If you are a woman "of a certain age," you may be dismayed to look in the mirror and wonder where your girlish figure went. It seems unfair that just when the kids are grown and you're at the height of your career and ready for a little me-time, your body betrays you. As women, we often blame ourselves when our bodies behave badly. Understanding what's really going on in your late 40s may rescue you from undue self-loathing.
Middle Age Changes
As your body begins to wind down from the child-bearing years, you go through a sort of estrogen withdrawal. As estrogen production in the ovaries naturally begins to drop, your body looks to other resources to make estrogen, and discovers it can manufacture it from fat. The brain sends out a signal to store as much fat as possible so there will be an endless supply of estrogen, and to store it around your middle, where it will be conveniently close to your vital organs for easy access.
Hormonal Hijinx
In addition to the drop in estrogen, diminished progesterone causes bloating and water retention, and decreased testosterone causes you to lose lean muscle, which in turn slows your metabolism. At the same time, levels of androgen increase, causing belly fat, facial hair and other male-pattern changes. If you are stressed out, cortisol contributes to visceral fat. Add night sweats, hot flashes, mood swings and memory loss to the mix.
Exercise and Visceral Fat
An article published in the Harvard Women's Health Watch brings us the good news that visceral fat stored in your belly is highly responsive to exercise, unlike subcutaneous fat stored on your hips and thighs. A study of visceral fat's response to exercise conducted at Duke University Medical Center compared sedentary and active subjects over six months. The sedentary group gained an average of 9 percent visceral fat while a second group that walked or jogged 12 miles per week gained no visceral fat. Even more impressive was a third group that jogged at a higher intensity 20 miles per week and lost both subcutaneous and visceral fat. An exercise program combining resistance training with aerobic exercise will rev up your metabolism, adding muscle and burning belly fat.
The Role of Nutrition
Improving your nutrition and "eating clean" will slow the gain of belly fat and complement your exercise program. Eliminate sugary, sodium- and nitrate-laden processed food from your diet, and eat plenty of whole fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Reduce caffeine consumption and lay off soft drinks and artificial sweeteners. Drink half your weight in ounces of plain filtered water daily. A whole-foods diet will give you plenty of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and macronutrients and will eliminate bloat and inflammation.
Lifestyle Behaviors
Losing weight is not easy at any age. Having worked hard and sacrificed for decades for our families and our jobs, we women can be a bit self-indulgent in an "I deserve it" kind of way. If you are otherwise happy with your life and not planning to walk the beach in a thong anytime soon, the idea of a flat belly may take a back seat to that glass of wine at the end of the day. Consider that this may be a time in your life to stop competing with the 20-somethings and let yourself off the hook. After all, you've earned it.
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