31. Why is it so Hard to Lose Weight During Menopause?

Can menopause really be a time of growth and renewal? We, at Thriving Through Menopause believe it can, and we're here to show you how in this enlightening episode.

This week, we dive deep into the physiological changes that affect women over 35, particularly focusing on what makes weight loss so challenging during this stage of life.

From the impact of declining estrogen levels on muscle mass and appetite to the redistribution of body fat, we break down complex hormonal shifts with clarity and compassion.

You'll also hear about the potential benefits and considerations of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and the critical role of diet in managing these transitions.

Ever wondered how Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) plays a role during menopause?

In this episode, we demystify this key hormone, explaining its influence on estrogen production and why the ovaries' response—or lack thereof—can lead to increased body fat, hot flashes, and mood swings.

This episode offers practical advice on getting your hormone levels checked and understanding your nutritional needs to maintain a sustainable caloric deficit for effective weight management.

From nutrition tips to lifestyle advice, this episode offers a comprehensive guide for women navigating menopause. Learn the significance of incorporating protein, vegetables, and healthy fats into your diet and debunk common myths about protein metabolism.

Listen to full episode for valuable insight as we go through this important life stage together!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello, hello, my friends, welcome to my channel. Today we will be talking about menopause and weight loss. Why is it that most of us women, when we get older and we start heading into menopause, things just get a little bit more difficult? So it's about why is it so hard for us to lose weight as we get older? And I'm talking about perimenopausal females as well as those of us who are already in menopause, so anyone at the ages 35 and over. You may be there doing all the same things that you have been doing for about the past 10, 15 years. Back then, things were working. Now you're working double hard and the weight is not coming off, or you may be gaining weight even. What's happening? Why is that happening? Why? So, before you give up, please hear me out. Just listen to a few reasons why.

Speaker 2: 1:00

Welcome to the Thriving Through Menopause podcast. Dr Inaka Yembe, your host, is dedicated to helping you navigate the transformative journey of menopause and perimenopause, particularly focused on achieving menopausal weight loss and reducing belly fat. As a post-menopausal physician herself who has helped thousands of women experiencing the significant life stage, she understands the unique challenges you face. Listen in as we explore a wide range of topics aimed at supporting you in your health and wellness journey. Hopefully, the practical tips and strategies offered potentially help you adopt an empowering approach towards menopausal weight loss and belly fat reduction. And now here's your host, dr Inaka Yembe. And now here's your host.

Speaker 1: 1:45

Dr Inaka Yembe. You know, like Maya Angelou said, when you know better, you just do better. And the fact is that it's a combination of not only the habits that we have, it's a combination of the menopausal hormonal changes that are going on within our bodies. If you have listened to several different talks on menopause, you've heard this statement the perfect storm. Many hormones are changing. There is a storm within us that we need to fight and we need to know what to do in order to keep losing the weight. Things are not the same like they were 20 years ago. So today we will talk about some hormones, hormones that are involved in all this perfect storm within our bodies, and then we'll talk about what you can do about it, and I'll touch briefly about bioidentical hormones. We'll talk about the hormone replacement just very briefly. That's not the majority of this talk. The hormone replacement talk is really a topic for another day, but that's the way we're going to approach this. One of the biggest things that happens during menopause is that we lose muscle mass. It's a phenomenon called atrophy. So you're losing muscle mass. Why and how? Your muscle mass fibers, so the fibers that make up the muscle. Those are becoming fewer and fewer by default. You lose muscle mass is the same phenomenon caused by the decline in estrogen levels. When you hit the age of 55, of 35, 35 that's about that magic number your estrogen level which is the female hormone it starts dropping in levels. You start to get some symptoms like fatigue, you start to feel things like my joints hurt and, biggest of all, you're not losing weight like you've been doing over the past 20 years. You're doing the same things. The weight's not going anywhere. Declining estrogen will do that. Why is that? Estrogen levels when they drop, they cause a decrease in muscle mass. That's the first thing. So not only do they cause your bones to be thinner, they cause your muscles to be thinner. Also, you are losing some collagen. That's why, if you're in menopause, you're not taking collagen. That's a topic for another day. Also, you want to be consuming some collagen because your muscle mass is decreasing, your collagen level is decreasing and you get another thing that happens, called inflammation. So now your joints start to hurt. Oh, you're not recovering from your workouts like you were. You do something. You get a little bit more tired. It's all the declining levels of estrogen. It's not you, the changing hormones and what we feel is real. It is so real we need to work against that. So think about it and keep this in mind when I talk about how we need to eat, because most of these things all is not lost. You can change them with how and what you eat. Think about that declining muscle mass because you're losing some muscle fibers, you're having more inflammation now, your energy levels are dropping and your basal metabolic rate is dropping. That's one big thing that happens.

Speaker 1: 5:06

So let's look at the hormones that are involved in menopausal changes. I will touch on the main ones, not all of them, but the main ones. Number one, the first one, of course, is the main female hormone called estrogen. Now, when your estrogen levels drop, a few things happen, believe it or not. Not only is your muscle mass declining, meaning less energy needed, because you don't have that much muscle, less energy needed. What happens? Declining estrogen levels cause you to have increased appetite. Not only do you need less energy, now your appetite may be a little bit more, and it decreases the amount of satiety, meaning you don't feel that full.

