The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Just want to say another thing about my quads... but decided to post this in a new thread.
NORMAL AGING...
I am 62. Most of you are 22, 32, 42, 52...
I feel young.
But my body, the past 4 years or so, has felt like it has rubber bands inside that are ... you know how rubber bands get when they get old and dry... well the elasticity is just not the same as it used to be. This has nothing to do with my ankle issue. I think there is a natural aging issue goes on, and I think there is a need for Trainers such as Leigh and Julie etc to address the segment of women/boomers (I'm in the first group of boomers to come)... who want to stay strong and mobile as we age in our 60's and 70's and 80's ...
I met an American 78 yr old woman while I travelled around the world, who was on her Florida teacher's retirement salary, living in India for 6 months, and travelling in Asia for the other 6 months each year. This is very inspiring to me. I want to be taking Jazzercise at 85. I am not alone, but we will need trainers to address our special body changes.
Leigh, Julie and others, I think there's a book and an audience here.
Hi Etana,
I'm up there with you (I'm 59). When I got to 50, I was about 40 lbs. heavier than I'd been prior to that. I ached. I felt my body was old. So I got busy, first with Body for Life, which was PERFECT for me at the time and it got me on the road to exercise and nutrition. I'll be forever grateful to Bill Phillips and that program, but eventually I outgrew it and wanted something more challenging.
I took up skiing 3 years ago after a lifetime of thinking I couldn't really ever get good at it....but now I'm fairly good....and I skied 50 times last winter! And during my ski year last winter, I can't tell you how many men, women, couples in their 60's, 70's, and yes 80's that I met up there on the slopes. I was amazed, and I plan to be up there until those ages too! I go to a weight oriented gym, and there aren't all that many women there who do weights...and none within 10 years of me. Very sad....women need to do weights as they get older.
My big frustration in trying to find good programs and methods of fat loss is that virtually everything is aimed at much younger women. Sorry to say this, but unfortunately I've come to believe that a woman's metabolism DOES change at some point. I weighed the same from my teens until mid 40's, and then it seemed like I started to gain weight easily. And it's a bear getting that extra fat off. My message to younger women is: NEVER LET THAT FAT ACCUMULATE. It takes ten times more effort to remove it than to put it on!
YES...there just might be an audience out there if we can just pull women over 50 into the exercise world. It's hard...I don't know anyone even near my age who exercises like I do. Even though I don't consider myself in optimum shape (haven't reached my goals yet), most people I know can't figure out why I'm in as good shape as I am currently, like it's some strange mystery or something. it's hard to convince people what they need to do. Many many older women just give up, and I hate to see that. They think there's no answer and nothing they can do. Not so!
Aging, hormones, etc. effect us all, but I believe that "aging" is a bucket that all these symptoms get tossed into. Like Metabolic Syndrome. You have to have a lot of the symptoms, then suddenly you have metabolic syndrome. You have a lot of these symptoms -- bone loss, loss of muscle tissue, fatigue, metabolic slowdown, harder to lose fat -- suddenly it's because of aging.
Obviously there are hormonal changes, but what percentage of these effects is merely from the hormones? Probably not that huge. Look at men and women who've been active and stayed active until their later years. They don't have the same degree of "issues" that many people have.
Look at these things, one by one:
bone loss can be a result of not being active.
loss of muscle tissue can also be from lack of activity
fatigue could be hormonal, but when you aren't active, you're more tired
metabolic slowdown. How much slower is your burn when you're sitting around all the time?
harder to lose fat. Well, when you have all the above issues... duh.
That's a totally kind and sympathetic "duh," by the way.
Sure, hormones change, we get creaky, etc. But how much of our slow metabolisms are because we SUBCONSCIOUSLY slow down and sit around more? A lot, I think.
Of course, with age, we've also increased the odds of getting sick, so that plays a part, too.
Yes, but for women it's different ... we have that whole menopause thing going on ... Not to say that some of it isn't what you say, but some of it is very definitely major hormone changes.
