#55: How to Beat Weight Gain & Loss of Muscle in Midlife
[00:00:00] Welcome to 40 Plus Fitness for Women. I'm Lynn, your host, and I'm a certified menopause fitness coach, helping women like you to tackle perimenopause and come out gorgeous on the other side,
So I'm super excited today because it is one year since I launched the podcast. So yeah, February of 2023, I started the podcast and I never imagined it would grow like it has grown. It has clearly been something that women have needed. As they have entered perimenopause and menopause and are struggling with what to do about their changing bodies.
So I wanna thank every single one of you who has been listening, and especially those who have subscribed or rated the podcast or told a friend, because we really wanna get the [00:01:00] word. So I can help more and more women so we don't have to feel frustrated in our forties and fifties and sixties. And I thought.
In light of this special occasion that maybe what I should do is kind of reflect on all the things that I have learned and kind of hit on the main things and the things that I wish I had known when I was 35. I mean, I'm 52 right now, and of course when I launched this podcast I was. You know, new to the coaching, learning all the things.
Oh, and oh my God, I've learned so much over the course of the year and probably you all, 'cause there is a fair number of you that have found the podcast and then started listening from episode one all the way through to the end. And thank you. I love, love, love hearing from you that [00:02:00] it has been that useful.
Even one woman who said she's listened to everything twice because she keeps picking up new things. So that's amazing. And um, yeah, so I thought it would be useful to kind of summarize the things that I really think are gonna make the difference. And this is not just a list. Um, so I guess one of the main messages I would love for you to hear out there is that as women going through perimenopause, menopause, you know, hitting our fifties, midlife, whatever you wanna call it, , life isn't over.
And I see it too often on social media that women should just resign themselves to the fact that, hey, you're aging, you're gonna be. Bigger, you're gonna get slower. It's just part of life. Well, yeah, sure it's part of life. But [00:03:00] you know what, humans, were not actually meant to live as long as we live today.
Right? We are, uh, genetics has not changed very much from when we were cavemen, we haven't evolved from then. So back then we would live to be in our. I don't even know, but for sure not to be 90. I don't think there were any ninety-year-old cavemen. And yet, somehow this body, which was not actually designed to live that long, needs to carry us through, you know, our sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and some of us into our hundreds.
And so really. There is no reason for us to just resign ourselves to what's natural that our bodies start to wind down because naturally we would be actually getting close to death and we are [00:04:00] not there yet, and there is a lot we can do. Luckily there is science who has taught us where we have learned the kinds of things that women can do to maintain our bodies in Great.
Functioning order. And also the, the beauty of it is when your body is in good functioning order, then it also happens to look more aesthetically like what we want it to look right. We don't want to be overweight, bulging out of our clothes, having the belly fat, not having a waist, and those things are not very healthy for us either, right?
To have a high body fat percentage, it's not very healthy. You know, you lead into being pre diabetic and all those things. The thing that really helps us and the things that really help us to maintain our bodies also end up being the things that end up making our bodies [00:05:00] look good. And, oh, that's pretty good, right?
So you get nice positive reinforcement.
So, and on top of that I need to say that perimenopause, menopause and the symptoms can be a real bitch for a lot of women. All right? I do not want to, you know, belittle or I. Or in any way say that that isn't the case? Because I know that there are women who, well, I mean, I was one of them who really, really struggled and suffered, and when you are struggling and suffering and you are kind of even getting through the day.
Walking around because you have joint pain or getting through the day because you're depressed or you're tired getting through your work day because you have such strong brain fog, all that can can make it pretty much impossible for you to really be able to like pull together your fitness and your nutrition, right?
So give yourself a break. [00:06:00] That would not be maybe the moment that I'm gonna go like a hundred percent all out and doing all the right things. But what I would advise is that if you are noticing that you have the perimenopause, menopause symptoms that are dragging you down, and I've had podcasts on this, I'll put the link in the show notes.
Please get help. I myself, spent years, years of my life suffering with the symptoms, not realizing they were related to perimenopause. And once I finally got hormone replacement therapy, it was like, you know, life started to be fun again. So, and I'm not saying HRT is for everybody, but. For at least some of you it may be.
And that's worth a conversation with your doctor. And by the way, I said your doctor, but actually what I mean is find a specialist who knows something about [00:07:00] menopause because not all of the gynecologists out there are as versed in these issues as others are.
Okay. And now speaking to those of you who do have the energy and wanna do something about it, and you've noticed that you are, you know, gaining weight, your muscle tone is declining and. , you want to look like you're used to looking. The temptation is really, really to double down on all of the strategies, the things that have worked for you in the past.
