Controlling Weight Gain in Menopause and Beyond

By Sandi Thompson –

I have heard this many times. “I hit menopause and BAM! the weight just started piling on.”

Does that sound familiar? If you answered yes, then keep reading. There is hope and it doesn’t come in a bottle. Well, maybe a bottle of Perrier.

When our hormones get wacky, one of the main roles our liver plays is that of clearing the excess hormones from our body. Plenty of water helps, but so do a variety of minerals that support the liver’s detoxification stages.

Selenium is one of those minerals. A great source can be found in Brazil nuts. Three to five of these wonder nuts a day can give your liver the boost it needs to clear more hormones from the body, along with other toxins.

When you need more energy throughout the day, but are afraid to eat because everything sticks to your thighs or your hips, eat more often. You have heard that before, right? Well, it’s true. Whenever you eat your body enters a state called thermogenesis. This raises your metabolism so you can burn more calories.

How often should you eat? I tell my clients that every 2.5 to 3 hours works best. It helps control your blood sugar so you don’t have those energy peaks and valleys. Here are some suggestions that will have you staying energized without coffee or excessive amounts of sugar.

1. Eat a good breakfast every day that has protein from egg, Greek yogurt, turkey sausage, whey or rice protein. For vegetarians you can have hot quinoa cereal with almond or rice milk. Beans and rice with avocado and salsa can also work well, but watch out for all the starch. It can bring you crashing down in as little as forty-five minutes.

2. Stay hydrated by drinking half your body weight in ounces of water daily. Start by figuring out what that number is. It’s your personal water formula. If you weight one hundred and forty pounds, you will want to drink seventy ounces of water daily. Maybe you weigh a lot more and cannot imagine drinking half your weight in ounces of water daily. Then start with your IDEAL body weight and divide that in half.

3. Make your snacks count. Celery and hummus, nut butter or egg salad will work fine for a mid-morning snack. You can make a snack anything that has a little bit of protein and some nutrient-dense foods like fruit or vegetables. I like carrot sticks for the crunch and hummus for the texture. Sometimes I eat red bell peppers, which are high in antioxidants. I often wrap a slice of turkey or a cheese stick in several leaves of lettuce, roll it up and eat it with a little salsa. Snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Skip the coffee and have green tea, another antioxidant-rich choice.

4. A light dinner will see you through the evening and keep the pounds off. If you plan a salad for dinner nightly, or roasted vegetables with just three ounces fish or chicken, you will have more energy to take a stroll or work in the garden or play with the grandkids. If you feel hungry later in the evening, have a piece of fruit. My clients seem to like grapefruit at night, which is great as long as you are not taking statin drugs or other drugs that might be affected by grapefruit. Check with your doctor or pharmacist.

5. Over-exercising can also add to weight gain. That sounds counter-intuitive, I know. The point here is avoiding inflammation. That can cause tissues swell. Instead of doing lots of cardio, which is great for stress reduction, try walking and strength training with lighter weights. Try yoga for stress reduction.

Do these five things for three or four weeks and see if your weight gain stops and you start fitting into your smaller clothes again. I bet you will love the results.

Sandi Thompson is a nutritional therapy practitioner and certified wellness coach. She primarily works with women over 50 who are sick and tired of feeling very sick and very tired most of the time. Her approach is based on sound science and the art of coaching. This non-judgmental approach leads her clients to self-discover and increased self-awareness, while they get their health back and their eating under control.

Knowing where to start to regain health is important. Sandi Thompson offers a free report: 7 Secrets to Incredible Energy, Health and Wellness http://solutionthroughnutrition.com/about.

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