Speaker 1: 5:54

Declining levels of estrogen also changes your body fat distribution. When you're a younger lady you were in your 20s or an older teen you had all your estrogens here present. You were in your 20s or an older teen. You had all your estrogens here present. You were storing fat in your hips, your thighs and your butt. Now you get to 35. You're a little bit older now.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Estrogen is dropping and then you get to menopause. Like me, estrogen levels took a nosedive and at that point you are storing more fat in your belly. So one day you're sitting here thinking why is the belly fat here? Estrogen did that. There is a change, a redistribution of fat storage. Now it's more in your belly. So muscle mass is declining. Decreased basal metabolic rate. You don't need that much energy. You're getting more hungry. You're getting more tired, you're getting more tired and then you're storing more fat in your belly and you're thinking I need to get rid of this belly fat. Think about that. Estrogen levels declining during menopause will cause that change. We will talk about what you can do to counteract this.

Speaker 1: 6:59

The second thing that happens with this estrogen level declining is the hormone, insulin. You know, most of the time when we talk about hormone and glucose control, most people sit here thinking that you must be diabetic to think about that. No, no, no. Now studies show that all of us need to be thinking about our glucose metabolism and what's happening to our glucose. And again, that's going to boil down to how we are eating. We'll talk about that in a few minutes.

Speaker 1: 7:28

But declining levels of estrogen they cause insulin resistance. Now when you say insulin resistance just a couple of big words what does it mean? What it means is that your body's producing insulin, but it cannot feel it. That's not a good thing. If you cannot feel your own insulin, it's almost like you are resistant. Exactly that's what it means. You are allergic or you're not feeling the amount of insulin that you're having. So your insulin level is going up, but your body on the inside is not feeling it.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Increased level of insulin number one because it's so high. Now imagine that you have a gas tank that takes only 10 liters of gas and now you want to put 20 liters of gas in that same gas tank. It will not work that way. Now you've got this body that can only take 10 liters of insulin, and now you've got 20 liters of insulin floating in here. Something is going to give. So your insulin is now deficient. It's not very efficient in metabolizing that glucose. It is more efficient in storing fat. So now on the inside, you've got that storm inside Estrogen levels down, insulin level too high and it's deficient and it is causing you to store more fat.

Speaker 1: 8:44

This is why imagine you went and ate that pizza, you drank a whole liter of Coke and in 30 minutes you got no energy. Where did all the energy go? Insulin packaged it and it is deficient now because it is too much, and that is how we can slowly become diabetics if we don't watch how we eat. All right, all is not lost. We'll talk about how you can fix it. Just remember that you have higher levels of insulin now. Estrogen caused that and if you have some body fat, you are insulin resistant, so that insulin level is higher. Now you've got two things that are causing you to store more fat. You got to change how we're eating. We're no longer 20 years old. If you're 54 and you're still eating like you've always been eating, or your weight loss program is the same like it's always been, big mistake, it will not work. We've got to change things as we are getting older. Very important. So now the hormone number three, third hormone that we'll talk about is cortisol.

Speaker 1: 9:46

Cortisol is the hormone that's secreted by the adrenals. Okay, that's another fancy term. What does it mean? The adrenals are two little bean things that sit on each kidney, one on each side. If you've got one kidney, probably have one adrenal gland, I don't know. But anyway, cortisol is a stress hormone. If I fire a gun, you run. All right, I say I run. If I hear something, I run. Okay, I run fast. That is a fight or flight hormone that is caused by increased cortisol. Very quickly you run. That's what it's for. A little bit of cortisol going up high, on and off is great. It helps protect us. On and off is great, it helps protect us. But that chronic elevation that comes with stress, especially that comes with lack of sleep due to estrogen levels, we now have these hot flashes. We're not sleeping like we should. That cortisol level is too high, just too high.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Cortisol is responsible for many changes. Its receptors are found all over our bodies, mostly for your purposes. We'll talk about fat storage. Cortisol is a fat storage hormone. I mean it does other things like increase your blood pressure, causes more salt to be held, causes a little bit of swelling. So, all in all, you're gaining weight now without doing anything different, just being too stressed, not sleeping enough.

Speaker 1: 11:07

Again, declining estrogen. You're having more hot flashes, not sleeping well at night. Cortisol is higher because of that and now you're a little bit stressed. The world is just too stressful. Got the kids in my age. Got kids in the 20s. I have girls. So now I'm really more stressed because of that and your cortisol levels are higher. So now you're storing more belly fat. See how these hormones are just here. Mother nature gave us these things, so they're here. What can we do to change things?

