How to Stay in Shape During Menopause

With an increase in Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and a decrease in estrogen, the recipe is ripe for a woman to gain significant weight around the mid-section. While appetite increases and moods fluctuate, the best course, is a strict diet and exercise regime to counteract weight gain and ultimately depression.

Things You'll Need

• Fruits, vegetables
• Walking and running shoes

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Instructions

• 1

  Walk away from the refrigerator when you're feeling blue. Sit in a chair, allowing the breeze of a window to calm you. Realize that with the rapid drop in estrogen, your body is craving sweets and carbohydrates and you are experiencing depression. The sweets only provide a temporary high, and you are bound to come crashing down within an hour.

• 2

  Know your body. Women can go through menopause any time after age 35, but it's most commonly part of a woman's life at age 51 or 52. The years preceding this are called periomenopause, during which the hormonal shifts in your body are causing a penchant for dramatic mood swings and weight gain. If you get your doctor to take blood samples and assess your hormonal levels--of estrogen, FSH and perhaps lutenizing hormone--you will at least know what you have. An FSH score of about 14 and over means your body is starting ovarian failure (menopause).

• 3

  Treat yourself to natural sweets. It's amazing how great watermelon tastes. Ditto raisins, nuts, whole grain bread with raspberry jam and fresh oranges. Eat well.

• 4

  Exercise. If you can't afford to join a gym, start a regular walking regime. Walk at least an hour a day, six days a week. Listen to music for inspiration. The high you feel while walking fast, especially if you live near the beach or mountains, is phenomenal.

• 5

  Make peace with yourself. A woman's body goes through a dramatic, torturous process in her 40s and 50s. In a society that values youth and fitness, seeing the body change and feeling the uncomfortable rush of unwelcome hormones is rattling. And no matter how evolved you are, no matter how many degrees you have, it's difficult. Women often feel less "womanly" because of the loss of fertility. The more you can accept and embrace the change, the more you'll value the life you still have to live--to its fullest.