Welcome to the

Peak Revival Podcast.

My name is Vesta.

I'm gonna talk about the body

changes that occur during

menopause and perimenopause

and why nothing works anymore.

I.

so in this podcast, I

really wanna talk about

what is going on there,

why nothing works, and what

you should be focusing on.

So the common physical

changes that women notice

is the weight gain,

particularly the belly fat.

Okay?

So you're starting to get

more fat around the waist.

So the muffin top or

the spare tire, and.

Also muscle loss.

And so you may find that

you got, you know, the

arms are hanging, the

butt's gone really flat.

you're just losing

muscle all over, and

that's called sarcopenia.

And that is common in our

forties and accelerates with

perimenopause and menopause.

But there are things

that you can do to

prevent and reverse that.

The other thing that women

notice, along with the weight

gain and the belly fat and

the muscle loss, is the

muscle pain and joint pain.

Shoulder pain, any

kind of joint pain,

any kind of neck pain.

and also the puffy face

and the puffy neck.

So I know that this is really

frustrating and it's a concern

for women because nothing

works like it used to it.

Kind of freaks you out because

you wonder if anything is

gonna work ever again or

you're stuck in this place

and that this is the way

that it is from now on.

And so normally what I see is

that women would do different

fad diets and cutting outage

food groups and doing all

crazy things, which doesn't

bring them the relief

that they're looking for.

But this yo-yo dieting

is going to affect the

metabolism, more in not

the way that you want.

Okay?

So while it is frustrating.

I wanna give you some

solutions and things

to give you some ease

because you really have to

understand that it's only a

temporary stage of your life

okay?

This is only a

temporary stage.

And so look at anything

else in your life.

If you've ever gained

weight before, if you've

been pregnant, right?

And look at that

in the same way.

This is a very temporary

stage, and it will pass.

And so some things

need to be realigned.

There are some things that

catch up with us as we get

into our forties, and so we

need to rebalance those and

I'm gonna talk about those.

Mm-hmm.

The other thing that I wanna

touch on is that unfortunately

and very sadly in our.

Well today, particularly

with social media, is

that aging is just like

not acceptable, right?

It's not seen, it's

not mirrored for us

in a very healthy way.

We see celebrities

that look younger than

what they really are.

We see social

media, we filters.

And so even when you look at

yourself, I think, I don't

even look like that, of

course, because you don't have

a filter on your face when

you're looking in the mirror.

And so it really messes

with our head and really

messes with our psychology.

And sadly, that is.

a part of life

that it is today.

And I think it's really

important to find people

that are aging really well,

in a sense of taking care

of themselves, have their

vitality, have energy, have

a youthful nature about them.

Like it's one thing

to, physically see

the signs of aging.

It's another thing to

see someone who is very

youthful and so quite often.

You'll see people who have

a lot of energy and a lot of

vitality, and they will be

mistaken for much younger.

Now, I'm not saying that

in a way that you shouldn't

accept that the number that

you're at, but what I'm am

saying is that energy and

vitality is very youthful.

It doesn't matter your age.

Okay?

And so it's really good if

you can focus there rather

than your, you know, dress

size or how many wrinkles

you have or whatever it is.

So let's get into it.

What are the solutions

that will help you with

the physical changes?

So, number one, and I did a

podcast on this in episode 46.

Make sure you're not

programming yourself, okay?

I don't know about you, but

I think the conversation

about perimenopause and

menopause, but particularly

perimenopause has

absolutely exploded online.

Everyone is talking about

it from Oprah to celebrities

to everyday influencers.

Everyone is talking about the

symptoms of perimenopause.

All these crazy symptoms.

I've heard things like dry

ears and you know, frozen

shoulder and a twinge in

the back, and obviously the

hot flushes and whatnot.

But I want you to make sure

that you're not programming

yourself because when we

are taking in all of this

information constantly, and

because we're being bombarded

with it, that information

has a way of programming

us in a sense to say.

Oh, well this is a

part of getting older.

Well, this is what

happens to a woman in her

forties, or this is what

happens to a woman going

through perimenopause.

So I want you to make

sure that you limit

that information.

Some of it may seem really

helpful the more that

you know, but I promise

you more information

will not put you at ease.

More information is only

going to program you to expect

that, and it's going to put

that in your psychology.

It's going to put that

in your body, okay?

And so we wanna make sure

that number one, you're

not programming yourself.

So limit the information

that you're reading

about perimenopause.

Limit the people that

you follow you find

end, especially that

when you are listening

to them, that you feel.

Oh yeah, that is

perimenopause.

Oh my goodness.

That's really bad.

Like something that feels

heavy for you, but even

not even if it's just

way too much information.

Okay.

So minimize the information so

you're not program yourself.

The second thing I wanna talk

about is the metabolism and

the metabolic control center.

So it's.

Very common for women at this

stage to go, okay, that used

to work for me my whole life

and it doesn't work anymore,

so now I'm going to restrict

my calories even more.

I'm going to go hungry,

or I'm going to cut out

major food groups, or I'm

just gonna exercise so much

more, In order to lose.

The weight.

And the thing is, women

can feel more hungry,

they get more cravings

and they feel powerless

around their cravings.

And so what I want to touch

on is that the metabolic

control center, or our

body's metabolism has kind

of this, inner a control

center that regulates how

much we burn during the day,

how much body fat that we

burn, and whether or not we

feel hungry and whether or

not our cravings are really

low, almost non-existent.

Okay.

You don't control

that yourself.

Okay.

When you're not controlling

that mentally, you're not

controlling that by the

number of calories that

you're putting in, right?

The metabolic control

center is controlling that.

So the frustrating thing

can be, well, I've done

all the right things.

Why isn't it working?

And maybe restrict more.

