Perimenopause and menopause check-in

[JackieB]

Originally Posted by rhbrand

So I've been watching a few clips of dvds on YouTube, trying to figure out workouts I want to do, and buy. And well, like Cathe, and Tracie Long. They are either older than me, or about my age and ***! They look amazing!

Is it genetics? Is it they bust their butts 110% more than I ever have? What the heck do they eat not to get the belly of doom. My belly looks like my daughter's and she's 22 weeks pregnant with baby #2.

UGH.

To quote CS Lewis, "Comparison is the thief of joy."

Those women are in the business of fitness. I'm sure that a majority of their energy is funneled into how they look. Not to mention, filters etc. I definitely don't want to have my life's focus to be on my appearance. I want to be comfortable in my skin and fit my clothing, but it's my shell. I need to pay attention to my husband and family, etc.

[Lori_Michigan]

Originally Posted by rhbrand

Is it genetics? Is it they bust their butts 110% more than I ever have? What the heck do they eat not to get the belly of doom. My belly looks like my daughter's and she's 22 weeks pregnant with baby #2.

UGH.

Agreed on both -- I'm 47, probably a good 10 years younger than Cathe and a few years younger than Tracie Long. How in the world they've managed menopause and keeping their figures is beyond me. I'm not going to lie, I'm very vain and my most frustrating and depressing thing about perimenopause is the weight gain. I feel like I can deal with all the other crap if I could simply just lose *some* of this weight.

I totally look pregnant too. I didn't weight nearly this much at 9 months pregnant! I wish I had saved some of my maternity pants from 16 years ago...

And congrats on grandbaby #2!

[JackieB]

I do think a lot of it is genetics.

I like to follow Jamie Eason. I don't lift anymore, but I just like her. It's amazing...she just has the body and metabolism. I don't even think she spends much time in the gym.

[rhbrand]

Thank you on the congrats! I'm SO HAPPY for grandbaby #2. We babysit, I retired from nursing, and hubby is happily retired Air Force, just to babysit our first. Now, when DD1 goes back to work, we'll have 2.

Anyway, I'm also wondering if not only genetics, but how they eat. Thinking more along the lines of organic vs non-organic. We read all the time that this plastic can mess up hormones, and this one doesn't. I'm not totally against all GMOs cause hey, if they can put the drought resistance that the weeds in the ditch all seem to have, into the crops my nephews plant, they are farmers, I'm all for it
But I do hate that everything now has all sorts of pesticides and herbicides in it.
I mean that has got to mess up hormones and stuff.

[Lori_Michigan]

Wide awake at 2:30 last night -- wondered who else was hearing their husband sleeping soundly?! Argh.

I was pretty happy to do Sahra's 15 minute Barre Stretch on ETV yesterday. My knee is feeling like it's actually on the mend now. I hadn't really been using CS for the pain relief benefits, but I can tell an actual difference in my knee from after doing that yesterday. Baby steps.

I can also ride our old stationary bike for about 30 minutes now too. I always avoided it to do weights and more intense exercise. Now I look forward to just leisurely riding the bike.

It's funny how now just two months after not doing any weight training or higher cardio that I don't even know how my body was keeping that up. I kind of wonder if overdoing for years past when I just getting more tired from it really screwed up my metabolism to the point where it affected my thyroid. I'm hopefully getting some bloodwork done next week but I really don't want meds. My poor body just doesn't do well on any meds. Maybe just some dietary changes and really just keeping with walking and CS will help heal my metabolism. I am enjoying not constantly being sore.

I had lost a couple of pounds since last week and then boom they're back. I can gain 4-5 lbs overnight at different points in my cycle. Just so frustrating.

[rhbrand]

Sitting here with the sinus crud, thank you allergies, and I think I'm going to step it back a couple notches.

I don't think my body or my head is ready for Cathe etc right now. I'm going to focus on walking, a little spinning on the Peloton cause I do enjoy that, some stretching. I might even see if I can find some yoga I enjoy. I've got a few Classical Stretches on my dvr I'm going to do.

Might throw in some Firms and Tracie Longs here and there to mix it up.

Right now if I try to push it to much, I just get sore, cranky and tired. I want to be nicer to my body right now. My body has done great things. Carried 3 babies, birthed them, worked as a nurse, got me through so many things. I'm gonna be nice to my body for a while

[lizh]

Thanks for starting this thread. I refuse to give up and I hope to find a solution.

I have trouble with sleep as well. One thing that I do when I wake up in the middle of the night is I listen to podcasts on my phone. I find ones that I am mildly interested in the topic but not enough to get me excited. Some medical/health ones are good and they shut off my brain and allow me to get back to sleep. Some nights I start the process over a few times during the night, but some nights it only takes one.

I'm also currently committed to doing Pahla B's workouts. They don't feel like enough! which she addressed in every video, but she preaches that working out at a lower level allows you to work out every day. She also has a podcast that is encouraging.

[Lori_Michigan]

Originally Posted by lizh

I have trouble with sleep as well. One thing that I do when I wake up in the middle of the night is I listen to podcasts on my phone.

I'm also currently committed to doing Pahla B's workouts. They don't feel like enough! which she addressed in every video, but she preaches that working out at a lower level allows you to work out every day. She also has a podcast that is encouraging.

I tried to listen to podcasts in the middle of the night but I can't fit my headphones on with my CPAP mask. So frustrating.

I am also listening to Pahla's podcasts! I am hoping to get back to her walking workouts when my knee heals. I really like her and her message about mindset is particularly helpful to me. I worked out for so long at a level that was too hard for my poor body and I fear I really screwed up my metabolism. Pahla's walking workouts really don't feel like much, but I really had no idea what "moderate" felt like. I really wasn't consuming enough calories for the kind of working out that I had been doing for the last five years, nor with enough recovery time for my declining estrogen levels. Humbling to have take it down a notch, that's for sure.

But I can see exactly where I was going wrong now. The messages were all around me that I needed to just do walking and easier workouts and CS, and keep it all within 30-45 mins max. I was doing a few hours a day of weights and higher cardio (because I had the time) and not really giving myself any recovery time. Injuries started piling up last fall, but I never put it all together. Now after tearing my meniscus, I was really forced to just walk and ride the bike. It's funny how my body stopped me instead of me deciding to change (which I probably wouldn't have!). Tough lesson to learn.

[rhbrand]

I didn't know Pahla has a podcast! I sometimes like to listen to them when out walking.

Off to check out her podcast.

[Lori_Michigan]

I found her Fitness Matters and Q and A Friday podcasts on Google podcasts. I listen to her a lot through the day!