You know the feeling, you step on them and look down and “nooooooooo” how can that be, you've worked so hard, and yet there it is, in digital number hell
THE WEIGHT GAIN
Ladies our weight does fluctuate from day to day – get off the scales
Ladies our bodies change dramatically over 40 – get off the scales
Ladies menopause brings its own challenges -get off the scales
Why am I saying this? Well recently I scanned a lovely client of mine, its been over a year since our last real catch up. She looked at the weight numbers and cried. Yes cried. Tears of frustration and shame.
Who hasn't been there???
Disappointed in yourself, thinking all the hard work was for nothing, ashamed of all of the times you “fell off the wagon” – lets explore that detrimental thinking expression later!
Yet she missed all the good news.
And there was good news.
Alongside the weight gain numbers I had other numbers to share. Like her muscle mass had increased and her fat mass decreased, bringing her body wellness score up. She has reduced her biological ages (according to her body composition) by a year – gotten a year younger. Reduced her body fat % by 1% and gotten smaller around the middle.
This is why the scales can only give you part of the picture.
My best friend recently said I was being too hard on myself and my body image – like everyone else all the time! I had been recovering from surgery, wasn’t allowed to get to the gym or do much beyond a little walking, so spent two weeks eating. Eating healthy and crap.
Do you know what? It happens. Did I “fall off the wagon”? NO and we need to stop saying that. I have spent a couple of weeks eating calorie dense foods, which frankly at the time I thoroughly enjoyed.
Will that alter my body composition towards being fatter? Of course but I can’t gain heaps in those two weeks; but if you eat high processed food you cant expect your body to just expel it all.
Do you know what I’ll do? I will choose to consciously eat to a calorie deficit for the next few weeks. Slowly rebuild my exercise plan as my body allows post surgery and make sure I drink plenty of water and prioritise my sleep. I’m sure I’ll always be slightly chubby but I’m very strong and I can run when I want to.
We are all human and into peri menopause, menopause and even after menopause, our bodies change and how we treat them also needs to change. However, we need to look after our minds as well and become a little bit more selfish towards self care and self love.If you are stuck in a diet/binge cycle and the exercise you were doing isnt working anymore we need to talk.
If you want to enjoy what you eat, eat enough to not feel hungry and know how to include the calorie dense foods into your habits without feeling like you are cheating (eg cake and wine) we need to talk.
Ladies please stop using the scales as the sole measure of your health, there is a simpler, better, easy way. It doesn't have to involve running or a gym (it can by the way I love my gym).
Lets ditch the guilt, the social expectations on how we “should” look and lets just be healthy for ourselves and tame the transistion.