perimenopausal health. Don't wait. Start making small changes today! You won't regret it.

Let's Celebrate, It's CHEAT DAY!

It's Cheat Day! That's right, when I am dieting for a competition, I have one day off every week from eating a strict, clean diet. One day a week I have pancakes for breakfast, pizza for dinner and popcorn for dessert. One day a week I don't count my calories, macros, micros, or anything else! I have one day a week to look forward to and meditate on as I down my eggs, oatmeal, tuna, chicken and vegetables early in the week.

However, I do still pay attention to the ingrediets in my food on my cheat day. I still aim for whole foods and no artificial anything. Pizza is homemade, popcorn is from kernels popped on my stove-top in coconut oil and pancakes are made from scratch (actually tried out a new recipe today and it was delicious! I will share it in an upcoming post.)

The greatest part about my cheat day is that my mind and body love me for it! My body stops thinking I'm starving it and so allows more fat to be burned in subsequent days. Likewise, my mind stops thinking so much about what I am missing and concentrates on what I can have again in just one week.

I advise all of my clients to include a cheat day in their weightloss programs. Without it, your metabolism will likely slow down, you will be moody and depressed and feel deprived.

It's cheat day! Now, I must go sit on the couch with my husband, watch a movie and eat popcorn, for tomorrow will be filled with heavy weights, eggs, oatmeal, tuna, chicken, vegetables and progress toward my goals. Goodnight!

7 Tips for Weight Loss or Maintenance

It seems that most of the people that I talk to are either trying to lose weight or maintain their weight loss. So, I thought that I would give my top seven tips for doing just that.

#1 First and foremost: Don't diet!
Going on a diet is a temporary thing and therefore the weight loss that comes from it is also temporary. If you want to change your weight for good, you need to change your eating habits, but don't go on a diet! Diets may work in the short term, but who wants to be on a diet for the rest of their life? Not me!

#2 Track your intake for a few weeks.
First you need to figure out what and how much you are currently eating. The best way to do that is to write it all down or use an app created for just that reason. Check out myfitnesspal if you haven't already. Track your intake for at least a week so that you can see what eating patterns you have developed and what changes need to be made.

#3 Eat what you like.
You need to change your eating habits, yes, but that doesn't mean eating things that you don't like. If you try and switch outright to a healthy diet (based on someone else's standards of healthy), you will probably last a few days to a week and then fall off the wagon and go back to eating the exact same way you had been before. Instead, figure out which of the meals you are currently eating are the most healthy, keep those in your weekly rotation and cut out the rest.

#4 Eat the same things all the time.
Yes, variety is the spice of life, but when you are just getting started on your healthy eating journey, it is easiest to keep your meals simple and without too much variation. Honestly, most of the people that I know who have maintained a healthy weight for a significant amount of time eat the same foods almost every single day. It takes the guess work out of it.

#5 Eat when you are hungry (and don't when you're not).
Learn to listen to your hunger cues. Make a mental (or physical, if it helps) note of when you reach for food due to stress, boredom, anger, frustration, etc. Try to swap food out for something more productive. Go for a walk, read a few pages in a good book, call a friend, just take your mind somewhere else.

#6 Drink water (or other no calorie drinks).
Don't waste your calories on drinks. They don't keep you feeling full as long as food does, but can be just as many (or more) calories as a full meal!

#7 Don't set anything as off limits.
Saying that you are never going to eat ice cream or have a Starbucks latte again is setting yourself up for failure. Whatever you deem as off limits will be the exact thing that you constantly crave. Instead, give yourself some leeway. Eat healthy 80% of the time and don't worry about the other 20% so much. It's freeing and allows the mind to stay healthy as well!

If you are intrigued by my tips and want to know more about how to implement a healthy eating style into your life, check out my professional services page!

Thanksgiving feasts are nearly upon us! How to enjoy them responsibly.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Does that stress you out? Why? Does thinking about all of the food and all of the choices that you will have to make surrounding food stress you out?

Don't let it!

You CAN make healthy choices!

You CAN eat everything that you want to and not gain five pounds over night.

You CAN eat to satisfaction and not to that uncomfortable overstuffed feeling!