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Yes, but for women it's different ... we have that whole menopause thing going on ... Not to say that some of it isn't what you say, but some of it is very definitely major hormone changes.
How much of it is the hormones themselves and how much of it what the hormones have you do or don't do?
Meaning do the hormones actually slow your metabolism or do they make you really, really, really want to rest more, reduce NEAT, etc.?
I know it may be semantics. If I'm really tired from lack of sleep, telling myself I still need to stand up to keep my engine revved is pointless. I'm too tired to keep standing.
I get that there are sudden hormone changes at menopause. I'm curious how events, fitness, nutrition, etc., leading up to menopause, effect menopause. For instance, my mom was always active, but got less and less active over years. Menopause hit her hard (she got fat). My step mother never stopped being active and menopause effected her less (but still a big deal to her, I'm sure). Granted, this is just two women.
Having not gone through it yet myself, I can only give you what I have read ... and my mother's experience. My mom never weighed more than 110 pounds throughout her life (outside of being pregnant with me). When she went through menopause, she had very few symptoms (like hot flashes), but she immediately gained about 10 pounds (over the course of 6 months to a year). This while running her own business (a yoga studio), teaching 10 yoga classes per week, exercising 6x/week (weights and cardio), and eating very healthy. She eats nothing processed ... my father cooks from scratch three meals daily ... they eat organic ... etc. My mother never sits down ... she is constantly fidgeting ... she takes the stairs ... she parks farther away ... all the things we talk about. The only thing that changed, was menopause.
So during menopause, the ovaries stop producing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. The adrenal glands take over production of small amounts of testosterone and a form of estrogen. What effects does this have (mostly from a drop in estrogens - these are documented symptoms from medical research, not just tales from old ladies)? Night sweats. Hot flashes. Memory loss. Sleep disturbances. Muscle weakness (including that of the pelvic floor leading to incontinence). Joint and muscle pain/aches, particularly in the morning. Hair thinning. Facial hair growth. Redistribution of fat from hips/thighs to abdominal region. Accelerated bone loss (really a slowing of calcium reabsorption).
Statistically, 25% of women have no overt problems during menopause. 50% have some mild/moderate symptoms. 25% have severe symptoms. What things can a woman do to help with symptoms? Eat a healthy well balanced diet, exercise, reduce stress, sleep.
Don't discount the powerful effect that the sex hormones have on fat loss, and more importantly on general well being. Yes, eating correctly and exercising certainly help ... but ignoring the impact these hormones have is silly. Yes, some of it might be our "fault" by us slowing down, not wanting to cook so relying more on pre-packaged foods, etc. But for women in particular, hormones play a huge role.
As I said earlier, I haven't been through menopause, and I imagine at 40 that I have several years left before I hit it (since my mom was in her mid-50s), BUT over the past year and a half, I have dealt with a pretty significant hormone imbalance, with reduced progesterone and estrogen levels. I could not lose fat. I could barely remember my own name. I couldn't sleep more than 2 hours at a time no matter how tired I was. And now that things are more in balance, I am feeling so much better and am down 22 lbs.
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Having not gone through it yet myself, I can only give you what I have read ... and my mother's experience. My mom never weighed more than 110 pounds throughout her life (outside of being pregnant with me). When she went through menopause, she had very few symptoms (like hot flashes), but she immediately gained about 10 pounds (over the course of 6 months to a year). This while running her own business (a yoga studio), teaching 10 yoga classes per week, exercising 6x/week (weights and cardio), and eating very healthy. She eats nothing processed ... my father cooks from scratch three meals daily ... they eat organic ... etc. My mother never sits down ... she is constantly fidgeting ... she takes the stairs ... she parks farther away ... all the things we talk about. The only thing that changed, was menopause.
So during menopause, the ovaries stop producing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. The adrenal glands take over production of small amounts of testosterone and a form of estrogen. What effects does this have (mostly from a drop in estrogens - these are documented symptoms from medical research, not just tales from old ladies)? Night sweats. Hot flashes. Memory loss. Sleep disturbances. Muscle weakness (including that of the pelvic floor leading to incontinence). Joint and muscle pain/aches, particularly in the morning. Hair thinning. Facial hair growth. Redistribution of fat from hips/thighs to abdominal region. Accelerated bone loss (really a slowing of calcium reabsorption).