Speaker 1: 11:39

Before we talk about that, let's talk about sleeping because you're not sleeping well. About that. Let's talk about sleeping because you're not sleeping well. So I have been in menopause since the age of 47. So if you're watching, my forehead starts shining. I have some sweat beads coming down here because I'm still in menopause. I don't know how long it lasts it's different for every single person, but at night it comes on. I try to sleep. I get a hot flash. My sleep is poor. So what happens with that is, if you don't sleep well or you don't get seven to nine hours of good quality sleep, now your hunger hormones are thrown off. You've got a hunger hormone called ghrelin. Its levels are higher because you're not sleeping. Well, it is balanced when you're sleeping and so you get more hungry through the day. Try to get at least seven to nine hours of sleeping, all right. We've talked about hormone grilling.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Last hormone is FSH. Fsh is produced in the brain. Its receptors are in the fat cells Now in the ovaries. So FSH that hormone hormones actually work like a remote control. It's just like you press the button here and boom, the signal goes to the TV and the channel changes. Fsh is produced here, it fires to our ovaries and it tells the ovaries produce more estrogen. Well, now that God has said lady, you are 45 or 50 and I'm going to retire your ovaries, they are not going to produce more estrogen. What's happening? Well, your FSH doesn't know that that brain is telling the ovaries to produce more estrogen. It's not happening, so it doesn't feel it. It says, hey, I need you to produce more, and it doesn't feel more produced. So your FSH levels slowly go up and FSH is another hormone that causes increase in body fat. So we've got this perfect storm on the inside. That is why I said, lady, it is not you, it is a perfect storm that's happening within your body, with declining estrogen levels, causing increased cortisol, causing insulin resistance. You're not sleeping well, grelin is changing, you've got increased FSH a whole lot that's happening here on the inside. We need to do something, something.

Speaker 1: 14:01

So if you're 35 or a little bit older, 40, and you start to feel all these changes, getting some hot flashes, your mood swings, all this thing One of the things that you can do right off the bat is get your hormone levels checked. So I'm a family medicine physician, though I work in the emergency room. I used to work in the clinic, and, well, I was one of those. When I didn't know better, and the lady comes to me and she says I want my hormones checked, I'm thinking why Mother nature is taking its course. All right, if you really think about it and you want to make a change, you can get your hormone levels checked. All it does is give you more information on where you are in life biologically, so that you can make the changes that you need to.

Speaker 1: 14:44

When it comes to your habits, all right, we know that there are some healthy habits that are very important. I do know that, during menopause, though, and as we get older, our bodies get awfully sensitive to our nutritional choices. They're awfully sensitive, in fact. This goes for everyone. What you eat is about 70 to 75% or more of your weight. So we can't just eat or drink anything, especially if we are in menopause. We've got to eat in a way that you can take back control from these hormonal changes in order to feel better or in order to achieve your own personal goals. You don't have to just let your body just give up and say, all right, I'm in menopause now. That is not true. You can take control.

Speaker 1: 15:38

Number one if we want to lose weight this works for everyone, menopause or not we are working with a certain amount or kind of energy balance. Your food gives you energy, all right. So if I'm sitting here and I need 2,500 calories of food to stay at the same weight, all right. If I want to lose weight, I must eat a little bit less, right here, and that extra energy your body is going to take it from anywhere. Don't come to me and tell me I want to lose weight from my arms. I want to lose weight from my stomach. I want to lose weight from my thighs. I want to keep my thighs and my butt and I want to lose it only from my. It doesn't work like that, because mother nature will determine where you gain weight and mother nature will determine where you lose weight from. So, if you want your belly to go away, you need to lose overall body fat. If you want your arms to go away, you need to lose overall body fat. All right, so back to energy. You're sitting here. You need this much energy in order to stay around the same weight. Hmm, how do I know how much energy I need? Okay, good question, good question. I just recommend go onto Google, dr Google, whatever you want to call it, use any app that you find. They are not going to be accurate. The amount of energy that you need depends on whether you're male or female, depends on your current weight, depends on your activity level and it just depends. It just depends. So you want to plug those numbers in and it will tell you how much energy that you need.

Speaker 1: 17:20

One big mistake that we make is that we say we are very active if we are exercising every single day. That is not true. I exercise once or twice, I would say, per day, and I say I'm exercising about six or all seven days a week. I am still moderately active. Okay, just because there are 24 hours in a day. I cannot say I'm extremely active. I'm not that marathoner who's training, say, four or five in a day. I cannot say I'm extremely active. I'm not that marathoner who's training, say, four or five hours a day. Those people are very active and not me. I'm just putting in one or two hours per day. So I'm moderately active.

Speaker 1: 17:54

If you're exercising just one hour a day, just say you have light activity. That's important. So you get a caloric deficit. That's not too too, too too tight or too harsh. Don't come here eating 1,000 calories per day. It's not a good thing. All right back to how much energy you need.

Speaker 1: 18:11

So now your body tells you. You went into the calculator and it said you need 2,500 calories to stay around the same weight. What do you do? You take 2,500 and subtract 250 or 300. Bring it down to a small caloric deficit. Why is that? If you make too many changes, it tends to backfire. It's not sustainable long-term. We need to lose weight slowly, slowly, slowly, because this is a lifelong change that you're going to make.