You don't have to have an unhealthy relationship with food.

Believe in yourself and in your ability to make healthy choices for yourself.

Will there be 10 different things that you want to eat tomorrow? Ok. You can! Just take one spoonful of each item. You can have it all...in small portions.

Are you looking forward more to desserts than dinner? That's Ok!Eat a few bites of turkey and a green veggie and save room for a couple of slices of pie. Then enjoy your pie and don't feel guilty about it!

Or maybe it's the appetizers that you like the most. That's fine too! Turn those into your main meal and scale back on the actual dinner.

Do you have to make choices? Yes! but you CAN do it and feel satisfied and not stuffed and guilty!

Think ahead, make a plan for what will be satisfying to you and stick to your plan. Enjoy your family time and be thankful for a life that allows you to make healthy, satisfying choices.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

High Protein Diet: Good or Bad?

I have been following a high protein lifestyle for years. I swear by it for competition prep. I also tend to recommend it to my clients because of the success that I and many of my friends have had following it. I feel good when I follow a whole food, high protein diet and I haven't ever had negative side effects. I know that many have concerns regarding eating a lot of protein, so I wanted to go over what I know and believe about this style of eating.

First, let me explain what high protein diet means. A high protein diet is any way of eating that is higher in protein than the recommended daily allowance set forth by the USDA. So, anything over 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight would qualify. For example: a 150lb healthy adult eating the RDA for protein would be eating 55 grams of protein per day. One can get that much protein from one cup of Greek yogurt, three ounces of lean meat and two tablespoons of peanut butter. That's not a whole lot of protein and therefore it's pretty easy to spill into a high protein diet pattern without even thinking about it. If that same person were to eat two eggs for breakfast, a snack of one container Greek yogurt, a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch, another snack containing a handful of nuts and a steak for dinner, they would consume about 70 grams of protein, which would be considered high.

Now let's look at what studies have shown about the effects of a high protein diet on weight loss efforts and other positive effects of this nutrition plan.

According to a review in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition "There is convincing evidence that a higher protein intake increases thermogenesis and satiety compared to diets of lower protein content. The weight of evidence also suggests that high protein meals lead to a reduced subsequent energy intake."

So, high protein meals make you feel full and satisfied. They also keep you from eating extra calories at future meals and they increase your metabolism. Win, win, win!

A 2004 Study in the Annals of Internal Medicine Concluded that "Compared with a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet program had better participant retention and greater weight loss. During active weight loss, serum triglyceride levels decreased more and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with the low-fat diet."

This study found that a high protein diet had a positive effect on cholesterol levels. It increased the good cholesterol and decreased the bad. It was also easier for participants to stick to than a low fat diet. Win, win!

According to a 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition "An HP diet, compared with an AP diet, fed at energy balance for 4 d increased 24-h satiety, thermogenesis, sleeping metabolic rate, protein balance, and fat oxidation. Satiety was related to protein intake".

This study confirms the outcomes of the previous two studies mentioned. High protein diets keep you feeling full longer than lower protein diets, promote fat loss and increase ones metabolsim. Win!

Lastly let's look at the research done on the negative side effects of this type of eating.

The following results were found in a review published in 2005 in the Journal Nutrition and Metabolsim: Although the efficacy of high protein diets for weight loss has been evaluated, there have been no reports of protein-induced diminutions in renal function despite subject populations that are generally at risk for kidney disease (e.g., dyslipidemia, obesity, hypertension) [14,15,22,85-87]. A randomized comparison of the effects of high and low protein diets on renal function in obese individuals suggested that high protein diets did not present a health concern with regard to renal function their study population [65]. In this study, 65 overweight, but otherwise healthy, subjects adhered to a low or high protein diet for six months. In the high protein group, both kidney size and GFR were significantly increased from that measured at baseline. No changes in albumin excretion were noted for either group and the authors concluded that, despite acute changes in renal function and size, high protein intake did not have detrimental effects on renal function in healthy individuals. Similar findings were recently reported by Boden et al. [88] in a study of 10 subjects who consumed their typical diet for 7 days followed by strict adherence to a high protein diet for 14 days. No significant changes were noted in serum or urinary creatinine and albumin excretion, suggesting no ill-effects of a high protein diet on renal function.

