Hi Kathy!
Most definielty Hormones can do "Mean" things to our bodies! Whether it's the pill, premature menopause or menopause itself! It can happen early in the 20's and up! It happens because hormone levels are shifting. Lower levels of estrogen cause a variety of physical side effects. First, because estrogen is stored in fat, when you enter menopause whether naturally or through surgery, your body responds by holding on to fat cells in an effort to boost the lagging estrogen levels. The result? It’s tougher to lose fat and much easier to keep the pounds on. Second, as estrogen levels drop, your level of androgens the "male" hormones increases in relation to the estrogen. Unopposed by the higher levels of estrogen your body used to have, the androgens produce male characteristics in this case, the shift in body fat from your hips, thighs and buttocks to your midsection, resulting in the "apple" shape that is more common in men and in postmenopausal women .
As for your main concern dealing with menopause it is a known fact that as we get older our muscle mass decreases and bodyfat increases leading to a decrease in our metabolism and a redistribution of body mass especially the thickening of the waist! It's inevitable but controllable!
There are three very basic things you can do to help fight the changes in your body brought on by changing hormone levels:
1) Boost your hormone levels through Hormone Replacement Therapy or natural supplements
2) Eat correctly
3) Exercise regularly
If you don't take hormones there are still ways to boost your estrogen levels and help reverse that weight gain. Phytoestrogens which are high in foods and supplements like soy and flaxseed can help you raise your estrogen levels the natural way. They're not as potent as replacing hormones. But they still can make a difference. Think about adding soy foods to your diet, putting ground flaxseed in salad or taking the early route and getting supplements like flaxseed or red clover capsules from your health food store.
As for your main question "what can I do to get my curvy waist back again?" You have to firstly get a balance in your hormones to get past the sticking point of getting rid of the stubborn fat that's been hanging around!
The hormones are "responsible" for the "disappearing waistline" that so many women experience. When you replace estrogen, your body reverts to its normal weight-distribution, which for most women means putting weight on in their hips, thighs and lower abdomen instead of the middle!
I hope this info enlightened you a lil bit about our bodies during hormonal changes, it really is important for us as woman to be educated on these changes in our bodies for mental reasons as well as physical! It's a part of life that we have to deal with and having body awareness will make the adjustment for us not enjoyable but slightly easier!
I'll go into your other question of ab exercises but I'd like to share a personal experience with you and others who are interested !
I been down this hormone road before when I switched birth control pills! I too got a thicker waist( from hormones) and I thought it was my weighted ab routine ! My dr had me going crazy trying to convince me that I was fine just because my weight was the same. Well I wasn't fine, my body didn't feel right, I knew it and still stuck it out for 3 months following drs orders! Now my weight was 2 lbs lighter BUT my bodyfat was up! I could pinch an inch and it wasn't because I wasn't eating Special K! I was doing everything right eating training,sleeping! Couldn't figure it out, of course I blamed the pills , I just wasn't feeling myself ! So, I took a pregnancy test (it was negative)! I had it with this pill, Now my dr gives me a new pill, and Oh my now my boobs got bigger ! The dr told me that's because I still have the other pill in my sytem and the new one also but I'll adjust in time, it made sense to me so i waited the 3 months again for this new pill to kick in as told by the dr and I still just didn't dig the way I felt so I just stopped taking them completely! I had to do what felt right to me and I didn't want to keep messing with my system experimenting which pill will work for me! I stayed off the pill for 6 months and let me tell you in 2 weeks I was back in the swing of things! All that water was out of me and the stress (which I know helped with the accumalation of the fat in my midsection- it was soo frustrating)! But Now, I am on a new pill and adjusted well, I personally had to attack this from a different angle! Knowing what I've been through , I knew I needed a change in what I was doing! Yes I was doing everything right but it wasn't TOTALLY right for what changes I was going through at the time, (since my body was changing with the hormones), I changed my workouts extremely and broke them up with am cardio to pm weights plus my eating was slightly different with more healthy fats(flaxseed) and more carefully planned( due to my different activities)! I breezed through this hormone phase and I personally believe it was from taking a positive approach and taking charge of what needed to be done to blast the fat before it stuck! So I know what you are going through , I've been there and got through it! Even though I'll be down this road again , I'm now prepared to make what changes are needed to maintain my fitness level! I hope you are too, We just have to work Smarter!
Now For others who have questions about thick waists and emailed me with ab questions and it's not your hormones there are soo many other factors that can contribute to this! Genetics play a huge role !