Speaker 1: 18:41

I made that mistake one time. I was 300 pounds. I said I am so big I should be able to lose 20 pounds every month for the next three months I was drinking water, I was just eating almost nothing. Not a good thing. Your metabolism is low, it's going to adapt to a lower level, you're not going to be consuming the nutrients that you need and it is not sustainable for life. I recommend 200 to 300 calorie deficit. So if that app said you needed to consume 2,500 calories to stay the same, what I recommend is drop it down to about 2,200. So you expect to lose about half a pound per week. To lose about half a pound per week, that's fine. Imagine 52 weeks in a year and you lose 25 pounds in a year, every year for the next three years. Isn't that nice? It's going to help you not have too much loose skin. It's going to help you to not do so many drastic things that are not sustainable and just make it hard for you to keep on.

Speaker 1: 19:44

I have been on my journey for since 2010, so 12 years now. I made all the mistakes that I could make in the beginning. I mean, I was just up and down. It was a hot mess what I was doing. I was just not really eating as well as I needed to, and when I gave up, I gained all the weight and more. Have you joined some of those weight loss programs? I've done that. I have been able to lose 50 pounds 60 pounds in no time and gain it all back in no time. So you want to make small changes that you can still hold and continue for a long time.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Now that you have figured out your caloric deficit, what is it that you need to be eating, especially as a female in menopause? Number one protein. You need to increase the protein in your diet. And yes, I got a question that muscle mass loss. Can you recover it? Of course you can. Our bodies will always adapt to a new thing. You can train your muscles to not only grow slightly, you can train them to be stronger. The stronger your muscles are, they will help you also with your bones. As we are getting older, our bones are getting thinner. Those of us women, we are losing bone mass and developing osteoporosis if we don't take control. So you want to increase the amount of protein.

Speaker 1: 21:12

Very easy way to look at it without thinking too much is consume 30 to 35 grams of protein per meal, assuming that you are eating three times a day. When I say 30 grams of protein per meal, most people get confused. Is it 30 grams of chicken? Is it 30 grams of milk? What should I eat? All right, this is where you take your little Google back to Google type in the nutrition facts. I do that all the time when I pick up a piece, a packet of chicken. You can either look on the label. If it's there, it will tell you this piece of chicken has 20 grams of protein per serving. That's just a guess. So I like to have food or buy things and look at the weight, total weight. So if it says two and a half pounds of chicken, I would just go into my doctor, google and Google that and figure out how much protein there is in this specific serving of chicken.

Speaker 1: 22:13

All right, this morning I made a protein shake that had 70 grams of protein. In that one protein shake and I'm going to explain it just a little bit further here I had collagen protein, I had whey protein, I had protein from yogurt, so three different and in addition to that I had almond milk, which just has just a little bit of protein. I had that because I'm going to have two meals and my goal is to consume at least 160 grams of protein per day. I'm going to have two meals and one snack all day today, so it's really important. Of course.

Speaker 1: 22:50

You've read in online that your body can only metabolize 40 grams of protein per meal. Is it true? I don't know. I know my body. Sometimes I'm doing a fast, so imagine I could be fasting and eating just one meal per day. In that one meal, I need to have at least 100 grams of protein, because that's my meal. I don't want to be deficient In real life. There's never any one size fits all. Take the information that you learn online and the best thing to do take it to your doctor and say is this good for me? This is what I found online. Get your doctor's advice, get them to clear you for whatever program that you choose to follow. That's the safest thing for you to do. But, women in menopause, you want to be intentional about increasing your protein consumption.

Speaker 1: 23:42

If you make a smoothie, make it protein-based, not fruit-based. I've seen several smoothies online thank you, that have about, I don't know mango, pineapple, lemon, watermelon, apple. This is a recipe. It's all healthy, but of course, it is too much fructose, which is a natural sugar. It's a huge load on your liver, for example. Your liver gets this and it says well, well, well, what's happening? Too much, because your body always has to balance itself. It's going to take all that fructose and say I need to make some fatty acids from this, I need to make some fat. Next thing you know you got a fatty liver. If you've done that too many times for years, and then you go to your doctor they say whoops, your blood work is showing you got a fatty liver. So okay, now consume proteins. Make sure it's safe for you, though.

Speaker 1: 24:30

All right, if you want to be a little bit more technical and you want to lose weight, then per gram per body weight in pounds, you want to consume one gram of protein per body weight in pounds. If you're really that technical person that likes to calculate things, see, we are all different. One gram of protein per body weight in pounds. So what if you were 350 pounds? You cannot consume 350 grams of protein. So if your weight is over 170, that's the magic number. If your weight is over 170, so now go with your ideal weight. What is your ideal weight? Yes, you're 300 pounds, but your ideal weight could be 150. So now you need to consume 150 grams of protein per day, all right. So now we've talked about protein.

Speaker 1: 25:21

Proteins have a nice thermic effect. Have you heard about the thermic effect of food? So if you consume something that's carbohydrate, it just gets into your system real fast. Your body doesn't struggle to break it down. If you consume proteins, like a whole chicken breast that sits here for a minute, your body cranks and needs a little bit of energy to break down that chicken. So that's the thermic effect of food. Proteins have a little higher thermic effect compared to carbohydrates.

