It's Thursday and as I write this, one of our dogs, Kali, is at the vet's office. I dropped her off early this morning and the vet was going to work her in sometime today to examine her and figure out what's going on. Kali has been limping off and on for a while, but it doesn't seem to slow her down and just when I would decide that I was going to call the vet to have her looked at, she would seem to feel better. However, after bringing her home from the groomer the other day, she wasn't putting any weight at all on her back leg, so I decided to make an appointment for her. Of course, shortly after making the appointment, she started walking normally again, so who knows what is going on with her, but I decided to keep the appointment to make sure nothing serious is going on. So I sit here, anxiously waiting for a phone call to find out how she is doing.
Overall, it hasn't been a banner week for me. Despite having some great workouts, eating healthy, and getting plenty of sleep, I feel tired, grumpy, sore, and bloated. Usually I don't let the scale bother me, but the recent numbers are really concerning me. I've gained about 15 pounds over the last six months and I can't get them off, no matter what I do. Things that I used to do no longer work.
What's frustrating is that most of the diets and workout programs out there aren't geared towards women 50 and older. What works for a 30 or 40 year-old woman might not necessarily work for someone my age. My body is different now.
I listened to a podcast the other day that made me start thinking that I might just have to change my game plan, that just because the old strategies no longer work, it doesn't mean that I have to give up. If you're an active, menopausal woman, I'd highly encourage you to check out the podcast Hit Play Not Pause. The topics are centered around older women and things that we can do to improve our health and overall well-being. The podcast episode that caught my attention the other day was called "Less Fuel, More Problems: Why Menopausal Athletes Need to Eat More with Heidi Skolnik." It was so thought-provoking! I mean, as women, how often do we restrict our calories, cut out food groups, and tell ourselves we're going to be "good" and "eat clean". At one point in the podcast, Heidi commented that the only time we should feel guilty about eating a food is if we stole it! And the only time we should refer to a food as "not clean" is if it fell in the dirt. I loved that!
She's right, though. I think that as a woman in today's society, especially someone who's aging, I tend to freak out whenever I gain more weight and I'm frankly exhausted and tired of being obsessed about it. I just want to know what I can do to maintain a healthy weight without spending tons of time and energy figuring out what to eat.
I was intrigued by what Heidi said during the podcast, so I decided to order her book called The Whole Body Reset. The premise of the book is to stop age-related weight gain by increasing protein, while also making sure you're eating the protein at the right time of the day.
What I like about the book so far is that everything is common sense: eat more fruits and veggies, whole grains, fiber, yada yada yada. I'm already doing all of that. BUT. According to the book, as we age, we need more protein and I haven't been coming close to what the book recommends. The book recommends eating at least 25g of protein at each meal, along with at least 5g of fiber. The meal plan includes 3 meals a day, plus a snack, which is what I typically eat in a day.
I tend to be a skeptic when I read about plans like this. It feels a bit gimmick-y. You know, if it seems too good to be true....
But I also figure that it can't hurt to give it a try for a few weeks to see how I feel. I tend to eat the same things every week, so I think it will be good for me to try some different meals. And I get excited about trying new programs! This program includes vegan and vegetarian options, I don't have to starve myself, I don't have to food journal, or count calories. I just have to make sure that I'm getting enough healthy protein and fiber in each meal.
Stay tuned. I'm still reading the book, so I probably won't officially start for another week or so, but I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, send me some positive sunshine vibes and send some love to Kali.
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