Naturally Banish Belly Fat: Simple Steps for a Slimmer Waist & Healthier Life

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Are you seeking that ray of hope to finally conquer your weight loss journey and maintain a healthier you?

Ready to leave behind the feeling of hopelessness and embrace the chance to shed those stubborn pounds for good?

Let's take the confusion out of this process and get super simple on what works in menopause to shrink your waistline and regain your vibrant health; what you put on the end of your fork everyday matters. Making choices of good foods, whole foods, healing foods, and hormone-supporting foods will bring positive change in your body, but that's not all. Strength training twice weekly is essential to shrinking fat cells and increasing your metabolic rate. But a few more critical areas in your life are needle movers. Once you have created your fat-loss food plan and have a routine for strength training, you can start working on lifestyle factors. Sleep, Movement, and Stress play a considerable role in your belly fat gain and loss. When these three areas are out of balance, you will experience a rise in cortisol levels. High cortisol levels lead to belly fat storage, inflammation, and eventually unwanted aging genes. 

Menopause ≠ Sleep 

Sleeping in menopause is a tricky season. Declining hormones cause hormonal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and night waking that disrupt sleep cycles. Working on getting a good night's sleep (and yes, it will likely take work) is paramount to your health and aging. This sometimes elusive lifestyle factor affects your mood and can increase your appetite. Women who don't get enough sleep have a more challenging time losing weight. Their cortisol levels are elevated in the morning, causing higher cravings. Sleep tells your body to make more growth hormones, crucial to longevity and aging. 

Instead of focusing on how much or how little sleep you get each night. Shift your efforts to creating a sleep routine. You may not be able to control when and for how long you sleep, but you can manage your awake hours to set yourself up best for good sleep. 

Creating your Sleep routine:

• Exercise before lunch - don't spike your cortisol levels by workout later in the day. 
• Wind down at night - there is a better time to deep clean or start a new project. 
• Go to bed earlier - give yourself lots of time in bed to rest. 
• Soak in an Epsom salt bath - boost your magnesium and calm your nerves while pumping your lymphatic system.
• Get off the devices and screens - blue light is a sleep disruptor. Wear blue light-blocking glasses or limit your screen usage after supper.
• Start bioidentical hormone therapy - progesterone can be a game-changer for sleep. Get tested with a Functional medicine doctor to see if this is a good option.
• Support your liver - stress on your liver can exhibit as night waking. Support natural detox with Epsom salt baths, castor oil packs, and liver-supporting herbs and supplements.
• Limit wine after supper - alcohol is one of the biggest sleep disruptors.
• Meditate - I use a meditation app to calm me during night-waking episodes and help me fall asleep.
• Deep Breathing
• Sun in the morning - help reset your Circadian rhythm by getting sunlight in your eyeballs right after you wake.
• Magnesium - most of us are deficient. Choose a good supplement like Magnesium Glycinate to help your body rest and restore.
• Melatonin - proven to help you fall asleep. Try a capsule or liquid.

All of these are helpful but may only partially solve your sleep issues. Keep trying, don't give up! Getting sleep is essential. If you are still struggling after changing your sleep routine, you may need more support and help. Seek the advice of a Functional Medicine doctor.

Power of Walking

I didn't understand how important daily movement was until I started reading studies about women in menopause who were struggling with weight gain. One study focused on two groups of women in menopause. One group led a sedentary lifestyle with little daily movement; the second group prioritized walking and daily activity. Guess which group was at a higher risk of disease? The sedentary one, of course! The study found that the women who moved had better mental capacity and experienced increased cardiovascular health. 

It's time to get intentional. 

Incorporate little acts of movement throughout your day. Park farther away from store entrances, take the stairs, not the elevator, and create exercise breaks by taking a 10-minute walk every 2 hours. Cleaning counts! Get the vacuum or broom going and watch those daily steps grow. Dust off your treadmill and see a decrease in your blood sugar and insulin numbers just by getting active.

Solve the stress

If this were easy, we wouldn't still be talking about it. Stress is a thief. It will steal your calming hormones, steal your peace, steal your sleep, steal your plans and steal your health. There is no magic pill to solve a body in and under stress. And yet, there is no way to eliminate stress in life, and some seasons have much stress. Stress causes your cortisol to spike, so you must take small steps to reduce stress and manage life stressors. 

Proper fueling lowers cortisol's impact on your blood sugar levels. Bring support and healing back to your body by eating healthy carbs in the right setting. Energizing meals combine lean protein and healthy carbs, soothing your system during high stress. 

• Don't exercise too much.
• Daily movement is necessary, but listen to what your body tells you this season.
• Are you creating more stress with the exercises you are doing?
• Listen to your body so you understand what you need.
• Supplementation and sleep help your body deal with stress but reducing stress is key. 
• Allow your brain to get creative to find ways to reduce stress. Can you delegate tasks or responsibilities? What can you let go of? Can you say yes to your health by saying no to things of less importance? 

Stress and high cortisol are considerable contributors to belly fat. Not taking care of yourself in this way impacts your body and accelerates aging.

Realizing a slim waistline and a stronger body is not a one-size fits all answer. What you eat, how you move, sleep, and how you feel all factor into your body's ability to shed extra inches and pounds. 

Take small steps to work on your midlife weight loss and health. Your body needs this work, and you are worth this effort. 

Imagine what it would be like to have energy, feel good, be empowered, and show up for the people you love. 

Make that vision happen.