Statistically, 25% of women have no overt problems during menopause. 50% have some mild/moderate symptoms. 25% have severe symptoms. What things can a woman do to help with symptoms? Eat a healthy well balanced diet, exercise, reduce stress, sleep.
Don't discount the powerful effect that the sex hormones have on fat loss, and more importantly on general well being. Yes, eating correctly and exercising certainly help ... but ignoring the impact these hormones have is silly. Yes, some of it might be our "fault" by us slowing down, not wanting to cook so relying more on pre-packaged foods, etc. But for women in particular, hormones play a huge role.
As I said earlier, I haven't been through menopause, and I imagine at 40 that I have several years left before I hit it (since my mom was in her mid-50s), BUT over the past year and a half, I have dealt with a pretty significant hormone imbalance, with reduced progesterone and estrogen levels. I could not lose fat. I could barely remember my own name. I couldn't sleep more than 2 hours at a time no matter how tired I was. And now that things are more in balance, I am feeling so much better and am down 22 lbs.
How did you get things more in balance? I am 40 and suddenly having a hard time losing fat/weight, my DR. says it's b/c of my age!! plus I am not sleeping as well as I used to, I toss and turn all night, I am not awake for long periods of time, thank goodness, but I just don't sleep well!! just curious about your story.
I'm going to have to read through your log, Julie, and see if I can find some ideas for helping my mom. Her sleep has really deteriorated since her hysterectomy. Thanks for that summary of the joys of menopause. Man, I'm so not looking forward to that!
__________________
"Do you choose to simply know the path, or do you choose to walk it?"
Your body keeps an accurate journal regardless of what you write down...
Kudos on this thread! I'm in menopause and have been since 2003. Where my metabolism used to be on the higher side, there past two years have changed my body drastically...both in the bad habits I've accumulated, as well as, for how my body had changed (due in part to the menopause and the bad habits, lol.)
Since I was 32 yrs. old when I experienced full-blown, surgical menopause; it required me to take medication. The symptoms became severe after about 1.5 years of taking nothing for it. Doc did blood tests and it was found that my estrogen levels were extremely low while my testosterone levels were extremely high (due to not enough estrogen to counter the testosterone, I'm guessing..) At any rate; I had severe hot flashes, mood swings, foggy brain (I forgot everything...where I put stuff, what I was about to say, what I'd walk into a room for, etc.), got really bad insomnia, and noticed several other things. Point is, is that menopause is no joke. It does change a body! And, regardless of one's actual age in years, it does age a woman's body.
In my reading, I've learned that how a woman's body processes things, when she's in menopause, is a bit different..depending on a few factors. For one, if you are on HRT, getting the fat to come off is more difficult since estrogen wants to sit in the fat and well, it just wants to create more fat. There are also dietary and nutritional needs that might be somewhat different than for a non-menopausal woman.
I've posted my own experience in my training log and will continue to add to that as time goes on. I'm welcome to advice, but maybe I will even be able to offer tips to others experiencing same, as well.
I had a lot of symptoms starting about 42, although I really don't know how much of it was perimenopause OR if it was a bunch of issues related to the fact that I had undiagnosed celiac disease which I suspect kicked in about that time. I do know that once I figured out the celiac connection, eliminating gluten, also most sugar, also starches eliminated a majority of my problems (digestives issues, migraines, asthma like symptoms). Menopause hit at 49 1/2.....an episode of heavy and lengthy bleeding which left me in a frighteningly anemic state....white as a ghost, not even the energy to walk very far. I had a D&C to stop the bleeding, and fortunately that solved the problem and I had no more periods after that. I never did have anything like hot flashes, and actually, I've felt great ever since although there was the issue of having to deal with an obviously altered metabolism. Up until about 40 or so, I was the same weight no matter what I ate. I guess I wasn't a terrible eater...I was always health conscious having grown up with a mom who was a reader of Adele Davis....but I did have an incorrigible sweet tooth (still do). In any case, I never gained or lost weight, always the same. But suddenly it became a problem, pounds crept on, and I'm still dealing with it. I'm pretty darn active....but I've yet to figure out the magic recipe to drop fat easily and get back to my fighting weight. I've been about 20 lbs too heavy for the last 15 to 18 years no matter what I do. Very frustrating. All the fat/weight loss stuff out there is targeted at younger women whose metabolisms are different. I really wish someone would figure out a workable system for us older women because I have concluded that we absolutely need to have a different approach somehow.