Speaker 1: 25:55

All right, what's the next thing that we need to be consuming as women in menopause? This is one that we encourage our children to do, but we forget to do that ourselves. We've got such a high expectation from children, but then we don't apply that to ourselves. It's almost as if I'm now an adult and I'm going to do all the good things for my child. I'm going to put myself last. But you know, if you're flying in a plane airplane, their little lady comes up there and she says hey, if we lose pressure and you need an oxygen mask, go ahead and put your oxygen mask on first before you save your child. So you need to be eating vegetables.

Speaker 1: 26:34

Very important, two and a half servings of vegetables, or three per day. How does that I mean? How do I calculate that? I don't know. All I know is that a handful is good enough. Get a good, nice big handful per meal, every single meal. So if I'm making a smoothie, I put vegetables in and I don't like vegetables, you will be so surprised. I do not like vegetables at all. But what I know is that vegetables contain necessary minerals. They contain just so many necessary things fiber and a lot that's important for us. So you want to consume a nice big handful of vegetables per meal, anything that's not too starchy. There's just so many, from the cruciferous ones, which are so helpful in balancing our hormones broccoli, cauliflower and things like that to the dark green, leafy vegetables that are so, so important for balancing those FSH levels which are too, too high and causing us to store belly fat. So if it's dark, green and leafy, you want to get that in your body as often as you can, at least three times a day dark green, leafy vegetables. So let's see here my my note cards are sticking together.

Speaker 1: 27:47

Next, number three we've talked about protein, we've talked about vegetables, and keep in mind, vegetables are carbohydrates. I do not believe in cutting any food group. You want to consume all three food groups in a reasonable way. All right, the next one here is fat. Once upon a time I went on a low-fat diet. I refused to eat anything that has oil or anything that has fat. I mean, my skin shrank. It was not nice. I mean, I just looked like I don't know what I look like. Well, what I look like was not good. Why is that?

Speaker 1: 28:23

You know the fats, especially the healthy fats. They contain cholesterol. Cholesterol is the basic structure for most of our hormones and our enzymes. You want to consume healthy fats. You want to consume the ones that have essential fatty acids, because it's essential. Your body cannot produce it, so very important that you consume them. So these are the fats that are contained in fatty fish like salmon, things like mackerel trout. Those contain fatty essential fatty acids. Also, the nuts things like peanuts, macadamia nuts, almonds. You won't be careful with nuts, though they pack a few calories. Don't go eating the whole bottle of peanut butter.

Speaker 1: 29:05

I'm a huge peanut butter addict. I'm addicted to anything peanut, whether it's boiled or if it's roasted, or if it's in the nut butter form. I tend to put my head into the container and only come up for air once the container is out, which is why I do not have containers of any of those in my house. Okay, it could be a little bit tedious, but it's what I need to do to protect my investment on my body, aka weight loss over the past since 2010,. And I am keeping it up. So I have learned to buy one serving. They do have those little sachets of peanuts. They have those in the gas station. It says two for 99 cents, one for 69 cents. So one little sachet is 290 calories. That is not a snack, guys. The CDC says anything above 240 calories is a meal. I am aware that a little sachet of peanuts which is 290 calories is a meal, but I gotta have it. So generally I'll eat that and consume a protein shake with it, knowing that that's my meal. But come tonight, another meal, all right.

Speaker 1: 30:15

So you want to really be careful about snacking. You can pack quite a few calories just in your snacks. If you're not thinking, I have women who come into my weight loss clinic. I mean, I see about 30 patients a day when I'm in the weight loss clinic, from the ages of 70 to the youngest it's about seven years old, and I get this from women all the time. Hey dog, I don't eat anything. I don't know why I keep gaining weight. It's in your snacks. Some of these snacks pack a nice big punch of unhealthy carbs, unhealthy fats and too many calories, period. You may not know that snacking may give you more calories than food. So I say, focus on eating quality foods as opposed to snacking. In fact, if you eat quality foods three times a day, then you really want to work hard for moving away from snacks. All right. Number four so we've talked about consuming proteins, vegetables, healthy fats. So with your vegetables, you can add healthy carbohydrates to that. Things like brown rice, quinoa all those healthy carbs are important.

Speaker 1: 31:23

The next thing that you want to do to work against these hormonal changes we've talked about cortisol, which is here because of stress and causing your belly to not sit inside here but to slowly get bigger. I have some of the ladies who are the skinny fat belly. I mean, the legs are this small but the belly is still here. Why is that? Stress, too much stress will do that to you. I'm not saying that the world will magically change itself from being a stressful place to live in. I'm saying that you don't have any control over so many things that are happening. So if you cannot control it, why sit and worry over it?

