​Are you taking Ozempic, Wegovy, or another form of Semaglutide for weight loss?  Well, I’m not here to shame you.  Weight loss is HARD.  These drugs are making it possible for people who feel like they have tried EVERYTHING ELSE to finally lose weight.  I do have some advice for you, though:

Am I encouraging everyone to take these meds?  Absolutely not.  First and foremost, I’m not a doctor.   Plus, these drugs have side effects and come with risks, just like all treatments do.  They can be expensive.  And for some people, they don't work at all.  But I don’t think there’s any shame in getting help with something that you have struggled with for so long, especially if your doctor agrees.   Just don't wait to start lifting weights.

Looking for a fun beach read this summer?  Well, I have something better for you.  It will give you useful tips as well as make you laugh out loud.  Personal Trainer Amanda Thebe recounts her horrific perimenopause experience in Menopocalypse: How I Learned to Thrive During Menopause and How You Can Too.  Amanda does not hold back in this book.  She is brutally honest about her lived experience and also her very real feelings about it.  If you haven’t yet gone through the menopause transition, this book might scare the hell out of you.  Amanda’s symptoms were quite terrible.  If you have already gone through the transition, then you might be relieved that yours wasn’t so bad, at least in comparison.

​In the first half of the book, she defines the different stages of menopause and lists the common symptoms one might have.  These range from the well-known hot flash to the lesser-known burning tongue. (Why must so many things in menopause make us feel like we're on fire?)  She also discusses Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), both her personal experience with it and what to watch out for, like compounded hormones and pellets.  This was refreshing to read since there is so much misinformation out there directed at women in menopause.  It made me happy to know that she takes a science-based approach in her menopause management.

​By this point in the book, I hadn’t really learned much that I didn’t already know about menopause, but I’ve been studying this in depth for the past several years.  It was, however, quite validating to read her first-hand account to make me feel like I wasn’t the only one experiencing these less common issues.  She reveals some very personal details of her life, and in doing so, makes you feel like you can trust her.  This is important, especially because the second half of the book consists of her advice.  We don't usually take advice from those we don't trust.

​In the second half of the book, she outlines what she calls her menopause “hacks.”  Her chapter about how to eat wasn’t revolutionary, but that’s what made it so great.  It was solid, reasonable advice.  It’s what I recommend to my clients when asked.  She doesn’t promote low calorie diets or intermittent fasting or avoiding carbs.  She does suggest prioritizing protein, complex carbs, healthy fats and limiting alcohol.  She seems to subscribe to my philosophy:  Live the healthiest life you can enjoy!  I can respect that.

She has several pages of workouts that she calls “Menopause Metabolic Resistance workouts.”  There are pictures of each exercise, as well as a prescribed set and repetition range.  Her workouts  incorporate the basic movement patterns that I outlined in my blog post “The 6 Most Important Exercises.”  If you’re in need of a strength training starter workout, this is excellent.  If you’re a client of mine, these moves will look very familiar to you.  

No self-respecting book about how to take care of yourself during menopause would be complete without a chapter on sleep and stress-reduction.  Sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise.  61% of postmenopausal women suffer from insomnia, which is a damn shame.  Estrogen and progesterone play a huge part in helping us fall asleep and stay asleep, so without them, we struggle.  

Will this book cure your insomnia?  You might find some helpful advice in there, but it won’t do so by putting you to sleep.  It’s quite entertaining, actually.  Amanda is funny, irreverent and doesn’t hold back.  If you need a good read to know what’s coming or to learn more about what you’re in the thick of, I recommend Menopocalypse.

When training my clients, I focus on the following 6 exercises:

• Push
• Pull
• Squat
• Lunge
• Hinge
• Rotation/Anti-Rotation

These are the 6 basic patterns of human movement and therefore, the most important exercises we can focus on.  ​By teaching my clients to perform these movements well, then adding resistance little by little, they are learning how to move properly and safely while becoming strong at the same time.  These are movements that we use in our everyday lives.  It’s important to know how to do these well to not only avoid injury but to make life easier.   

​Don’t get me wrong.  There can be a time and place for muscle isolation exercises.  You may have a knee injury, for example, that requires us to work each muscle surrounding the knee joint individually until we get those muscles strong enough to keep your knee in alignment so that you can squat or lunge.   And yes, we need to be able to squat.  In fact, you already do by standing up from a chair.  It may just not be done easily...yet.

