Menopause Weight Loss - Helpful and Healthy Ways to Tackle Those Extra Pounds

When you're looking for menopause weight loss, it's hard to know where to start.

The first thing to think about is YOU. What kind of person are you? Do you like to follow a step-by-step regime, or would a more fluid, freer approach to menopausal weight loss work for you?

There are thousands of approaches to the quest to shedding excess flab, from slimming diets to intuitive eating, and they all have their fans. Take a look at this list, and see which tactics appeal to you in the fight against gaining.

Slimming diets

A thorny subject, this, because the bottom line is that Slimming Diets Don't Work.

Yes, you could lose weight if you can stick to your chosen diet for long enough. But the real trick lies in maintaining that weight loss once you've reached your goal, and if you've been a lifelong dieter you'll know how hard that is.

One study, reported in 2004 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that 79% of the women studied, despite numerous diets, had not kept the weight off. Only 9% had lost 20 pounds (9 kg) or more and not regained.

Another disadvantage of slimming diets, particularly crash or fad diet regimes, is that they are bad news for your longterm health, and deprive you of essential nutrients if you follow them for any length of time.

If you still want to follow a slimming diet, and think that you could have the determination to maintain any menopause weight loss you make in this way, then look for a well-respected diet that has a support system built in, and that relies on a pattern of healthy eating that you'd be happy to follow for ever.

Intuitive eating

The phrase intuitive eating was coined by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in their book of the same name. It's a psychological approach to the whole question of food and the role it plays in our lives. As you learn to eat intuitively, you throw out diets and start listening to the cues your own body gives you when you decide when and what to eat.

Intuitive eating is a great method to follow if you love the idea of taking a holistic approach, one which reshapes your thought patterns, and which in turn can gently lead to a re-shaping of your body.

Adding exercise

Get used to this message, because it's the mantra of this site, Beat Menopause Weight Gain.

Ladies, Sisters, fellow midlife women - we have GOT to get up and get moving! Addressing your eating habits IS important, of course. Menopause weight loss is an impossibility if you are quietly stuffing yourself with cream cakes, chocolate and junk food - but you know that, and the fact that you've arrived at this site shows that you're ready to start eating differently.

That's fantastic, but don't stop there. Exercise can kickstart and fuel your drive to lose weight, AND it can improve your health and mobility into the long, long term. It can also help to relieve depression.

Don't you owe that to yourself, and to those others, whether your family or members of society at large, who would be called upon to care for you, if you became too weak to care for yourself in later years? Keep strong and fit now, and you can stave off that moment for many years to come.

Healthier eating

Make the switch to healthier eating one step at a time, especially if your current diet needs a thorough makeover!

For example, to start with you could switch one healthy snack every day from an unhealthy choice - chocolate biscuit, bag of crisps - to something healthier like an apple or a couple of oatcakes.

When that healthy eating habit is established, move on to another one. Try these 10 healthy eating tips to help you avoid weight gain with menopause.

Using books and DVDs

There is so much information available that can help you with menopause weight loss.

There are some excellent books on eating, diet and exercise, as well as numerous DVDs.

When you decide which ones to go for, avoid anything that promises 'instant results', 'fast weight loss'...or anything else that you know, in your heart of hearts, is impossible.

The best approach by far to menopause weight loss is to go for a realistic weight loss goal, shed weight slowly and permanently through healthy eating coupled with exercise.

Go to Beat Menopause Weight Gain Home Page. Or go back to the top of Menopause Weight Loss.