As for the concerns with the intensity series, it's very" athletic" and provides functional training for everyday activities! There are alot of core trunk stabilization exercises and weighted resistance work to help build a stong core,back and improve overall posture! These exercises are beneficial in making the trunk stronger even though they do tend to make us broader! Ever notice an athlete with a curvy waist, yes there are some but the majority have a muscular midsection to help them with there overall performances! That's what the intensity series is training like an athlete!(JMHO)
Now when it comes to the ab training , It's not just the One thing you do, it's about EVERYTHING That you do!Very important, Remember this: The Best abs are made in the kitchen! This is the main bodypart that shows how hard you really work and shows areas where you can be lacking! To have a tight midsection you have to work on lowering your bodyfat levels, eat a healthy diet, do cardio and strength training for overall symetry and get REST along with staying stress free! If you think you are doing everything right and you are still accumalating fat, you have to RE-EVALUATE everything! Something is NOT adding up, (some things to ponder on)You say you eat well, it may not be what you are eating but WHEN you are eating it? Are you eating enough and frequently in small portions? Also are you as active as you were, have you been more sedantary than before and are still consuming the same calories? Have you been under stress? Lack of sleep? Are you really working in your target heart rate to get the maximum benefits out of your cardio workouts? Have you created a program that will reach YOUR goals? Have you been realistic in your goals and given your body a chance to respond to your training?Are you overtraining or not training enough? Just some questions to ponder, we should all do this when we are unsatisfied in our training or are stumped of why we are not having any progress or going backwards! We all have to step back, take a breather and re-evaluate our goals now and then! Keep a clear mind, stay in tune with your body and go from there! Again, If this is a hormonal problem, just knowing will give you a better understanding of your body and relieve stress! You can take charge of this, you'll just have to work harder at knowing what will keep challenging your body, a program that suits "your" needs not a one size fits all program! Stay active and keep eating right,& your body will adjust and balance itself out! Stay in Charge!
As for my suggestions on an ab work program ,(not knowing your full ab routine now) stop doing what you are doing for 3 weeks! Start with a different ab time, if you do your ab work after your workouts do it before your workouts for 3 weeks !Focus on basic ab work and focus on your breathing, nothing fancy, no planks,no weighted resistance, no ball, do high rep training for 6-10 mins 4-6 x a week (if you were only doing them 3-4 x a week) , do( 3 sets of 20 first week, 4 sets of 20 2nd week and 5 sets of 20 the third week) reverse crunches, & lateral ab moves for obliques and upper crunches. Each week change the order you do the exercises too! The reps are not done fast but with concentration ,focus and intensity! Use your mind to focus in on your goals! If you WANT the 6 pack, PICTURE that 6 pack and BELIEVE in that 6 pack!
Now for your Cardio ,(gotta do cardio to burn the fat) it is all about understanding your heart rate and where it needs to be for what your particular goal is. To get the most out of cardio , you need to understand your heart rate and know where it needs to be for your particular goal (in between 65 to 85% max HR for maximum fat burning)! If you have a HR monitor Try to Increase your intensity of your workouts now by 5% ! Some Great cardio options focusing on your abs are jumping rope,running, kickboxing, and shadow boxing!
Also you will want to crosstrain, or your body will quickly become very efficient at a given movement--meaning that it expends fewer cals per minute--which means you have to work much harder to burn the same amount of cals in a workout. The problem is that you can start tapping into muscle mass, which will slow your metabolism down. By Kicking up your cardio with "intensity" it will help overall tone and introduce metabolic improvements to burn bodyfat! Also Doing High intensity interval training can be demanding on our overall system so perform no more than 3x per week til you reach your goal and then switch up again with your routine. This will keep the body from acclimating to these cardio workouts, you should then alternate an interval session with one of lower intensity (longer duration) in between the shorte duration. Mixing up the intervals keeps the body from adapting!(There is "no "time limit for cardio, either shorter or longer.) Short interval training is not better than long slow cardio or vice versa for that matter. Truth is you need to do both. As you should cycle weight training, you should also cycle cardio efforts, both in time and intensity. Speaking of weight training, When doing weighted exercises go for compound exercises, high-reps if you were currently doing heavy and slow. There ARE all different applications for training programs but it should depend upon one's current fitness level. Remember, It's not a "one-size-fits-all" system. You have to have a goal, make a plan that suits your needs, know when you goal has been met and when it's time to challenge your body!
I hope this info was helpful in giving you a better understanding about our hormones and what our abs "need" to be there best!
PS if you do the mini ab program above it is just a 3 week cycle progressing in intensity, when complete do something else!
PSS as a recommendation of a fatblaster rotation
Sun Circuitmax
Mon Cardiokicks
TuesPowerhour
WedPowermax
Thurs Cardio guerilla **with MIS upperbody(focus on strength)
Fri-leaner legs
Sat Off
If you are unfamiliar with cardio guerilla it is a 12min intense cardio burst that helps attack even more stubborn abdominal fat! -It can also be used for~stationary bike~swimming~sprinting~jump rope~ treadmill~stepper~elliptical~etc~
**Cardio Guerilla fat blaster 12 mins
Do a "4 Min warm up" (stretching all your leg muscles, then arms, some waist twists and neck rolls)jump on the bike do "12 cardio guerilla~Minutes 1-4 warm up @50%of perceived maximum effort MINUTE 5 sprint for 20 secs~rest for 10 secs~sprint for 20 secs~rest for 10 secs MINUTE 6(same) sprint 20-rest 10 sprint 20 rest 10 MINUTE 7(same )MINUTE 8 (same) MINUTES 9-12 Cool down @50% of perceived maximum effort.
or (14 mins)
4 min warm up
30 sec sprint 10 sec recovery
do this 9xs total
4 min cool down (maybe throw in some walking lunges for a 2 min)
Next idea of upping the sprint
4 min warm up
45 sec sprint 20 sec recovery
do this 5 xs total
sprint for 30 secs(give it your all-last one)15 sec recover
4 min cool down
