Hey @Miraclemuma03 ,
I wondered if you had come across the work of Dr Stacy Sims? She's a scientist that specialises in nutrition and exercise in women, focused particularly on optimising health outcomes for women based on their stage of life, from adolescence through to post menopause.
She has written and spoken extensively about the changes which need to be made to support women through perimenopause.
The interviews linked to below, in which she discusses her studies and real world experiences are fascinating.
The long and short of it is that once a woman is in perimenopause she needs to overhaul her approach to fat reduction. Exercise needs to be centred around Power Training:
- Power Lifting,
- Sprint Interval Training (SIT), and
- Plyometrics
And diet/ nutrition needs to complement this Power Training, centred both on the quality of food consumed and most importantly the optimal time of the day to eat certain nutrients.
Example of Power Training
SFM_Fitness
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCCLsNrRml7/?igsh=eXZpanBib21rbjIy
Dr Stacy Sims Interviews:
- Huberman Labs
- Zoe | Science and nutrition
- Diary of a CEO
I recently reduced my dress size from a size 16 down to a size 6, purely by fasting - I was eating all my daily calories/ energy in a max 2 hour window - I did this for 14 weeks. I basically just ate one meal a day (OMAD) during that period, I didn't socialise, didn't do any exercise - other than commute to work (cycling or walking) and was only ever at home or at work. My husband prepared all meals for himself and our children, and I just ate a reasonably healthy subsidised lunch at work. As I was only eating OMAD I didn't worry too much about what I was eating as I knew that unless I self-sabotaged by using the entire eating window to eat atrociously, that I would automatically be in a calorie deficit. This was a very intense approach, but I had specific aesthetic goals that I was working towards. Additionally, I wasn't breastfeeding, nor was I trying to become pregnant, so I only had myself to worry about.
Once I'd dropped the inches from my waist (and rest of my body!), from week 15 onwards I reduced my fasting window, so that I then ate during a 4-6 hour window. Additionally, I also joined a gym. Because I was now routinely exercising I needed to up my calorie/ energy intake, hence why I expanded my eating window.
Dr Sims' research suggests that once in perimenopause that fasted training is counter productive, however, I still continue to complete all my training early on in the day and consume my energy/ calories in the late afternoon, and I seem to be OK, although, suffice to say, I'm not sure that I've actually entered perimenopause as yet. So this could explain my continued progress...