Women, telling me that, yeah, I used to just stop eating cookies and I lose the weight, or I would just start running and I would lose the weight. But what they're noticing when they hit midlife is that doubling down on cardio. So your tried and true exercise routines or going on your normal diets, or even dieting even more than your [00:08:00] normal diets, isn't doing the trick.
I had one woman reach out to me and tell me about the disaster that she ended up in because she really literally doubled down on her cardio and cut calories like to a real, real extreme, at which point her body was like, Nope, I'm not doing this anymore. And that led to a whole host of issues
because the thing is that your body has actually changed. And if you can learn how to work with this changed body, then it is just easier, right? You just need to use the techniques that work in this stage of your life.
So there is a magic formula to getting your body working with you again, but that it's not an overnight fix. It's not a 28 day diet that is going to get you to a point where you don't need, to be dieting all the time. And the reason why I'm [00:09:00] so passionate about this is because I've not only studied it from the women, the researchers.
The experts who are working with perimenopausal and menopausal women, I've also tested it on myself and I mean, it works and I also see it working on my clients, so I, I'm like, you know, an evangelist on this, but it doesn't happen overnight. And for me, it took about a year. Of strength training and then changing my diet up, but now it's, well, last summer was when I went through the calorie deficit phase and I have really been able to maintain my lower weight without trying very hard.
Part of it is that I learned really good habits during that year, and I've continued to [00:10:00] apply those habits, but I don't count my calories right. I'm aware of what I eat, but it is just so much easier right now. And these are the kinds of things that kind of lifestyle changes that if you could implement them too.
You would see that this whole game gets a lot, lot easier, and it doesn't have to be such a focus of your life, and you don't have to feel so bad as you gain weight again after you just lost weight and all. All this twenty-eight diet, 28 day diets, not the answer.
So what have I learned
so any of you that have been listening to this podcast know that I am gonna start with weight training. And it is not just about building muscle, though muscle is super important, but it's about maintaining the functionality of your whole body. So you're building and maintaining your muscles, but you're also strengthening your bones and keeping your tendons, your ligaments, [00:11:00] and your joints in shape.
So it really is one of the cornerstones of midlife and beyond keeping yourself fit. But here's where most women get it wrong. They think that lifting weights, small weights in a group fitness class is the way to go. I thought so too. I wasted so many years in body pump classes and I was really working hard, but it's not enough.
I hear it over and over again. You know, women who have been going and working with weights, small weights, feeling the burn. You know, really feeling like they're working their muscles. It's not the same thing. Pilates not the same thing. Yoga not the same thing. Sorry. It's just not okay.
And honestly, ladies, I really recommend [00:12:00] that you get a coach. I've now coached enough people to say that there is a learning curve, even if I give you all the information that you need to know. There's a gap between knowing what to do and then doing it the way that it needs to be done. All right? Of course, some, some of you may be able to and do get some results, but I do see that the women that I coach, they actually do benefit from the help.
So please do get a coach,
I wanted to get a coach as well when I was starting out on my journey, but with what I knew about weight training, there were no PTs around me that could help me. I was actually keeping an eye on a lot of them at my gym, and I noticed when they were working with middle, middle-aged women, they were doing.
Fun things. You know, they're like 10 minutes on the bike, chit chatting [00:13:00] together, maybe throwing a ball against the wall. Maybe they do a little bit of lifting. They do fun stuff, and I get why they do that. They do it because women, if you, if they're not like indoctrinated, if they don't know why you need to be lifting weights in a serious way, they're gonna be like, oh, it's boring.
I'm not gonna go to my PT unless it's fun. And so they have to mix it up. They have to make it entertainment. I guess we should coin some sort of phrase like exercise tainment, but, but um, yeah, they're just at my gym, not a single personal trainer who really knows how to focus and train midlife women to get their muscles back and get their bodies functioning again properly.
So, but if you can find somebody like that, then absolutely jump on 'em. And. Of course, shameless plug. I'm here. This is what I do, right? [00:14:00] This is all I do. I don't work with soccer players. I don't work with dads. I work with midlife women who are looking to get their bodies functioning fit firm healthy again.
Some things to look for when you're looking for a coach is really that it is somebody who has been trained in coaching menopausal women. You know, I'm not the only one out there, so you know, if you want somebody face to face, then maybe you can find somebody in your area or at your gym.
That coach should be giving you a program which you know, fits into your life schedule and making sure that you're getting the exercises right. And this is one of the things that I work with, with my clients. They send me videos, I give feedback right away. You know how, how they could improve. And we discuss those kinds of things.