Speaker 1: 32:01

For my women, who are too stressed out by happenings in the world that we are dutifully concerned about because we are good citizens, I recommend that these women watch TV or watch the news no more than 30 minutes and no more than once a day. It will not change from morning to evening, or whatever happened you could see it again next time. So don't spend too much time feeding yourself with those things that are negative. They can make your stress level increase just a notch over things that you may not have control over. Another thing that you may do to control your stress level is things like meditation. I recommend that everyone wake up just a little bit earlier just to spend time with yourself, pray, meditate and empower yourself with some positive affirmations.

Speaker 1: 32:49

Lastly, this is what I did when I was going through my second divorce and, oh my word. The world was crumbling on me and, yes, I was stopping at the gas station and getting those mashed potatoes that are loaded in butter, and the chicken and the cream corn. Yum, it was delicious, but I was so stressed Every time I thought about it. I thought about it. I thought I needed to eat something. In fact, my brain made me eat something without even thinking. So what you want to do is get some counseling. I've done it. Counseling helps you to bring those things to surface that you really, really stressed up about and give you the coping skills that will help you to be, overall, less stressed, and you're going to dial down those cortisol levels and the belly fat may stop building itself and, in fact, may go away with all the other good things that you are doing. All right. So counseling is not a bad thing. It's not for crazy people, but it's for people who want to improve their life and their mental health in a sensible way. Seek professional help.

Speaker 1: 33:54

Next thing that you want to do is sleep. When I say sleep in my bootcamp, some of the ladies have asked me Dr Yembe, you work 48 hours straight, so how do you sleep? What I tell you is that everything that you do think about being 80% accurate I'm not Jesus Christ. I'm not going to be 100% accurate. If I start thinking of being accurate, that is when I fail. Okay, 80% accuracy is ideal. It's perfect for us who are humans. Okay. So if I don't sleep because I'm working two days straight when I come home. The rest of the time, I want to make sure I am sleeping at least seven to nine hours every day. You want to try and try and try to always do your best how to sleep I'm going to bring that in another video. But you need seven to nine hours of sleep per day to actually dial down your hunger hormones that are produced while you're sleeping.

Speaker 1: 34:54

All right, the next one is exercise, which is my all-time favorite. Except for this morning. I was not motivated to work out, but I worked out anyway, thank you. Three and a half miles of walking and a one-hour powerlifting session after that. But I was so demotivated I was like this is not a good day to work out. Maybe I should just sleep. No, no, don't wait good day to work out, maybe I should just sleep. No, no, don't wait for motivation to work out, just do it. Just do it when you plan to do it.

Speaker 1: 35:23

You really want to be accountable to yourself. You want to do the things that you say you're going to do and don't wait for motivation each time. Sometimes I am, sometimes I am not, but the days that I am not, I do it anyway. I mean, I just say, well, look at the program that I'm going to do and just do it. And sometimes, actually, I get into it halfway through I'm thinking, oh wow, I'm actually loving this, I'm going to stick with it to the end.

Speaker 1: 35:48

So when we talk about exercises, what should we exercise? I see quite a bit of information about resistance exercise. This is true. Imagine that your muscle mass is decreasing because your estrogen level is dropping, and that's what estrogen is doing to us. It only makes sense that picking up some weight and building those muscles back will help you. What if that's not your thing? It doesn't mean don't exercise anyway. What you don't want to do when you're trying to lose weight is to force yourself to do things. It's not sustainable.

Speaker 1: 36:23

Listen, if you're walking is your thing, my best friend, she walks. Every day she walks. When I go to visit her, she makes me walk. I don't like to walk for three hours, but she does that. She walks seven to nine miles every single morning and that's what works for her. Find your thing that you can do for a long time and do it, and in the meantime, add a few things along the way that you like. So if walking is your thing, do it. If it's swimming, do it. If it's climbing a mountain, do it. If it's dancing, do it, do. It's climbing a mountain, do it. If it's dancing, do it. Do the exercises that you can do long-term. Add a little bit of resistance to it, slowly. Don't jump up. If walking is not your thing, don't jump up and go walking for two hours. Well, I mean, after three months, will you still be walking for two hours, maybe not. Do the things that are sustainable for you long term. Whatever it is, do that thing and then learn a few new things along the way.

Speaker 1: 37:25

Lastly, water. Okay, our bodies are made of water. I did not say alkaline water. I have had so many questions about alkaline water. I'm going to touch very briefly on that. Your body has alkaline, so your body has a different acidity depending on what part of the body I'm looking at. My mouth has a different acidity, my lungs have a different acidity, so my stomach is different, the vagina is different, the skin is different. The acidity or alkalinity is different. So now, why are you telling me to alkalinize my whole body?

Speaker 1: 37:59

I just don't know. It just doesn't make no sense to me personally. Now, I'm just saying I don't know everything in the whole wide world. Okay, I'm just saying to me personally, it doesn't make sense that I have to alkalinize my stomach and my whole body in order to be healthy. I'm what of diseases like cancer and everything? Hello, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, I want the way god made me, with different acidity parts, to stay that way. All I know is that eating the healthy things will help me stay healthy.