People commented on my log and low calorie levels, but frankly, I tend to follow my body's demands. The simple fact is that I don't want to eat as much food as I did in younger years. My mom, who is 87, talks about how much less she needs, too. What I eat varies day to day, but I never lack for energy. I ski a lot in winter, 50 times last winter, and each ski day was 5 or 6 hours of strenuous skiing. I bike in summer, I do very strenuous workouts at the gym. The point is, I have plenty of energy to do very intense exercise. Yet the frigging fat doesn't come off, so I don't know where to tweak things. I don't want to reduce calories, they are generally rather low right now. I've tweaked composition....and listening to my body/digestive system I really do better with eggs, various meats or fish, limited hard cheese, little to no other dairy, zero grains, limited oatmeal, limited brown rice, limited fruit. I don't know where else to go with this stuff. As I said, very frustrating.
I am no expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems like perhaps your body has gotten used to starvation mode (less than 800 calories a day!), and it's holding on to fat for dear life.
I've read that estrogen will reside in fat...am thinking that it must be nature's way of ensuring that women have enough estrogen, post-menopause, to ideally be healthy into old age. Makes sense, right? After all, estrogen controls so many things - even including how our heart functions and our bone strength.
So there has to be some trigger...something that causes the extra fat to be stubborn in menopausal women. And since there are so many women going through hysterectomies, more and more, which does cause the menopause; I am surprised that there's not more out there in the way of how this affects fitness.
This article (Losing the 'matronly look' of menopause - Smart Fitness - MSNBC.com ) points to one lowering calories and increasing exercise. They recommend weight lifting. I get that if a woman is doing less in the way of physical activity, that it it's ok to lower calorie consumption, however, when a person does a ton of exercise and does lift weights, I would think that the body's caloric needs would increase otherwise burnout would ensue, no?
I don't know. But I plan to research this since it directly affects me - I'm in the middle of it all. For as much as I've been working out, I seriously do not feel I could function on 1,300 calories (as the above-mentioned article suggests) and still feel healthy and think straight.
The sugar thing has affected me, just like you've mentioned, however. I've experimented by not using any sugar at all for a few weeks at a time and have noted how much better I feel, so I believe that there is a connection with the sugar somehow (I am no diabetic and my blood tests have indicated that I'm nowhere close to it..)
My body seems to be responding to the Chromium Picolinate that I've been taking (along w/ the multi, high-potency B-complex, and fish oil capsules.) I'm aiming for turning whatever I eat into energy and combining that with the weight lifting to displace my body fat. Time will tell how successful I am. Am going to follow the NROL4W once the book arrives and see if that makes a difference for me....I'll post what I notice, as I go, in my training log.
I don't think there's any special magic formula for post-menopausal women ... just as I don't think that it shouldn't be taken into account. (Too many negatives!! I think it should be taken into account!)
The same principals of fat loss apply. FAT LOSS IS NOT AN OPINION. To lose fat you must burn more calories than you are taking in. Let me say that again ... to lose fat you must burn more calories than you are taking in.
If you are confident that you are taking in a certain amount of calories (you are weighing and tracking everything that goes into your mouth), then you simply aren't burning as much as you think you are. You have slowed down ... be it from hormones or whatever. It just might mean that things are slower for you and that you need to be more diligent than you might have had to 20 years ago. The fat might come off more slowly.
