Dealing With Menopause

"BEFORE I KNEW IT, I HAD LOST MY FIRST STONE AND REALISED... I COULD DO IT!"

I don’t think anyone really prepares you for the changes that you will go through when you start to experience Menopause symptoms. I was peri-menopausal for a number of years and then started full blown menopause at 55. I can remember standing by my open bedroom window, not a stitch of clothing on and my hubby asking what I was doing. Even though it was mid-December, I thought it was perfectly fine!

Apart from feeling that you are constantly living in the Sahara Desert and the mood swings, the worst part of it was the weight gain. Whatever I did it didn’t seem to budge and the muffin top was becoming more of a baker's dozen. I soon ballooned to a size 24 and hit the scales at over seventeen stone, the heaviest I had ever been. My blood pressure was rocketing, I felt tired and lethargic, and I knew something had to be done.

Making changes is not always easy but when I started The Menopause Diet and supplements, I knew I had to stick to it. The diet is easy to follow, and I set myself small targets of half a stone each as sometimes to look at a big block of weight can be very overwhelming. Before I knew it, I had lost my first stone and realized I COULD DO IT. The plan still allows everyday foods and you can still have chocolate if you want to…. instead of missing food thinking I would lose weight, I was eating three good meals a day with snacks and enjoying all the different foods I could have. I never thought I was missing out on anything, and my hubby was so impressed he joined me as well and he lost three and a half stone.

I also noticed changing my way of eating helped with other meno symptoms; my hot flushes seemed to decrease, I had more energy, I was sleeping better and my blood pressure dropped back to normal levels. After losing five stone, I feel so much better in myself and have dropped from a size 24 to a 16, which I never thought I could do.

I am so proud of the journey I have had at this new stage of my life. Along the way I have learned a great deal not just about myself, but about womanhood and what an amazing time this can be, even though it can be shrouded in so much mystery!

- Emma