Midlife changes???

[MRSchultz]

I know we've had threads on this before, but I am completely amazed at how my body is changing (and not for the good ) as I am getting older. I'm only 38 (almost 39) and can tell that things are 'changing' drastically.

I am much more tired than normal, my body gains weight A LOT faster and in the middle now where a flat stomach used to be, fatigue is huge, appetite is much bigger, etc. etc. etc......and I haven't even hit night sweats or hot flashes or anything........

WHAT DO YOU DO???? I'm feeling older and older and can't seem to get a handle on it at all. I'm eating much better than I have in a long time and I'm constantly gaining weight, feeling old, etc.

What have some of you done to change how you feel at this point in your life?

Change your exercise routines at all? I'm a total cardio gal, but have been adding in weights, too, apparently maybe not enough???

Just looking for some support, I guess, so I don't feel alone.

Thanks a bunch, gals!
Marcia

 

[banslug]

Hey, Marcia.....dare I ask what is considered MIDDLE AGE these days! LOL

shhhhhh.....I'm 36 and don't want to use that term to describe myself! LOL

Gayle

 

[MRSchultz]

Sorry, Gayle - Good point! I guess the changes I'm feeling make me wonder lately. LOL I'm not 25 anymore, that's for sure!!!!

Marcia

 

[LaughingWater]

I'm 38 too.

I recommend reading Outsmarting The Midlife Fat Cell. The author explains a ton, and the information went a long way towards making me feel better about the changes I've experienced so far. She also offers very good advice.

Personally, I started weight training, eating better, sleeping better, and taking vitamins & fish oil. My infrequent hot flashes disappeared (for now, anyway), my skin is better, I've lost weight, and I'm happier in general. I don't think I'll ever see my high school weight again (that magically disappeared somewhere around age 32 or 33), but I no longer think it's necessary and therefore don't beat myself up over it. Now I just want to be strong and healthy.

 

[LauraMax]

I turned 40 last spring & I gained almost 15 lbs overnight. Well, not overnight, but super fast, like in 4 weeks time. After sampling a couple of diets & switching up my workout routine to no avail, here's what I did:

Self examination. OK. I'm not 14% BF anymore. Does anyone care but me? Nope. I have a full life. Good friends. Good family. The sweetest little dogs in the world. Nice house, food on my table, living wage. Pretty hair, a reasonably attractive face, skin that's relatively OK considering the absurd overexposure to UV rays over the years. I still love my exercise routine, which is a great stress reliever & makes me feel good about myself.

What else could I ask for, other than having 14% BF? Not a damn thing. Oh wait, yeah, regular sex & someone to help me move furniture, but that's a topic for another thread.

The answer: accept who you are & at least like yourself, even if you can't manage to love yourself.

 

[kathryn]

Hey, Marcia.....dare I ask what is considered MIDDLE AGE these days! LOL

shhhhhh.....I'm 36 and don't want to use that term to describe myself!

When I was 35, I was at a meeting where a woman just a year or two older than I was refered to herself as 'middle-aged." I refused to think of myself that way...it just sounded older than I felt or wanted to feel.

My stepmother (who is now a very energetic and active 65) once read that the 'new' middle age starts at 50 (which is fine, until you pass 50, which I have...for some reason, I just hate the term "middle age": it seems to have so much negative stigma attached to it. I think I'll make up my own term!).

 

[maddiesmum]

All I can tell you is that weighted cardio, i.e. hiking with backpack, works best for fitness and weight loss over anything I have tried.

Since I can't do much of that in MI, I now spend 80% of my fitness time on weight training and body weight training/functional fitness,and only 20% cardio. I rotate constantly between a gymstyle moderate weight approach and heavy weights.

I was 10 pounds heavier all of last year than I am now. I'm 43, 5' 8", weigh 125 pounds, feel great.

The main difference I have found is that I need so much more quality sleep and unfortunately, get so little of it.

I have never really been one for junk food. I eat blue corn chips, but not fries or potato chips much. I'm vegetarian, eat a lot of lentils and beans. But I don't stint on the things I love. I eat full fat cheese and drink 2% milk because I do not believe "low fat" alternatives have any taste, nor any worth at all. I eat chocolate every day, but not cake or donuts, etc. No interest in those foods at all. What I do eat a lot of is nuts. When I find myself reaching for snack foods when watching TV/DVDs, I go for a bag of almonds. Yes, they are calorie dense, but also full of healthy fats, vit E, and will fill you up more quickly that junk food does, so you eat less overall.

