The after-40 flat belly secret

If you’ve gained belly fat during peri-menopause and you’ve exhausted all the exercise options with no luck (along with exhausting yourself), this is for you…

Your exhausted system means no amount of exercise is going to give you a flat belly. The reason?

It wasn’t a lack of exercise that put belly fat there. It was your hormones.

But, and this is a big but (no pun intended) — you can give up or you can harness your hormones to get the results you want.

That means you’ve got to do things differently, starting with how you exercise…

You can’t exercise like you may have at 20 and get the results you did then. You also can’t eat like you did at 20. Nor can you reduce your caloric intake to the point your body has nothing to run on either.

I’ve watched Ironman athletes who train for hours daily still carry excess body weight across the finish line with them. That’s after months, if not a full year, of dedicated training and a hyper-disciplined diet.

Putting your body through any grueling schedule — excessive exercise or too little sleep — is a recipe for stress that will further throw your hormones into a downward spiral.

Without a balance of rest & recovery against the daily grind or the excessive training (elite athletes nap in the afternoon, they don’t go to 9-5 or 9-9 jobs), you constantly empty your cup and then try again and again to drink from it.

That makes trying to crunch or plank your belly fat away like trying to hammer a screw.

What are they doing right?

Yet some mature endurance athletes thrive. They seem to look younger, have fewer wrinkles and thrive on endless energy. And not so much belly fat.

Why did all the hard work pay off for them? You have to look at all the factors…

Is it that they aren’t over thinkers? They don’t stress or ruminate as much as others?

Is it that they ate fewer chemicals and more whole foods all along before we knew that was a secret?

Is it that they rested more and knew their limits?

Is it that they were selfish enough to say no so they could say yes to themselves?

Is it that they’ve always been long sleepers and knew when to say goodnight to have a good day?

It might be any or all of the above.

If you have dug yourself into a hole though and you’re experiencing:

• Morning fatigue that feels like a hangover,
• Lack of appetite in the morning,
• Upset stomach or nausea,
• Desire to do things but no energy to do them,
• Evening exhaustion that sends you to bed early,
• Exhaustion that doesn’t go away with sleep…

… none of these will be fixed with “more exercise” like what’s often recommended and strongly suggested on social media.

What is the answer then?

1. Identify your signs and symptoms something isn’t right, including the ones you’ve settled for as “normal.” Address your hormone issues with a doctor you trust.
2. Accept that your over-50 body can no longer exercise like it did at 30, and get with the right program for you, because you’ve still got it, girl — you’ve just got to find it.
3. Make proper nutrition a priority and overcome micronutrient deficiencies.
4. Stop taxing your body by making it run on insufficient or chemical-laden fuel.
5. Listen to your body so you know how to rest, to work, to play and to thrive instead of just surviving.
6. Allow your restored body to be at its ideal weight naturally: a healthy body will choose the easiest path so it can operate efficiently.

When you’ve handled the hormones causing the problem, the belly flattening can begin.