​How many sets and repetitions of these movements should you do?  That depends on your starting point.  For beginners, I recommend starting with just one or two sets of 15 reps with just your body weight to prep your connective tissue to add load later on, especially if you’re over 40.  Do this twice a week with at least 48 hours in between workouts.  After a couple of weeks, then you can add light loads.  The rate of progression beyond that is highly individual.   There are also countless variations that you can do with the 6 basic movement patterns in order to best develop your strength safely.  

​I sometimes hear, "I just want to get more toned."  Well, “toned” isn’t really a thing.  In order to achieve a “toned” look, you need to grow the muscles and lose subcutaneous body fat.  This is where certain muscle isolation exercises could play a role in your training program, but the majority of it will be spent on the 6 most important exercises.  

If you would like to get strong to make moving through life easier, but you just don’t know where to start, send me a message.  I can create a plan for you to do on your own.  Hiring a personal trainer doesn’t always mean I have to be present at every one of your workouts.  We might just need to meet for a very brief period until you feel confident enough to navigate your own training plan.  We can always touch base later when you're ready to progress your plan.  

Are you ready to move through life easier?

​Do you follow Dr. Mary Claire Haver, author of The Galveston Diet?  She is an OBGYN in Galveston who specializes in menopause.  I love what she is doing to promote awareness of what really happens to women during the menopause transition.  She is a breath of fresh air on social media where she frequently posts reaction videos to young male trainers touting their advice to women in menopause.  Dr. Haver is smart, likeable, and very good at promoting her message.  I haven’t yet read The Galveston Diet, but I plan to, even though I absolutely hate the word “diet”.  (I’m sure her publisher pushed for that word to be in her title to sell more books.)

Dr. Haver is currently offering the 28-Day Spring Belly Fat Challenge to her followers.  Since I know many of my clients follow her and would be interested in this, I downloaded the challenge to see what it was all about.  Here are the basic guidelines:

1. Consume more than 25 grams of fiber per day.
2. Consume less than 25 grams of added sugar per day.
3. Do cardio exercise in 30-45 minute increments in your “fat-burning zone” for at least 150 minutes total per week.  (That’s about 30 minutes 5 times a week.)
4. Reduce stress.
5. Avoid alcohol.

​All of these are great things to do!  My main problem with this challenge (and challenges in general) is that this is a LOT of change to tackle all at once.  Some of you will make all 5 of these changes and endure this lifestyle for the entire 28 days.  And probably more of you will last a week or two, or not even start.  It’s not because you’re a failure.  It’s because this challenge requires you to make several new habits and give up old ones, all at the same time.    

As a former challenge-runner myself. I saw people lose a lot of weight quickly.  Unfortunately, it very rarely stayed off because it was too much, too fast.  I have since learned that long-term behavior change happens best when we try to change one habit at a time.  To make this challenge realistic and do-able, I would recommend starting with #1.  Try to eat more than 25 grams of fiber per day for 28 days.  It’s usually easier to add more food than to subtract it.  And maybe after 28 days, by eating all that fiber, you will feel fuller and less likely to crave sugary foods.  Then, #2 will be easier to tackle.  

​Maybe your food intake is already on pointe, but you’re not exercising.   Try her suggestion of 30-45 minute cardio sessions, 4-5 times a week.  If you get that going, after a while you may find that the exercise reduces your stress.  (Although in my experience, during a very stressful time in life, focusing on strength training and minimizing the cardio works better for most.  And takes less time - you only need to strength train twice a week to see the benefits.)

And what about those who immediately balk at this because you can’t have alcohol?  Many will think, “Well, I can’t do this challenge because I’m going on vacation next week, then it’s my birthday, then it’s girls weekend, then it’s… etc, etc.”  There’s a large swath of people who will not even start practicing the other healthy habits because they don’t want to give up alcohol right now.  That’s why starting with one habit and getting it to stick is so important before moving on.  (Of course, an argument could be made that if you’re afraid of giving up alcohol, that might be the one you need to start with.  No judgment here.)

​I know my alternative method to this challenge isn’t sexy.  It won’t burn your belly fat off in 28 days.  But if you make healthy incremental changes that you can live with (and still enjoy life!) then you can reduce your belly fat over time and keep it off, all without suffering.