The average woman gains 10-15 pounds in the years leading up to menopause.
This weight gain happens slowly; about one pound per year.
If this has happened to you don't despair.
The weight gain isn't just because of too little exercise or too many calories.
The reduced levels of estrogen play a role.
Because there are less sources of estrogen in your body after menopause the body gets more of its estrogen from fat cells.
This doesn't mean that you can't lose the weight you've gained, or prevent the weight gain from happening in the first place if you are still in your 30's.
We aren't total victims of our hormones and we can take action.
The weight that you gain during the menopause years tends to go to the abdomen.
Weight accumulates there because we don't move that area of our body like we do our arms and legs.
So to start decreasing your waistline you should try to do sit ups or stomach crunches a few times a week.
There's no need to use weights unless you really want to.
Body weight resistance exercises like sit ups are sufficient.
I'll let you in on a little secret of mine: there's an exercise easier than sit ups and even more effective.
You can do it all throughout the day and no one will notice.
It's a breathing exercise.
Take a breath and as you are inhaling suck in your abdominal muscles as far as you can.
Now exhale.
As you are exhaling keep your abdominal muscles sucked in.
After you fully exhale then, and only then, you can release your muscles.
Do this as often as you'd like throughout the day.
If you do this exercise 30 times per day you should notice that your waist is an inch smaller in only one month! I didn't believe this when I heard it but I tried it.
I had a 26" waist and not much body fat so I thought my waistline wouldn't budge at all.
But I dropped an inch! If I can drop an inch when I didn't even need to, just think what it will do for you if you are overweight.
It'd be great if you could just do breathing exercises to lose weight but there's another side to the equation too:calories.
Calories are best consumed in small meals.
This means you'll have to learn how many calories are in the foods you typically eat.
If that seems daunting think about when you go shopping.
Do you buy things without looking at the price? Of course not.
Once you start becoming aware of calories you'll see how easy and instinctive it becomes.
Exercise your abs (and the rest of your body too) and start paying attention to calories.
You'll find that your post-menopausal years can be as energetic - and slim - are your pre-menopausal years.
This weight gain happens slowly; about one pound per year.
If this has happened to you don't despair.
The weight gain isn't just because of too little exercise or too many calories.
The reduced levels of estrogen play a role.
Because there are less sources of estrogen in your body after menopause the body gets more of its estrogen from fat cells.
This doesn't mean that you can't lose the weight you've gained, or prevent the weight gain from happening in the first place if you are still in your 30's.
We aren't total victims of our hormones and we can take action.
The weight that you gain during the menopause years tends to go to the abdomen.
Weight accumulates there because we don't move that area of our body like we do our arms and legs.
So to start decreasing your waistline you should try to do sit ups or stomach crunches a few times a week.
There's no need to use weights unless you really want to.
Body weight resistance exercises like sit ups are sufficient.
I'll let you in on a little secret of mine: there's an exercise easier than sit ups and even more effective.
You can do it all throughout the day and no one will notice.
It's a breathing exercise.
Take a breath and as you are inhaling suck in your abdominal muscles as far as you can.
Now exhale.
As you are exhaling keep your abdominal muscles sucked in.
After you fully exhale then, and only then, you can release your muscles.
Do this as often as you'd like throughout the day.
If you do this exercise 30 times per day you should notice that your waist is an inch smaller in only one month! I didn't believe this when I heard it but I tried it.
I had a 26" waist and not much body fat so I thought my waistline wouldn't budge at all.
But I dropped an inch! If I can drop an inch when I didn't even need to, just think what it will do for you if you are overweight.
It'd be great if you could just do breathing exercises to lose weight but there's another side to the equation too:calories.
Calories are best consumed in small meals.
This means you'll have to learn how many calories are in the foods you typically eat.
If that seems daunting think about when you go shopping.
Do you buy things without looking at the price? Of course not.
Once you start becoming aware of calories you'll see how easy and instinctive it becomes.
Exercise your abs (and the rest of your body too) and start paying attention to calories.
You'll find that your post-menopausal years can be as energetic - and slim - are your pre-menopausal years.