Dear Reader,
You may have noticed a bit of a gap between this newsletter and the last one you received. I took a bit of a leave of absence due to the unexpected death of my sister-in-law. My schedule is now returning to normal, and my videos and newsletters should be coming out regularly, D.V.
Sincerely,
Kayla
Dear Kayla,
How will intermittent fasting work for women in menopause?
Signed,
Sheila
Dear Sheila,
Thank you for your question. I think we should break this down into two separate questions:
- Does menopause change how one loses weight?
- How does intermittent fasting work?
Does menopause change how one loses weight?
Everyone loses weight in exactly the same way, whether menopausal or not: your body will lose weight if and only if you are in a caloric deficit. This leads to another question: does menopause make it impossible for a woman to get into a caloric deficit?
No. It does not.
There are hormonal fluctuations that happen, which can lead to weight gain, but not because it changes your metabolism and makes weight loss impossible. Instead, these hormonal fluctuations cause quality of life issues, which then make weight gain easier and weight loss more challenging. Here are two examples:
- Hot flashes can interrupt sleep, leading to low energy, poor decision making, and subsequent overeating.
- Moodiness and irritability lead to eating to soothe these negative emotions.
And if that weren’t enough, this is also a time in many a woman’s life where other things are changing too. Children are leaving the nest, loved ones are passing away, her own body is showing its age, and she’s facing her own mortality. To top it all off, many women become less active as they age, which leads to decreasing muscle mass, which means she needs to eat even fewer calories than before in order to maintain the same weight.
Bottom line: the way for a menopausal woman to lose weight is to get herself into a caloric deficit, despite the fact that she’s sleep-deprived and cranky, with a lot of emotional things happening in her life. Admittedly, this is a challenge, but one that many women overcome. Check out my interview with the lovely Kathleen Morris here for one such success story:
Let’s move on to the next question.
How does intermittent fasting work?
Intermittent fasting works by helping you to eat the right amount of calories. Time boundaries around food break habits that lead to weight gain, like emotionally eating and mindlessly eating. They also increase self-discipline, which leads to consistency with your plan, holding yourself accountable, and ultimately, weight loss.
Therefore, intermittent fasting will absolutely work for menopausal women, in the same way it will work for a 20-year-old obese man, or a thirty-something mom of three who put on a bit too much baby weight. It always works, provided that you eat fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight.
Sincerely,
Kayla