And another important role of the coach is to help you from getting [00:15:00] overwhelmed. Because for example, if you were to listen to all my podcast episodes, there is so much information in here and it's like, oh my God, if I have to do. All of this at once. It's just too much, right? You're just gonna give up because it's just so overwhelming.
So a coach should be able to talk to you about your specific situation and then help you to figure out, okay, so in your case, where are we gonna start? How much are we gonna do? When are we gonna add more? Right? So that it is like fed in doable. Pieces so that you can be successful, so you can actually incorporate these things into your life and slowly evolve your lifestyle so that you don't have to think about these anymore.
This is just what you do,
okay, so, but onto the next big thing that I have learned is just the importance of protein. And this is something I didn't pay attention to right in the beginning of when I started weight training [00:16:00] and now I'm strictly religious about this. And I tell you, I really think it is one of the reasons why I've been able to maintain my weight now after I've lost the weight.
And also why my, I've been able to maintain my muscle. I am just eating a lot of protein. I'm doing the one gram per kilogram of body weight per day. And all my meals, I think first about the protein and then I think about the calories. So yeah, I'm, I am more conscious of the full amount of calories and because I did the very strict tracking last spring, I became much more aware of like, Hey, if I.
Take a couple slices of cheese onto my sandwich. Well, you know, that is gonna bring calories and fat versus maybe I put some Turkey slices on there instead, right? This kind of, these kinds of choices are easy for me to make now because I have gone [00:17:00] through the strict tracking. The protein not only helps you with building the muscle, it helps you feel full for longer.
And this is something that I've really noticed and my clients have also said that they really noticed that when now that they've started eating protein, it's like the meal just keeps them feeling full longer and they don't have that feeling like, oh, I need to eat something more. Right? It is more satiating.
And I don't know, my nails have started growing faster, my hair has started growing faster, and I feel like my skin is also in better shape. But also I do know that weight training has, there have been some studies showing a link between, you know, your skin also looking better from weight training. I don't know.
But anyhow.
And then the third thing has been really the. Importance of non-exercise activity. All right, so, uh, if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I walk on my walk [00:18:00] pad, and that has really been a key for me to get in my daily steps. And I've talked about daily steps here, uh, on the podcast. It isn't about that being my exercise that day.
The steps is a way that I measure to make sure I'm not just being sedentary all day long, because just sitting is like the worst thing you can do. So even if you don't have a walk pad, even if you don't have time to go for a walk, then just keeping your body moving more. Wave your arms when you're talking.
If you're scrolling on social media, pace the room, or if you're watching your kid's game, like I watch the hockey games, my son's hockey games. I pace back and forth on the sideline. Helps keep me warm also, but I think I'm the only parent, like we're all standing, like literally standing. There are no seats.
But everybody else is just standing still and I'm walking back and forth and guess what? That neat [00:19:00] burns more calories in a day than if I went to the gym and did an hour cardio class. So it is important. And yet it's not exhausting me. And in fact, when I'm standing during the workday and walking on my walk pad, I find that often I get into this zone of being able to work a lot more effectively.
I don't know if any of you have ever had, um, like if you go jogging and then your mind is just left free to think and you come up with great ideas. I think there's something to that with the walk pad that your body is occupied and so your mind is somehow. Yeah. Um, better accessed, I mean, no science to back that up, but that's just, I just noticed that the same type of thing happens to me when I'm on working and walking on my walk pad at the same time, I.
And then the final thing is the importance of sleep. I am like a, a sleep Nazi and now I have this [00:20:00] new guy in my life and that's a little bit disrupted my sleep because we tend to like stay up late talking and talking and talking and talking. I. But now I have told him that, hey, at, you know, 10 o'clock we gotta lights out because we're getting up at six and I need my eight hours of sleep.
And it is really important. And if you are suffering with perimenopause symptoms, then it might be even more important for you.
Okay. So to summarize those four things, so the weight training, the protein, the neat and the sleep are I think the key ingredients and there is just so much detail around that. I feel like I don't wanna overwhelm you.
And I certainly don't wanna overwhelm my clients. There's so, I mean that, you know, it's like an easy little list, but actually implementing that is a lot more challenging and that is where I can help you if [00:21:00] you want help, I. But I think you are really going to get the most success if you can make a lifestyle transformation.
Not just think of this as a physical transformation, but changing your habits. And it could take a year, and then after that, you know, it's just easier to maintain your fitness, your weight, your health, your good habits, all those things once you've built them. But it does take a little while to build them.
So anyway, happy first birthday to the podcast. And yeah, if you've been enjoying it, please, please, please rate and review so that hopefully year two will be even reaching even more women than year one did. And with that, I leave you till next week, happy training.