There’s a universal truth of menopausal fitness: If you want to get in control, start with your hormones. With your hormone production locked in, you take advantage of your body’s best aid to toning at any age — and during menopause, those hormones need some extra love!
Here’s how:
1. The ‘big 3’
While your body produces many hormones, there are 3 in particular that it uses heavily in creating lean muscle definition and supporting your metabolism: progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone. This cocktail forms the building blocks of the body composition you want, enabling you to build strength, add definition, and maintain strong bones and overall health. Once The Change hits, though, levels of these hormones naturally decline… unless you give your body the stuff it needs to kick its hormone production back into gear.
And the way to do that is with…
2. Tweaking your macros
Eating a balanced macro profile is no longer enough. During menopause (and long after), your body needs something extra: specifically, more fats. Your protein needs shouldn’t vary much, but it’s time to lower your carbs slightly and eat those calories in fat instead. Don’t worry — you can still enjoy your favorite breads and sweets! Besides, more fats means more room for the rich stuff. 😉 Enjoy those “forbidden foods” in moderation and you’ll do fine!
Besides your nutrition, you also need…
3. Different workouts
During menopause, strength training is more important than ever. After all, you’ve got to protect your muscle tissue and bone health! But while lifting heavy is essential, working out too much releases more cortisol through menopause, which signals the body to retain more fat stores. This means every workout needs to be dialed in, to only get done what you need and then stop! Exercise requires more care as we age, and that means getting clear on exactly what lifts to focus on, when to do them, and how much — do that and you can build nearly any body composition you want, because you’re ramping up the toning hormones and lowering stress hormones!
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