But the same principals apply ... move more ... sleep more ... eat less than you are burning. Menopause just makes some of these things more difficult (not impossible).
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Julie, totally agree. But, it's hard not to think that CMCM, on 800 calories a day, has made her body think 'starvation' time, especially when she's working out a lot on 800 calories a day, too -- yet, not losing any weight! Don't you think? Tanked metabolism?
Julie, totally agree. But, it's hard not to think that CMCM, on 800 calories a day, has made her body think 'starvation' time, especially when she's working out a lot on 800 calories a day, too -- yet, not losing any weight! Don't you think? Tanked metabolism?
Hmmm....tanked metabolism? So how do you repair it? As I posted somewhere else, 800 cal isn't a good snapshot, so you can't judge my diet from that one posted day....most days I'm around 1100 to 1300 or so, or on a piggy day I can end up at 1800. I don't eat the same amount every day. Some days are lighter than others (especially if it's a non-exercise day).
Today's example:
Meal 1: 1/2 c. steel cut oats with 1/4 c. strawberries and 1/4 banana
green tea, then cappuccino
Meal 2: Green salad w/tomatoes, cucumbers, some black beans, a few pecans, 1T olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing
about one carrot dipped in hummos dip (homemade)
25g whey powder in 1 c. water
Snack: Apple, 1 oz almonds
Dinner: 1/2 c. brown rice with a Thai beef/cabbage topping on it
Water: About 64 oz today, plus a couple of cups of green tea
I didn't figure the calories, but couldn't be terribly low.
You would really benefit from the knowledge in Leigh's books The Fat Loss Troubleshoot and The Metabolism Repair Manual. Visit her website for more info ... Fat Loss Troubleshooter Blog-Leigh Peele
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
I second what Julie said. READ THE BOOKS. From what I am reading in your posts, you would be a very satisfied customer.
BTW: I tanked my metabolism on 1400 cals a day for a LONG time. I just lost 16lbs over 16 weeks and I ate around 1700 cals a day. Back in the 1400 cal a day timeframe I ran ALL THE TIME. I was a classic cardio queen. Nowadays 1-2 times a week for 30 or so minutes. (if that) It is a balance and you have to find that balance for you but you don't have to do it alone.
Oh yeah and I am also in meno-pause stages and experienced that rapid weight gain thing. No secret or special sauce needed though. It was a serious life-style change including eating different foods, drinking more water, etc... etc... It is the same for young and old is my guess.
__________________
The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Aging...
Not to say that some of it isn't what you say, but some of it is very definitely major hormone changes.
I had a lot of symptoms starting about 42, although I really don't know how much of it was perimenopause OR if it was a bunch of issues related to the fact that I had undiagnosed celiac disease which I suspect kicked in about that time. I do know that once I figured out the celiac connection, eliminating gluten, also most sugar, also starches eliminated a majority of my problems (digestives issues, migraines, asthma like symptoms). Menopause hit at 49 1/2.....an episode of heavy and lengthy bleeding which left me in a frighteningly anemic state....white as a ghost, not even the energy to walk very far. I had a D&C to stop the bleeding, and fortunately that solved the problem and I had no more periods after that. I never did have anything like hot flashes, and actually, I've felt great ever since although there was the issue of having to deal with an obviously altered metabolism. Up until about 40 or so, I was the same weight no matter what I ate. I guess I wasn't a terrible eater...I was always health conscious having grown up with a mom who was a reader of Adele Davis....but I did have an incorrigible sweet tooth (still do). In any case, I never gained or lost weight, always the same. But suddenly it became a problem, pounds crept on, and I'm still dealing with it. I'm pretty darn active....but I've yet to figure out the magic recipe to drop fat easily and get back to my fighting weight. I've been about 20 lbs too heavy for the last 15 to 18 years no matter what I do. Very frustrating. All the fat/weight loss stuff out there is targeted at younger women whose metabolisms are different. I really wish someone would figure out a workable system for us older women because I have concluded that we absolutely need to have a different approach somehow. 
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