I do not think that I work out any less intensely than before, I mention this in reference to the current post on "beating up your body." When I work out, it is an all-out, total effort affair. But, I work out a max of 4 or 5 days per week, not more, and it is the change to a preference for weights rather than endless cardio that signals the change in exercise approach for me.

Clare

 

[lioness]

The answer: accept who you are & at least like yourself, even if you can't manage to love yourself.

Listen to LauraMax on this one.

I'm 47 and I have never felt better. I actually have a better body than I did at 20 and I'm more healthy. I'm a pear. I have a butt and thighs and nothing is going to change that. I do what I can. I have faced the fact that I will never be a size 2.

That being said, I have noticed my arms getting slimmer and more defined and running has slimmed my thighs and flattened my abs. Exercise gives me a great stress relief and I absolutely love running and will continue to compete until I drop.

I don't have night sweats, I sleep like a baby and I have my eating under control. I have fun and enjoy my life. I will continue to challenge and push myself. I'm looking forward to kicking A$$ well into my 90's.

 

[Peaceful Rainbow]

The main difference I have found is that I need so much more quality sleep and unfortunately, get so little of it.

A friend, who has extensive knowledge of physiology, recently told me that women who are perimenopausal have a greatly increased sleep need and very, very few get enough. The body is going through intense changes just like puberty and needs plenty of down time.

I never got hit with the weight increase until I was over 40 and I've since gone through periods of getting it off just to have it suddenly reappear again. At almost 48, I've sort of come to terms with the fact that I'll probably never get my completely flat tummy and trim thighs back, but I'm also finding that emotionally I'm actually ok with that as one thing perimenopause has brought me is a much more relaxed acceptance of my body.

 

[sparrow13]

A friend, who has extensive knowledge of physiology, recently told me that women who are perimenopausal have a greatly increased sleep need and very, very few get enough. The body is going through intense changes just like puberty and needs plenty of down time.

This is really interesting to me. I have been sooooo sleepy lately. Not during the day but in the mornings, when I have trouble dragging my behind out of bed. I go to bed around 9:30-10, and, in the past, have easily awakened at 5 or 5:30, without an alarm clock either. But for the last month I'm sleeping till 7, and even then I have to haul out. I attributed it to "leftovers" from the Lyme Disease but maybe it's that I'm strolling into peri-land.

Sparrow

 

[Pearlstrand]

Me, too!

Marcia, when I was your age, I had a flabby waist, night sweats, was tired all the time, didn't get enough sleep ...

Oh, wait -- that was because I'd just given birth to my daughter!

But all of those age-related things started at around 42 for me. It bugged me for a long time, but those unpleasant symptoms motivated me to take much better care of myself: Eating better, working out smarter, taking vitamins & supplements regularly, and taking those naps (or days off) when I needed them.

As a result, I've been much healthier at 47 than I was at 37, or even 27 for that matter. (Heck, let's include 17, too!) Rather than looking at it as "I'm getting old and it's depressing," think of it as, "This is my body's way of saying that what I've always done won't work forever."

I will say that adding resistance training will help you. I used to be a cardio-only gal, too (in my 20s), but look a million times better now because I've added weight training. Add variety to your workout. Your body adapts and your workouts get less effective if you don't change them up.

Bottom line: Laura is right -- look at your life and all that you have. If you take good care of yourself and appreciate all that you do have, you'll enjoy your life so much more and won't have time to fret over what you don't have (like the ability to read fine print without glasses! ).

 

[Sunshine1528]

Hoping to add yet a little more support that you are looking for.

I'm at the "half century" mark this year and have always been athletic and been at a healthy weight since just after high school. (High school was chubby due to eating badly and overeating, but still full of muscle due to sports and training.). Started eathing healthy by starting Weight Watchers in Jr. College and pretty much ate 85 - 90% clean.

So had 3 kids, last one at 31, moved on to starting to workout a little when they went to school. Stopped during a divorce and having to go back to work to earn $. Around late 30's decided it was time to take care of myself since I wasn't as active as I had been in the past. Started playing around on a cheap elliptical and then while watching TV "found" The Firm. That toned me up and helped me get back to pre-pregnancy health. Watched Fit TV one day and "found" Cathe and here I am.