You may be thinking that high protein diets cause kidney damage or problems, but the above review did NOT find that to be the case.

The following excerpt was taken from that same review published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism in 2005: "Athletes, particularly in sports requiring strength and power, consume high levels of dietary protein [89,90]. In fact, many athletes habitually consume protein in excess of 2.0 g/kg/day [91]. Supplementation with amino acids will further increase dietary protein levels in these individuals [92]. Yet there is no evidence that this population is at greater risk for kidney disease or losses in renal function [90]. Poortsmans and Dellalieux [93] found that protein intakes in the range of ~1.4–1.9 g/kg/day or 170–243% of the recommended dietary allowance did not impair renal function in a group of 37 athletes. We found no data in the scientific literature to link high protein intakes to increased risk for impaired kidney function in healthy, physically active men and women."

That last phrase is key! Nothing indicates that a high protein diet increases kidney problems in HEALTHY, PHYSICALLY ACTIVE men and women.

In conclusion, I fully agree with the advice given by the Mayo Clinic on following a high-protein diet. If you have renal disease, don't follow a high protein diet. However, if you are healthy and physically active, then it's a great way to kick off weight loss, build muscle or allow you to maintain your current weight. Just make sure that you are focusing on whole foods, lean meats and get in plenty of fruits, veggies and fiber.

Losing Weight: It's Not Impossible!

Weight loss. It sometimes feels like an unacheivable goal.

Take heart! It is achievable! There are a few things that you need to keep in mind if you are on a weight loss journey:

1. You are going to feel hungry. Any person, diet or supplement that promises weight loss without ever going hungry, lies. Your body wants to maintain homeostasis. If you weigh 152 pounds, it wants you to give it enough calories every day to maintain those 152 pounds. If you give it less calories, your body will tell you that you need to eat more and you will feel hungry if you don't give it more. Going to bed hungry is a normal thing for anyone who is successful at losing weight.
2. If you are losing weight incredibly quickly, you will, most likely, gain it all back. Fad diets and diets that are extremely restrictive don't work well in the long run. They usually can't be maintained for long periods of time and when you go back to your normal way of eating you gain back every pound (or more) that you lost. Slow and steady is the way to go for weight loss. You can also be sure to maintain your muscle and only lose fat by taking it slow and aiming for just one or two pounds lost per week.
3. It has to be a lifestyle change in order for it to stick. Dieting doesn't work, as I stated above, because it is short term. Most people diet until they hit their goal weight and then stop dieting and start gaining weight back. If you make small, permanent changes in the way you eat, when you lose the weight, it will stay gone. A good place to start is concentrating on eating more vegetables. Vegetables are filling, provide lots of micronutrients that your body needs to keep you healthy and are usually very low in calories.
4. Gaining muscle helps you lose fat. Hit the weight room and you will see an increase in your metabolism and a faster fat burn. Concentrate on maintaining or increasing muscle while you are losing fat and don't just pound the pavement or spend hours on the elliptical. Doing only cardio while decreasing calories pretty much guarantees that you will lose muscle along with fat and decrease your metabolism.
5. Planning and tracking your food intake is key. I know it's not fun, but it really does make a huge difference in wether or not you are successful at losing weight. It is so easy to misjudge serving sizes and accidently eat three talblespoons of peanut butter rather than the intended two (which is a 100 calorie difference!). Studies show that those who track their caloric intake are more successful at losing weight.

So here is what you need to do every day to be successful at losing weight: Wake up and make a plan of what you will eat for the day (even better if you do it the night before!), then head to the gym for a weight lifting session to get your metabolism revving. Next you will track what you have for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner making sure that you are eating things that you like and that you can imagine continuing to eat for the rest of your life. Lastly, you will go to bed a little on the hungry side. The next morning when you wake up and get on the scale you may see a quarter of a pound drop, and that's great because a quarter of a pound a day is almost two pounds a week! Stick with it and those pounds will add up, you will hit your weightloss goal and be able to keep it off.