Fit at Fifty Samantha

08/05/2023

Happy Mother’s Day! Link to a free digital healthy cookbook. Published by a friend, fitness professional, NPC Show Promoter and IFBB fitness pro!

Good food and dieting? Only making one meal that supports your health and wellness goals, but also is good for your family? Yes!

13/04/2023

During peri-menopause, which can last for years, your body experiences an increase in cortisol levels and a decrease in progesterone levels. However, estrogen levels can fluctuate inconsistently during this phase.

It is essential to recognize peri-menopause as a new stressor in your body. Even if you previously had a training/cardio/eating lifestyle that worked for you, it may now become a significant stressor for your body in this new context.

An analogy that helps explain the relationship between progesterone and estrogen is to consider them as two non-identical twin sisters who are interdependent. Progesterone acts as the conservative and worrisome sister, regulating estrogen, the more ambitious, wild, go-getter hormone. Together they protect you against the stress hormone, cortisol. Once progesterone falls, they don't.

You tend to see a where-did-this-come-from gain in belly fat as one tell-tale sign. And this tends to be when women typically think they need to double down and:

❌ work out harder - which adds more sympathetic stress

❌ eat fewer calories - which adds more sympathetic stress and more due to progesterone being low and not playing nicely with estrogen

❌ cut more carbs - which adds more sympathetic stress + a bad idea as carbs are a key aspect to peri-menopausal management and shouldn't be too low or too high.

❌ add more hard cardio - which adds more sympathetic stress

This will not work. This will make things worse. Literally worse!

The last thing you want to be doing is high-intensity work or jogging if you're struggling through this. And even if you didn't have these issues and were metabolically healthy, enough research has shown conclusively that exercise itself is terrible for weight loss.

This approach only adds more stress to an already over-stressed system, aggravating the situation further. Your body is already in a sympathetic state, and these actions only exacerbate the problem.

Instead, it is crucial to focus on calming and stress-reducing activities that activate the parasympathetic nervous system to compensate for the loss of progesterone's natural calming effect. This means taking self-care seriously, prioritizing rest and relaxation, and committing to lots of walking, ideally outside.

Walk as much as you can, train 3-4x/week trying to get stronger and build muscle, get your sleep routine under control and put some structure to your day's eating.

-Erik

09/04/2023

29/03/2023

Eat healthy, be healthy. There are ways to eat to improve your shape and size. No, it’s not a fad diet. It’s minimally processed fresh foods, water…or at a minimum no sugar. Best is also no artificial sugars. Eat the healthy and your waist and health will thank you.

27/03/2023

Plan to make choices based on your goals.

09/03/2023

Don’t forget to laugh.

Musical theatre performance of Sally O'Malley from Saturday Night Live choreographed by Meggie Pound at Bedazzled Dance Competition Peterborough Ontario Cana...

26/02/2023

23/02/2023

But I decided not to eat the potato chips and eat the veggie chips. I must be getting healthier. I hear this all the time, vegetables chips vegetable straws and any other items you find in the potato chip aisle are all the same thing. They are all Coated in oil, preservatives, high in sodium and so much more. Save your money, buy the whole food item, season how you want it and bake. The REAL veggie chips, not some vegetables with oils and fillers added to them :) Baked Veggie Chips

Kale: Spread out torn kale pieces on a baking sheet. Spray lightly with cooking non-stick spray and season with herbs you wish. Bake for about 10 minutes, checking often to make sure they don't burn. Kale chips are done when visibly dry and crunchy. Allow to air dry completely before storing.
Zucchini: wash zucchini and cut off ends. Use a mandolin to slice even and thin slices. Lay a paper towel on a large plate, and place zucchini slices on paper towel and cover with another paper towel. Let sit for about 10 minutes until the paper towels are completely wet. Transfer zucchini to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, lightly sprayed. Spray the zucchini lightly as well after placing on the parchment and season. Cook for about 25-30 minutes turning a couple times during the baking. It is done when lightly browned and dried. Allow to cool completely before storing.

07/02/2023

Definitely doesn’t work. It adds up. No matter how perfect your meals are, treats will sabotage your results.

03/01/2023

We are all just a work in progress.