But that's not going to

change what the metabolic

control center does.

That's its job, but we can

influence what is going into

the metabolic control center.

basically we influence the

metabolic control center

and then it does what it

does, which is regulate our

metabolic burn rate, our

hunger and our cravings.

We don't actually have,

control over that.

That's part of a system

that's automatic.

Okay?

So just like breathing

and your heart beating,

you can't control that.

Okay?

I mean, you can hold

your breath, but not

while you're sleeping.

so that's an automatic process

and that is how I want you

to see your metabolism.

the information that the

metabolic control center

picks up on, which then

adjusts all the levers and

the buttons and adjusts.

Everything inside is in

what changes our metabolism.

So the information that's

going in our sleep, our

sunlight, our stress, our

food sources, whether they're

processed or whole, those

are the things that influence

the metabolic control center.

That's what we can do.

So are you getting

enough sleep?

Are you getting

enough sunlight?

Are you seeing the, the

sunrise in the morning, right?

Really big impact

on our metabolism.

Where is your stress at?

are your stress

levels too high?

Are you not doing anything

to reduce mental stress,

reduce emotional stress?

You have nothing in place to

help your body feel more calm?

And what are your food

sources looking like?

Are you going for

more processed food?

Packaged food?

Are you too busy to cook?

Are you cooking at home

or are you eating out?

That information tells

a metabolic control

center what to do.

And then from there,

it influences.

Actually how much fat we

have in our body or how

much we're burning off.

And I hope that makes sense

because I know that it

feels like you should just

be more restrictive, but

that's not the answer.

The other systems

to look at are the

thyroid and gut health.

So as we enter perimenopause

and menopause, it's a

very precarious time for

our thyroid health, or

our thyroid gland, or

our thyroid hormones.

So our thyroid hormones,

our T three, our T four TSH,

they all help to regulate

our metabolic burden rate.

So really the thyroid is

the queen of the metabolism.

And what happens in our

forties is that Basically

any bad habits that

we've had throughout our

life catch up with us.

the time of the thyroid,

where we can have, you know,

thyroid issues or thyroid

imbalances, we are looking at,

in the beginning at puberty

we are looking at pregnancies

and then perimenopause.

So they're the times

that it gets a bit

rocky for the thyroid.

And so looking at

thyroid health, checking

your thyroid hormones.

You know, your TSH, your

T three, your T four,

your reverse, T three,

your antibodies, all of

those to make sure that

your thyroid health is,

where it needs to be.

Okay?

And that's a very common

symptom or very common

imbalance in perimenopause

and also gut health.

Okay?

So looking after gut health.

So that should really go

hand in hand because our

gut influences our thyroid.

Most of our undirected thyroid

conditions are due to our gut.

The other system to be wary of

or to address is the HPA axis.

So this is part of the

stress response system.

So when you are looking at,

you know, I talk a lot about

burnout or adrenal fatigue.

The symptoms of adrenal

fatigue and burnout look

a lot like perimenopause.

And the reason being is that

as you are going through

perimenopause and menopause,

it's your adrenal glands

that start to be more active.

To work with your body

fat to produce more of the

hormones that you need to

transition with ease, right?

And so if you're burnt out,

if you're exhausted, if

you've got adrenal fatigue,

if your cortisol's high or

low, then that transition is

going to be harder because

those glands are already

preoccupied with the stress

response system, right?

they don't have the capacity

to do the other work, which

is hormone production.

They can only help with the

stress hormone production, so

they kind of get hijacked, and

that means a harder transition

into menopause and a lot

more perimenopausal symptoms.

the final thing I wanna

say is really be careful

with hypervigilance.

Okay?

So it's around this time

because of the body changes.

You don't like it,

you can't accept it.

I've never been like this.

I've always been able

to manage it, and it

really throws women off

center and they really

feel like they don't have

control over the body.

Okay?

And one of the things that

can happen is I become

so focused on it, right?

Why am I not losing weight?

Why isn't anything working?

But I'm doing all

the right things.

Tomorrow I'll cut out this

and then I read another

thing and then take another

supplements, but it's still

not working, but I'm doing

everything that constant

hyper focus or hyper vigilance

on the symptoms, right?

And I get that it's

frustrating, but that

hypervigilance is keeping

you in a stress response.

All day long, those stress

hormones are interfering

with your thyroid

hormones, which is the

queen of the metabolism.

It's sending the wrong

information into the metabolic

control center, telling the

control center that well,

it's a very stressful time.

We need more carbohydrates,

so more cravings, right?

It's not safe to burn

body fat for fuel at this

time, so we'll storm all.

So the hypervigilance

or the hyper focus.

Is actually a barrier

to you getting the

results that you want.

So you really have to come

to a place of acceptance

and really just kind of

lean back a little bit.

Try to stay calm and.

Except right for a lot of

women, they can't accept that.

And I'm not saying that

acceptance means you are

never going to change and you

won't take the right actions

in order to get your health

back to what it was and

reduce some of these symptoms.

But acceptance is not

fighting against your body.

It's not being a stuck in

a state of hyper vigilance,

which is resistance

to where you're at.

The resistance is gonna

create more stress and it's

going to keep you stuck.

It's probably one

of the number one

things that I see in.

All chronic conditions that

keeps people stuck is a

resistance to their symptoms.

Okay?

And so that constant

focus is resistance.

Okay?

So.

Be wary of hypervigilant.

So there, there is a

lot that you can do.

The number one thing is be

kind to yourself, right?

Just look at this as

a transition period.

It's temporary, it's not

permanent, and just ease into

some of these things, right?

Looking at what you can do to

get your system back on track.

Leave a comment below

and let me know what

you are experiencing.

What are your symptoms at

the moment that you are kind

of seeing as perimenopause?