Desperate times call for desperate measures.

If you’re in or approaching your 40’s, you may well feel this way. More often than not, I’ll get an SOS call from a woman turning the big ‘4-0’ or the bigger ‘5-0’. They’re not feeling great in their own skin; they feel out of control and desperate for an answer to looking and feeling like they ‘used’ to.

Sadly, sometimes I get the call as a ‘last resort’ measure.

While I’m not saying it’s ‘too late’ to help these women, I’m saying that the adage an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure is accurate.

This blog and my program are called ‘female fat loss over 40’, but I LOVE it when women in their twenties and thirties tune in. If these women get a head start with some of the principles that I preach, they won’t experience some of the complaints that many women experience approaching and during menopause.

Physical fitness is the most effective solution for women who experience menopausal symptoms. It allows women to manage both their bodies and emotions. When you exercise, your adrenal glands are stimulated to convert the male hormone androstenedione into estrogen. Just four 30-minute exercise sessions per week are enough to keep you “topped off” with estrogen.

Regular exercise can benefit you in a number of ways as you pass through menopause:

· It strengthens your heart and bones

· You can avoid or minimize weight gain

· It improves your mood and sense of overall well-being

· It reduces the duration and intensity of hot flashes

Or, you can choose to be sedentary as you approach menopause and look forward to this:

• You’ll be more prone to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity

• You’ll be more likely to suffer stiffness and chronic back pain, irregularity, poor circulation, shortness of breath, weak muscles

• You’re more prone to depression and sleep disturbances

It seems like a no-brainer. Exercise helps prevent these problems and more.

For example, osteoporosis can be kept at bay so you’ll lower the risk of bone fractures later in life. Exercise helps stimulate new bone tissue growth, bone mass can actually be rebuilt with weight bearing exercise.

Do you feel better when you exercise? This is due to the fact that levels of mood enhancing endorphins are elevated. You can deal with life and stressful events more positively when you exercise. An added bonus is that these bio-chemicals also help regulate body temperature so the frequency and intensity of hot flashes is diminished. You can also concentrate better when you’re exercising because more oxygen is delivered to the brain.

Sounds like a win-win proposition.

Is it ever too late to start?

No.

Studies show that the addition of exercise at any time can improve or diminish menopausal symptoms.

What are my tips for getting active and improving your health?

Use the ‘search’ function on my blog: type in ‘workouts’, ‘healthy eating’, or what ever you’re interested in and you’ll come up with lots of great ways to get started.

Or, you could get my at home program or see if you qualify for my more intense coaching program.

As you educate yourself, incorporate small and liveable lifestyle changes and watch how your start to look and feel better. It won’t happen over night, nothing worthwhile does. You won’t wake up magically transformed, but you will start to feel better over time.

Really, you have nothing to lose (but a few pounds) and everything to gain by adding exercise into your daily routine.

Don’t wait until that desperate feeling overtakes you.

This entry was posted on September 29, 2011 at 3:34 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in Mindset by Shawna Comments Off on Beating Menopause