How to Maintain Healthy Weight During Menopause

Women often ask the question "How to Maintain Healthy Weight During Menopause". This question underscores the fact that it is difficult for pos-menopausal women to achieve a long term weight loss.

There are no shortcuts to how to maintain weight loss during menopause.

Women need to eat fewer desserts, fewer fatty foods (such as cheeses and fatty selections of meat), and instead eat more fruits and vegetables.

Less consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and beverages, and less eating of desserts are often associated with short-term and long-term weight loss. Long-term weight loss in maintenance mode is associated with eating more fruits and vegetables.

Women who aim on how to maintain healthy weight during menopause should aim for the long-term strategies. It has proven that eating behaviors are likely hard to sustain or change.

Women who are more vigilant about consumption of food and doing regular physical exercise know that these actions are the positive answers in how to maintain healthy weight during menopause.

It is suggested that there are several steps that women can take in order to maintain weight loss after menopause. The excellent payback in following these steps are health, mental sharpness, and lots of energy. The following are some of these steps.

Add high intensity exercise intervals to your daily exercise routine.  Try to add thirty minutes of fast walking or running combination. Add high intensity interval to an aerobic exercise. This will increase your resting metabolism making it harder to gain weight.

Weight lifting added to weekly routines can help replace the muscles that you are losing with aging.

Add more natural fiber food to your diet.

Eat less sugar if you can not eliminate it entirely.

Drink more water, as close to eight ounces of water for every ten pounds of your weight.

Sleep improvement is very important. Boosting metabolism with the high intensity exercise will help improve your sleep. Do not stay up late, instead go to bed earlier. Do not stay up late at night because it increases the hormone that negatively affects your carbohydrate cravings.

Take enough calcium aiming to reach the daily dietary guidelines.

Take enough iron to reach at least the minimum dietary guidelines,

Read labels in the food you buy to make healthy choices.

Maintain Healthy weight by cutting down on the portions of the food you eat.

Eat less high fat food.

Limit the intake of alcoholic drinks.

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How to Get Rid of the Menopause Belly

In your menopausal years, your body will go through changes. Women tend to gain weight in their belly during this time in their lives as the fat in your body shifts. Gaining weight in the abdominal region cannot only affect self-esteem, but it also can also lead the way for numerous health issues. According to MayoClinic.com, excessive abdominal weight can increase your chances of heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer and a host of other ailments.

Tips For You

1. Cut out the junk food. Eating a lot of processed food high in calories, fat and sugar facilitates belly weight gain in your menopausal years. Replace the bad food with lean proteins, vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
2. Walk, run or bike to get the cardio exercise you need to lose belly fat. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days per week.
3. Strengthen the muscles in your belly with abdominal toning exercises. You will not lose the extra bulge until you strengthen the muscles in your midsection. Sit-ups or crunches are a quick way to start toning your stomach. Start out by doing 25 sit-ups or crunches per day, and progressively add more to your fitness routine as you build up your strength and stamina.
4. Do 10 abdominal hollowing exercises per day. Begin by getting down on all fours or standing with your spine straight. Relax and take a deep breath. Release all of your breath. Subtly draw in your bellybutton inward and upward towards your spine and hold for 10 seconds. This exercise is similar to flexing your abdominal muscles. Rest for 10 seconds between each exercise. When you are performing abdominal hollowing exercises, make sure your spine does not move and you continue to breathe.
5. Perform pelvic lifts to target your lower abdominal muscles. Lie on your back with your knees bent, your feet firmly on the ground and your arms relaxed at your sides. Raise your buttocks off the ground while flexing your abdominal muscles. Hold your buttocks in the air for at least five seconds. Repeat this five times while working up to 10 repetitions.

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