OK - fast forward to 48 - UGH to say the least when all of a sudden, as Laura mentioned, 10 lbs. plopped it's ugly self ('cuz it is all 'fluff') all over my mid body. I did all kinds of things that used to work in the past. Until then I could drop 5 lbs in a week ! But now, can't drop 5 lbs. unless I eat 1200 cals of PERFECTLY HEALTHY food and nothing else. I can do that for a month or so, but it is unrealistic for me. I need bread here and there, a little pasta or some tortilla chips - or shall I say not need but really would like to eat?

This year has been pretty good for me. I have been finding success in trying different eating patterns and foods and exercising rotations also. I have not dropped a lb. at all nor much body fat according to my fat tester, but I can see a difference in my physique. Still have the fat pads in a few place I really don't like them, but only DH and I see them! Everyone I know pretty much tells me how skinny I am and thinks I can eat anything I want. Little do they know, and I have stopped even telling them.

So, like Laura, I am not where I want to be, but am healthy, happy, have a fun family, and am seeing some positive changes. I will continue to trod on to try to improve and at least I will be as healthy as I can be.

The Checkins have helped me tremendously this year - have you checked them out? There are so many you should be able to find one that may help you along with some goals or challenges.

I am currently on the "X Factor" which started out as P90X but most of us wimped out and we are now calling it X for "eXercise". Feel free to join us if you wish.

Best of luck and another who says "do what you can and love yourself for who you are".

 

[Peaceful Rainbow]

The thing I'm enjoying most about this part of my life is that I'm continually finding more of me. The me that isn't just a body that I want to look its best. The me who's inside is finally wanting to take center stage and put the visual body that the world sees on the back burner. It doesn't mean I don't care anymore about it, I try hard to eat ride and workout hard, but now I do it because doing that also takes care of the real me and allows that part of me to function at it's best.

 

[netsnotes16]

A friend recommended probiotics. I have been the granola bars with probiotics in them. Since I started about a month ago, I lost 2-3 lbs. I also have been taking 2 tablespoons of aloe vera juice mixed with cranberry juice as well as a healthy dose of cod liver oil. Get the pills!

Also, since I started incorporating yoga, I notice I am gettin' stronger and my waist line shrinkin' somewhat.

The waist, sorry to say, is the last to go!

 

[owhynot]

I have wanted to lose 5 lbs for years. I watched what I ate, exercised and nothing. I felt I was getting the middle age spread. January 1st of this year I logged every bit of food I put in my mouth at www.thedailyplate.com. I also wear a heart rate monitor when working out and log my calories that I burned. I'm 48. Since January 1st through August I have lost 20 pounds - 3 clothes sizes.

Five years ago I started to do Cathe cardio. I gained 5 lbs and went from a size 6 to an 8. I have a hard time finding clothes that fit. Now I'm a size 2 (at Ann Taylor Loft - the only store I have good luck with most things fitting). Buying new clothes is hard on the budget. I feel great. I now have to force myself to eat more food because I don't want to get any thinner.

It's hard but I glad I finally found something that works for me.

Christina

 

[nancy324]

MS, have you considered other causes? Have you had your thyroid checked? As I understand it, if you're experiencing midlife changes at age 38, you're in the minority of women. My sister-in-law just started experiencing some pretty big changes, but she's 53 years old. I'm 52, and although my monthly cycle is starting to change, I haven't had any weight gains or weight shifts or anything like that yet. I'm optimistic that my changes won't be as severe as my SIL's because she never ate right or worked out, and I always have. In addition to weight gain, she's also suddenly experiencing high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which she never had before. But both of those things run in her family, and her diet is SOO limited.

At this point in my life, I'm having PMS that lasts for about 9-10 days, where it used to last for about 2-3 days. Very annoying, and I should probably give up coffee, but I refuse. I'd rather suffer the lower back pain, bloating and irritability! It's nice to know someday it will be gone for good. I'm a good eater, a light-to-moderate exerciser, and I'm 5'3" and weigh 112. I enjoy my food, and don't feel I'm making any particular effort, but I definitely get my 5-7 (and maybe more) servings of fruit and veggies each day. I nibble all evening long, but usually on apples, oranges and red grapes, or whatever is in season. YUM!!

Ooops, sorry for the novel. All I'm trying to say is: don't assume it's your age. Check out every other possibility first before falling back on the "it must be middle age" thing. It's too easy, it's too depressing, and it's often wrong!