Speaker 1: 38:33

It all really boils down to what we consume, though. So long as you go as natural as possible, do it. Now. I do have some ladies in my clinic. Example they have a fixed income, they have transportation that comes to the house once a month. They're trying everything possible to lose weight. I've got a couple of ladies who have a very small space in the refrigerator corner that they use, and that's all they have. These ladies, power to you for trying to keep healthy.

Speaker 1: 39:03

What I tell them is go to the grocery store, get the canned vegetables Before you consume them, rinse them out. That's the way that you can consume vegetables. I mean, you can't go and buy and they only get to go to the market once a month. You can't go and get all the fresh vegetables, waste your money because when you come home after three days, they're gone Again. You just have to look at yourself. We're all different. Some of us can get fresh vegetables We've got a place to store them. Some of us can get frozen We've got a place to store them. Some of us can't. So go with the can, do you and do the things that are sustainable for you long-term in order for you to stay healthy.

Speaker 1: 39:45

Now let's talk about the last thing. So talk about water. Drinking water is very important. Our bodies are made up of water A lot, a lot of water. So you must drink water to lose weight.

Speaker 1: 39:58

I don't like to drink water. I mean, I must confess, in fact, I don't like vegetables. I don't like water. I consume them anyway. But I got to play a few tricks on my taste buds. Okay, I do quite a few infusions chop cucumbers, chop lemon, chop ginger, chop anything that I can chop when it comes to vegetables, even mint, and throw it in water. Let it sit there for quite some time and drink it. Yes, yes, yes, I have ice. Pour that and drink the ice water. Get as much water if you want. You're drinking pineapple juice. No, sister, big mistake. Do not drink fruit juice Again, remember fruit juice, just plain fruit juice. Even if it is healthy, even if it is organic, just straight fruit juice has too much sugar, too much fructose. Do not drink juice as a substitute for water. It's not the same thing. That's too much fructose, too much.

Speaker 1: 40:53

I had a question here about grass fed. Yes, I do consume grass fed beef. I just think that the cows are fed more healthy things. That's just what I think All right. So not everybody in my clinic can afford the grass fed things, because they do come with a little bit more of money. You got to pay just a little bit more. So I say just buy the beef that you can purchase. Get it as lean as possible before you eat it. If you see the fat, take it off and throw it in the trash, can? You don't need that. You don't need that animal fat. So do what is sustainable for you when it comes to your budget, long, long term.

Speaker 1: 41:34

I did get a question, though, again also about the yogurt. Yogurt is just one of those things that make an exception. Go with the one that is not flavored. Why is that For the manufacturer to make those flavored yogurts that are more tasty, that are more palatable for you, they put in too much sugar. So you want to go with a plain yogurt, whatever you can afford, and if you can go, with the Greek yogurt. So I'm just going with the questions that I'm seeing here. All right, go with the grass-fed if you can afford it. If you cannot, no problem. Lady, you're fine with eating just anything that you can get over the counter. When it comes to healthy, let's see, let's see.

Speaker 1: 42:15

Somebody talked about. Can you drink water with adding the little sachets in there, the little sachets of crystal light? Hello, just because it says zero calories doesn't mean it doesn't have energy. Why is it that some of these things that have Splenda say no calorie? That's not true, because one teaspoon of Splenda has about three calories, so it's got some calories to it. You want to factor it in In addition to that, because some of them are too, too sweet, even though the calorie content is not as much. Even though the calorie content is not as much, it does trigger something inside our system when it comes to hormones and how your brain pleasure system works. It makes you eat more fatty or more sugary things through the rest of the day. So whatever you're consuming should not be too sweet. That said, yes, of course I say if you're just so used to it, so used to it, because our bodies do not do well with drastic changes. So instead of putting a whole packet of the crystal light, put in just maybe one half or one fourth and your body gets used to it slowly. Drastic changes are not good. All right, talking about supplements, I'm going to read this real quick. We're almost out of time, thank you. Thank you to everyone for watching Supplement number one supplement is vitamin D.

Speaker 1: 43:37

Okay, now the sun is here, we are in the summertime. If you're spending about 30 minutes in the middle of the day at a hundred degrees, directly under the sun, you're getting all the vitamin D that you need is being produced in your skin. You are fine. But if you are not and you're like me I'm working indoors mostly and I'm staying indoors mostly then I take one vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D is a pro-hormone. It really helps you with almost everything, from depression, anxiety and weight loss. Take vitamin D that's the biggest one. The rest of them and weight loss. Take vitamin D that's the biggest one, the rest of them.

Speaker 1: 44:13

Please talk to your doctor. Some of these things are not for everyone. In fact, we check in the clinic. Your doctor should be checking your vitamin D levels once a year. Once a year because they can prescribe you vitamin D. It's not enough. The rest of it, though, is just supplements over the counter. We have myo-anositol that helps with hot flashes. Check with your doctor. It's not for everyone. Royal Bee honey also helps with hot flashes. It's not for everyone. Check with your doctor also. Other things like zinc magnesium also helps with muscle recovery and soreness, helps with your bowel. May not be for you. I mean, some of the cardiac patients already have either low or high magnesium. Always, always check with your doctor before you consume something by someone like me who recommended it online.

