I mean, I am ONLY 47!! I thought women that entered menopause had to be at LEAST 60! 🤷
Boy was I wrong. 5+years of perimenopause and working on my hormones, I thought THAT was rough.
But this past year transitioning into menopause has been the hardest.
It wasn’t so much the night sweats, day sweats, no sleep and no energy that was hard, it is my relationship with my body.
You see, I have never had a belly. Never. I never had kids of my own (and I am so thankful for my step kids!) so I never really had to go through the weight gain in the middle. I have always carried my weight in my lower body.
And over the years, I have come to accept I would never have thin thighs. It just wasn’t in the cards.
But this stuff around my waist. It was like I woke up one day and had developed this “doughiness” around my waist!
Where the HECK did this come from? How did this happen? I eat so clean! I work out like a crazy person! So what happened?
MENOPAUSE. 😭😭😭😭
So what do I even do with this?? This body? I mean, it CAN’T belong to me, can it?
Oh, but it can, and it does. 😟
It’s just buried under this fluff that came out of nowhere.
And what made things worse…having to be ON CAMERA in front of my clients, RECORDING myself daily for the past 3+ plus months.
NO one and I mean NO ONE likes being on camera, but I had to. It was for my Fit Chicks!
But man, it just made me feel worse about myself.
So just today I was thinking to myself, “I bet there are others out there who feel the same way and maybe feel as confused, frustrated, and as sad as I do right now”.
So I thought I would share my journey, to let them know they are not alone.
And this is not the end for me. I am not going to just GIVE UP! It’s just not what I do.
I am going to conquer this….this menopause thing.
The first thing I did, has been to work with a Natural Medicine Doc to get my hormones back to some sort of normal. On my last test, my estrogen was almost non-existent. Since starting natural estrogen, I have not had a night sweat or hot flash in over 2 weeks, and I was having them 4-5x per night. 😲 That right there has been helping me with my sleep, which has also helped me to have better daytime energy. Plus I have also been supporting my adrenals the past month to help with stress, which I am sure has helped with all those things too.
Next, I am focusing on my Nutrition. We all know that a healthy gut is one of the best things we can do for our bodies, so cutting out all the “bad stuff” as I call it has already helped me to feel so much better!
And probably the hardest thing I need to start doing is dealing with is my body image. I know it’s going to be a work in progress. But I am always telling my Fit Chicks that they need to learn to LOVE and APPRECIATE their body, curves, fluff, and all! So, it’s time to focus on ALL THE THINGS that my body DOES for me!
I am super strong!
I am resilient!
I can do 2- 30 min boot camp classes full of “burpees” and not die! (My clients will understand this one 😉🤣)
I can literally do ANYTHING, I set my mind to!
My husband loves me and my body!
I am ONLY 47 and have so many years left to DO SO MUCH!
It’s a start.
I guess acceptance is always the first step. I am YOUNG but in menopause. And it’s what every single woman will go through.
Now, it’s how I deal with it. I can make it worse or I can make it better, and TODAY I choose to make it better! BUT, I can’t promise that is going to happen every day. 😉 But I will promise to do my best to not let hate enter my mind. I will love my body as it goes through each transition in life. Fighting it will only make me feel worse, and it’s no way to live.