Menopause and Belly Fat: Is There A Connection?
The Truth About Abs: Are They Really Made in the Kitchen?
The question that seems to be a reoccurring one… Are abs really made in the kitchen?
You’ve been doing all the things, the workouts, eating healthy + more… and you are wondering, “When will my abs show up to reflect all my hard work? I know they’re in there!”
🚨 Here’s the truth: Your workouts are only part of the equation—but not the whole puzzle. You can do crunches all day, but if you’re not putting equal (if not more) focus on your nutrition, your results will be limited.
The saying “abs are made in the kitchen” has its truth—around 90%, to be exact! While ab exercises will strengthen and build your abdominal muscles, they won’t be visible unless you shed the body fat covering them.
This is where diet plays an important roll. Abs are the result of 2 things: working out and proper nutrition, along with sleep, mindfulness and stress (yes, stress can make you bloated – watch out in the Blog for Mind – Gut Connection (Coming Soon!) For today, let’s focus on the essentials. You can’t “crunch” your way to a six-pack without adjusting what your putting into your body!
The Menopause Factor
Core Training for Women Over 40
For women over 40, particularly those going through peri or post-menopause, the battle against belly fat can feel even more challenging. You may be doing “all the things” and still seeing this expansion of your midsection. Hormonal changes, particularly the decline in estrogen, often result in weight gain around the midsection. Beyond not liking what you are visually seeing, the bigger problem is the health risks associated with belly fat. Increased abdominal fat is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders.
⚠️ Wait! There’s good news!
Focusing on core and ab exercises, alongside a balanced diet, can help reduce the stubborn belly fat that many women experience during menopause.
Your 20-year-old version may have adopted ab exercises for cosmetic reasons however your mid-life version understands that there is so much more to those ab exercises than a 6-pack. Strengthening your core muscles helps improve your overall posture, and reduces back pain while also tightening the muscles around your midsection, giving you a leaner, more toned appearance. Working the core also increases your metabolism, which can be slower during and after menopause.
Strengthening your core muscles not only improves your overall posture and reduces back pain, but it also helps tighten the muscles around your midsection, giving you a leaner, more toned appearance.
Bonus Fact: working the core increases your metabolism, which can be slower during and after menopause.
Four Key Nutritional Tips for Sculpting Abs
Whether you’re battling peri or post-menopausal belly fat or just aiming to reveal those abs, these four nutritional principles are essential:
1️⃣ Quality Nutrition
Eating nutrient-dense, whole foods like lean proteins, healthy fats, vegetables, and complex carbs is crucial. These foods fuel your workouts, stabilize blood sugar levels, and keep your metabolism fired up. For women over 40, this balance becomes even more important as hormonal changes impact energy levels and how your body stores fat.
2️⃣ Macronutrient Balance
You need all three macronutrients—carbs, protein, and fats—in the right proportions. For many women going through menopause, it’s tempting to drastically cut carbs or fats, but your body needs these to function optimally. Focus on “eating for purpose,” a principle rooted in carb cycling—a strategy that optimizes fat-burning while fueling your muscles. Now is NOT the time to be experimenting with Keto or intermittent fasting. Balance is going to be your breakthrough.
Rule of Thumb 👍🏻
Protein is king. With our muscle mass decreasing with age, our goal is to get at least 1g of protein per pound of your ideal body weight. Protein Up ladies!
3️⃣ Limit Processed Foods and Sugars
Processed foods and sugars contribute to excess fat storage (especially around the abdomen) and increase inflammation, which can be a greater issue for women during menopause. Reducing sugary snacks, refined carbs, and highly processed foods helps promote fat loss and keeps bloating in check.
Finding Balance: 4 Nutritional Tips for Sculpting Abs
4️⃣ Hydration and Fiber
Both hydration and fiber are crucial for digestion, fat metabolism, and reducing bloating.
➜Water: Staying hydrated not only flushes out toxins but also reduces water retention, which can make your midsection appear less bloated.
➜Rule of Thumb 👍🏻: Aim for at least 3/4 gallon (96 oz) of water daily. G-Fit Tip: Get a cute water bottle, it makes drinking your water so much more fun! 😉
➜Fiber: A high-fiber diet helps with digestion, controls blood sugar, gut microflora health, and keeps you feeling full longer—all key elements for losing belly fat. Not to mention
FIBER literally keeps your cells young. Check out this awesome study in the Journal of Nutrients that found a link to FIBER making cells act younger.
╰┈➤The study included 5,674 people and looked at the amount of fiber they ate + their telomere length, which measures a cell’s age. Telomeres are protective caps on chromosomes in a cell. Think of the end of a shoelace. Young cells have long telomeres and older cells have shorter telomeres.
It was concluded that people who ate more fiber (about 19 grams/day) had cells that acted 5 years younger than people who were on a low-fiber diet (about 9 grams/day).
📢 Huge shoutout for the G-Fit lifestyle that approves UNLIMITED fiber as all part of our longevity plan.
Why You Might Not Be Seeing Results… (Yet)
You might be thinking, “I’m doing all of this, but my abs still aren’t showing!”
Here’s a catch you may not realize…You may be eating healthy but not eating for purpose.
There’s a difference, and understanding this can help take your results to the next level! ↓ ↓ ↓
Eating Healthy Vs Eating for Purpose 🍽️
✔ Eating healthy: Focusing on whole, nutritious foods.
✔ Eating for purpose: Strategically timing your nutrients and balancing your macros to support your specific fitness goals, such as fat loss or muscle gain. This approach is especially important for women going through hormonal changes, as it helps optimize fat burning and energy levels.
Let’s Get You Eating for Purpose and Seeing Results!
I’m here to help you move away from dieting and start achieving the results you deserve! When you adopt the simple G-Fit strategies, you’ll see how easy it is to transform your body without counting calories or cutting out essential macronutrients.
💥 Ready to reveal those abs and feel great at any age? Let’s get started!
🎯 Check out some of our top programs designed to help you SHRED body fat and reveal your abs:
✨12-Week Shred
Learn the G-Fit Carb Cycling Methods with weekly meal plans that help you strategically shed body fat and maintain muscle tone. It’s a great way to kick-start your journey toward the abs you’ve always wanted.
✨21-Day Real Foods Challenge
Not ready for a full 12-week commitment? The 21-Day Challenge helps you remove processed foods and sugars and reset your body in just three weeks. It’s ideal for women over 40 looking to improve their nutrition and reduce menopausal symptoms like bloating and fatigue.
Start Your Journey
The 12-Week shred is a perfect place to start balancing your hormones, get you eating for purpose and kicking off your longevity journey towards the fittest and healthiest version of you no matter your age and season of life! They say the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, the next best time is TODAY. Let’s get you started.
💥 Let’s get started and say hello to stronger abs and a healthier hormonally balanced YOU.
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