Speaker 1: 44:54

I don't have your numbers. I don't know what your blood work looks like. The B vitamins are so important though. They help with our nerves. They help with our energy levels. I say as a female. What I do is I go to the pharmacy and get one multivitamin for women above the age of 50. And I assume it has everything in there that I know that I should have. So I take a multivitamin. Me personally, I take that once a day. All right.

Speaker 1: 45:20

Hormone replacement Let me tell you that is a topic I have never been on. Hormone replacement. I thought about it, of course, and I've made an appointment to go do it, but I didn't do it because I have a family on hormone replacement. I thought about it, of course, and I've made an appointment to go do it, but I didn't do it because I have a family history of breast cancer and I thought it was just not a smart idea for me personally. So before you consider hormone replacement, get your doctor to calculate your risk factor for cardiac disease. Some women who have a higher risk factor for cardiac disease do not qualify anyway. Some women who have a higher risk factor for cardiac disease do not qualify anyway. In addition to that, they'll measure your hormone levels and they'll see whether or not you need hormone replacement.

Speaker 1: 45:56

If you're thinking about hormone replacement, think about it early, as in when you just get into menopause, so late 40s and things. The earlier you start the better. If it's for you, I'm not against it. It's a choice that you make, your body, your decisions. You make those decisions for yourself. But if you're thinking about hormone replacement, keep in mind hormone replacement has been studied for helping with menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and things like that, maybe mood swings. They have not been studied to help you lose weight. So don't go taking the hormone replacement to say, all right, I know my estrogen levels are dropping, so my muscle mass is dropping, so I want estrogens to help me lose weight. It doesn't work like that. It's not going to slap your hand and make you drop the chocolate. Don't do that. It's really for the symptoms that we experience. When it comes to hormones, again, see a specialist who may measure your hormone levels they should and then they'll recommend what really should work for you. All right, I've had a lot of questions also about bioidentical hormones.

Speaker 1: 47:03

Bioidentical hormones are just hormones that are made in some laboratory. Hormones are just hormones that are made in some laboratory and they claim to have a chemical structure as close as possible to the hormones that are manufactured in the pharmacy. That's the only difference they are not FDA regulated, meaning that they are like vitamins I can go and purchase the vitamin. It's also not FDA regulated. But the bioidentical hormones are those that are manufactured. Most of them have a soy-based production and they seem to have a more ability to be titrated to the level of hormones that you actually require, meaning that the doctor will draw your blood, plug in your hormone levels into a calculator and then it calculates out what you require to be implanted in you. Most of these bioidentical hormones they come in as, say, an implant, so maybe like a little grain of rice that is implanted under your skin, most of the time in your hip mostly, or in the belly, rarely in the arm, but it's implanted under the skin and it can release a slow, sustained amount of hormone for quite some time. So those are the bioidentical hormones.

Speaker 1: 48:22

Like I said, everyone is different. I am not against hormones, do you and the things that you think are best for you, but, that said, if you have a history of breast cancer or a family history of breast cancer or a high risk for cardiac disease, I probably will not be going with hormones of any kind at all. Don't do it. Don't do it, just don't do it. It's just not safe. In addition to that, if you have a known history, meaning if you have had a blood clot in the past, hormones may not be for you. Go think about these other natural remedies. All right, I think this is the end of my talk. If you have any questions, please go and follow me on Instagram. I have a page on TikTok and I have another page on YouTube, so go follow me there so that when I put some information out, you could be informed.

Speaker 1: 49:17

In my lifestyle, I was that child that was born at 10 pounds. It seemed like I hit the world already, grew up into obese childhood, obese adult. I had my two children and I got bigger. With each child Hit about 300 pounds at my highest. I stopped weighing myself when I was this close to 300 and I said whoa, that's it For me. I'm not going to weigh myself.

Speaker 1: 49:40

In 2010, I lost my brother. I watched my dad, who is now off late. I watched him bury my brother. At that time I was pre-diabetic, my cholesterol was 300 and my blood pressure was high and I was the perfect recipe for another disaster. So I told myself I never want to watch my dad bury another child. That was my turning point and I made a decision to change things. I've made all the mistakes that you may be making now If you want to say what you've done when it comes to any fat diet or any extreme exercise. I've done it all and more, and my goal now is just to help people like you, especially women who are perimenopausal or menopausal lose weight and get healthy. So that's one of the reasons why I do what I do. In addition to that, you motivate me, you help me stay on my journey, so it is because of you that I am here. You help me, I help you, so I want to thank you. Thank you. That's Facebook closing down and Instagram. Thank you, bye.

Speaker 2: 50:51

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Thriving Through Menopause. We hope you found valuable insights and practical advice to support your journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast, share it and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Remember, menopause doesn't have to be a challenge. It can be an opportunity for growth, renewal and self-care. Connect with us on social media, where we share additional resources, tips and advice to help you along your path. Once again, thanks for listening in and we hope you'll join us again on the next episode of Thriving Through Menopause. Until then,