About 3 years ago, I vividly remember looking at myself in the mirror and saying “What the hell happened to me?”.  I specifically looked at my mid-section and wondered “Where did that come from”?

Welcome to Middle Age.  That time of life that seemed so far off into the future you couldn’t even see a glimpse of it and yet, it was right in front of me.

Peri-menopause and Menopause bring on many physical and emotional changes that can be super hard to deal with on a good day. 

Mother Nature takes us through hell -it can be a real battle .

Here’s the short list of what is happening to us:

1.  Our estrogen levels go down.⬇️  Lower estrogen levels affects us in so many ways,  but three of the biggest are weight gain, bone loss and a decrease in muscle mass.

2. Our metabolism (metabolic rate) slows down ⬇️- Put simply: 

Metabolic rate is the rate in which our bodies burn calories.  When that goes down, we are generally burning calories at a slower rate then we used to which can result in weight gain.

3.  Our muscle mass goes down ⬇️

Most adults will lose between five and seven pounds of muscle every decade (Westcott and Baechle 1998 )As we age, our muscle mass is reduced, and what do we see more of as a result?  Fat.   Since muscle burns more calories than fat, less muscle can result in potential weight gain.

Other changes that happen:

-Sleep patterns change – difficulties falling asleep, difficulties staying asleep

-Increased risk of heart disease

-Increased belly fat

-Mood swings

Sounds like fun, ,huh?

Seems like it is an uphill battle.  I used to think it was not a winnable battle, but I was wrong…  REALLY wrong.    The good news is:

Mother Nature has a weakness – its called :

STRENGTH TRAINING

So, how does strength training help us Middle Aged Women?

1.  Gain Muscle Mass ⬆️ As we get older we lose muscle mass and strength – it has a name,  It is called sarcopenia. Some studies indicate that  40% of women 55-64 years old (MY age bracket!!) could not lift 10 pounds.  That percentage goes up as the age goes up.

Strength training will not only help you maintain muscle mass, it will help you  gain muscle mass to keep ahead of the game.  The more muscle you have, the  more fat you will burn.

2.  Increases Metabolic Rate  ⬆️

When the metabolic rate slows down it means  when you eat the same number of calories that you are used to eating, you still may gain weight because the rate at which your body is burning those calories goes down.  Sometimes way down..

Strength training will increase your metabolic rate by increasing muscle mass and more muscle mass revs up that metabolism so you will burn more calories.

3.  Fights Osteoporosis⬆️

By using more load than just bodyweight, bones get stronger and increase in density.   Not to mention that stronger bones means less chance of fractures  too!

4. Positive Mood Benefits ⬆️

Strength Training increases the body’s level of serotonin – the “feel good” chemical which can decrease anxiety levels

Other benefits to Strength Training

Decreases in Arthritis Pain ✔️

Lowered Blood pressure ✔️

Improved sleep ✔️

More confidence in EVERYTHING ✔️✔️✔️

Something else to consider along with Strength Training:

Your Nutrition 

Weight gain is a typical symptom of middle age.  It seems like it happens over night.  That dreaded stubborn belly fat is common.  Strength training will certainly help with all of this, but why not use a 1-2 punch and add nutrition to that attack?

Take a hard look at your Nutrition

If you have never tracked calories before, now might be a good time to try.  Some things to consider:

-Tracking is not as hard as you might think

-What is your daily calorie intake? – You may be surprised at how much you are actually eating.

-Most people grossly under estimate the number of calories they are consuming.   Sometimes    by as much as 500-1000 calories A DAY.  Start with tracking calories for a week and see where  you are.

-Creating a calorie deficit (eating less than your body needs) is the way to see the see the scale  move.  Don’t know how many calories you body needs to maintain its weight (called  maintenance calories)?  A simple calculation can give you a pretty good estimate:

            Body weight x 13-14 = Maintenance Calories  – Kcal/day(approx.)

So, if body weight is 130 pounds

130 x 13 = 1690 kcal/day

-But losing wieght can not only mean losing fat, but also losing muscle.  That is where stregth  training comes in.  Strength Training = saving/building your muscle mass

-Don’t know where to get calorie information on foods?   Many people use My Fitness Pal, which  has a search engine so you can search just about any food on the planet.  But one word of  caution – the entries on My Fitness Pal are all from users, so for a particular food, you will get  numerous results that can vary greatly.   You can also just type the name of the food /portion  size into Google.

-What is your Protein intake? – This is huge.  Most women come up way short on protein intake.   Protein can curb your hunger keeping you fuller longer, and it helps to build muscle mass as  well.  Definitely a win-win.  (More about Protein HERE)

   Aim for .7-1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.

Strength Training and Nutrition are the one-two punch that will get you looking better and most importantly FEELING better.  Just because you may be middle aged or somewhere close does not mean that it is too late. 

It is NEVER too late.   

BOTH the picture on the left and on the right I am in my fifties.  The difference is that the picture on the right is as a result of working hard at strength training and getting a hold of my nutrition. 

I am living proof that it is never too late to change.

But Susan,  you say, I am not middle age yet .  My response to that is:

  Start NOW.

Regardless of your age, get started NOW.  It’s never too early, and it’s never too late.

Get ahead of the game.  Strength train, look at your nutrition, and enjoy your life even more!

Beating Mother Nature at her own game IS doable.  It’s  going to take work – hard work but the results will be worth it – I promise you!

YOU are no match for Mother Nature.

Want to get start getting stronger?  Drop me an email at ssniebergall@gmail.com

Here’s to your strength!

Susan