Middle Age Weight Gain and How to Avoid It!

Many women in their youth, teens, 20's and even 30's, will have no problem managing their weight or losing excess pounds when they make an effort to do so. It's around middle age when all of a sudden it seems that their old tactics for weight loss or weight management no longer work, and worse, they seem to be gaining weight faster than ever. In my coaching practice, this is when I most often here the phrase, "It all feels so out of control!!"

I have studied healthy weight management for 15 years and have counseled hundreds of women on healthy weight management. One thing I know for sure is in this industry, nothing stays the same and there are a lot of mixed messages.

Low fat, low carb, lifestyle change, weight watchers, Jenny Craig, margarine is good for you, margarine is bad for you, fitness is the key, set points, food points, blah, blah, blah.

I have followed it all, made my own conclusions that I have determined from my education and experience were the right conclusions, and that have worked for me personally to maintain my weight for 21 years.

Then I hit midlife. All of a sudden, my body started expanding! My clothes began to get tight and I went up a size. I was still doing all the same things I've always done, so what was happening to me?

I searched for answers. I part of me started to just accept the weight gain as a natural component of getting older, but another part of me resisted this kind of thinking. There had to be another explanation for why I was gaining weight, other than my changing middle age metabolism.

What I found from my search was shocking. All the time, in my 20's 30's and 40's, I followed what I thought was a healthy way of eating according to medical science, the American Heart Association and the the popular medical journals. I ate a diet that consisted of mostly carbs, fruits, vegetables, and grains, about 20-30% of the "good" fats, and about 20-30% lean proteins. I didn't deprive myself of my favorite foods, I just ate them in moderation. I also had a few bad habits, but felt my good habits out weighed them. I drank caffeinated coffee and had developed the habit of having a glass of wine or two with my dinner every evening.

What I learned is that exact diet has done a lot of damage to me physically over all those years of trying to be so "good"!! Even though it seemed to be working, damage was being done on a cellular level from my over consumption of carbs and stimulants (caffeine and alcohol) and it was only a matter time that this imbalance would make it self known with sudden weight gain and intense menopausal symptoms. So, actually, I can thank menopause for this discovery and the start of reversing the damage!

Here are some of the things I learned:

1. Eating a low fat diet can make you fat!

o Eating dietary fat is essential for the regeneration of healthy tissues, hormone production, a healthy immune system and for maintaining ideal body composition.

o A low fat diet, when combined with a high carbohydrate intake leads to insulin resistance and accelerated metabolic aging.

o Fats that you eat do not turn into fat on your body because fat cannot be stored without the presence of insulin because insulin is the key to opening up the doors to store fat in fat cells. No matter how much fat you eat, it does not stimulate the pancreas to secrete insulin! Only too many refined carbs can do that!

o When you are constantly watching your fat intake, you naturally fill in with foods that contain carbohydrates. When you take in mostly carbs, you have high levels of blood sugar being delivered to your liver. All your liver knows is it needs to protect your brain from getting too much sugar, so when it is done distributing the sugar where it is needed for energy, the rest gets stored as fat.

2. You can eat as much as you want without worrying about weight gain.

o Your body can and will regulate the amounts of fat and protein you digest, but it cannot regulate the amount of carbs you consume. When you eat too much sugar (all carbs turn into sugar in the body), your body over produces insulin which leads to plaguing of the arteries, heart disease, and in diabetes.

3. Butter is good for you. Ha!

o Eating saturated fats like butter increases the proportion of HDL's in the bloodstream. This is good because HDL's take cholesterol back to the liver and keep your arteries clean.

o The cells of the body cannot recognize or metabolize "damaged" fats. Damaged fats include processed fats, polyunsaturated fats used for cooking, deep fried foods, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (margarines), and charred fats on meats.

4. Not all carbs are bad, but not all "whole grains" are good.

o Sounds confusing, but really it's not. Any carbs in excess raises insulin levels. The best carbs to eat are whole grains, legumes, starchy and non-starchy vegetables and fruit. Avoid man-made carbs, including whole wheat processed breads. Fresh baked bread is preferable because it contains no additives, (but not very convenient, so eat whole grain breads from the bakery.)

o Always eat any carbs along with fat or protein to slow down the digestion of the carbs into sugar and keep the levels of insulin balanced.

5. Balance is the key.

o This is not a high protein, low carb program. That way of eating causes excessive ketones in the blood. This is extremely dangerous because your body is breaking down healthy tissue and causing imbalances in the body.

o Fast and healthy are not synonymous when it comes to losing body fat. Losing body fat in a healthy way means your metabolism is working to use your stored fat as energy. To lose body fat, you need to heal your metabolism so it becomes more efficient at using fat for fuel.

o The fact is you must eat to become healthy and achieve your ideal body composition. And it takes time. Optimum health is not about losing weight. It's about balance and shifting your focus away from numbers on the scale or measuring foods to the things that really matter-improved mood, more energy, a healthier, more efficient metabolism and a lifetime of all the above!

o Eating a variety of foods, never skipping meals, and eating "real" foods, is the best way to achieve balance.

o Eat all the good fats, proteins, non-starchy vegetables your body needs and eat enough whole grain, non-processed carbs according to your current level of activity. More active people need more carbs.

Since making an effort to include more real fats, better carbs, and non-processed fresh and organic foods into my diet, I have noticed my energy and moods improve, my weight has stabilized and gone back down some, and I am feeling generally healthier and just better mentally knowing I am healing the damage done from years of eating the wrong "healthy" foods.

By Debra Betterly
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