Midlife Madness Podcast

Meno-Belly: Why Menopause Changes Your Waistline

• Martha Savloff, Master Certified Health Coach

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We dive into why menobelly happens, how hormones and stress drive belly fat, and what actually works to change it. We share practical steps on balancing hormones, building muscle, improving sleep, and using targeted tools like red light therapy.

• definition of menobelly and why it appears
• estrogen decline shifting fat to the abdomen
• cortisol and visceral fat risks
• metabolism slowdown and muscle loss with age
• insulin resistance and midsection storage
• sleep disruption driving cravings and weight gain
• hormone balancing with providers and nutrition
• strength training, protein, and hydration
• stress tools: breathwork, faith practices, nature
• red light therapy and body contouring as support
• mindset, patience, and ongoing adjustments

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If you're local here, come see us
If this was helpful, make sure you comment, subscribe to the channel


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Disclaimer:
Martha Savloff is not a medical doctor. The information shared in this podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only and should not replace professional medical advice. Always consult with your healthcare provider before making changes to your health or wellness plan.


SPEAKER_00:

Hey everyone, welcome back to Midlife Madness. Before we get started, remember to subscribe to our channel or our podcast. Every single week we are throwing out there new content on midlife madness, wellness, faith. Um, yeah, there's a lot to talk about. Today we are talking about a frustrating thing, and that is mental belly. Have you ever have you found or seen that over a sudden your midsection is getting wider, your lower abdominal area in in the little pouch area is getting bigger. We call that the menal belly, or also the menal apron. You can be super skinny your whole entire life, and all of a sudden you have this little pouch right in the lower abdominal area. That right there is the menal belly. So let's talk about the menal belly. What the heck is menobelly? So metalbelly refers to a stubborn belly fat that often appears during perimenopause and menopause. It is a sign of hormonal shifts and metabolic slowdown. The fat tends to accumulate around the abdomen, leading to more apple-shaped vigor, even in women who were previously hourglass or pear-shaped. So it is not a respecter of person. You will find that over a sudden you have this pouch in the lower abdominal area, and it's so stubborn and hard to get rid of. So if you know what I'm talking about, then comment below because this is definitely a frustrating thing. I see it every single day in my center where women are like, I need body contouring because I don't know where the heck this came from. And so let's target that area. So that's gonna be one of the things that we're gonna talk about that helps with the mental belly. So let's talk about why this happens. It happens because your estrogen declines. So when your estrogen declines, um, then fat storage shifts from the hips and the thighs and it migrates over to the belly. So it literally does that, guys. Fat will migrate from the hips, from the thighs, and it starts going right to the lower abdominal area. Um, and that's because estrogen helps regulate your body where your body stores fat. So if your estrogen is declining, then you're gonna have a shift of where your body stores fat. And unfortunately, its very favorite area is the lower abdominal area. Also, it's connected with cortisol levels. So, like if you are living in a high stressed environment, um, it raises cortisol, and when your cortisol is increased, then it triggers the body to hold on to fat, especially visceral fat, which is the dangerous fat around the organs. If you've heard me talk about visceral fat, visceral fat is around the fat that's in and around the organs, therefore, um it increases the risk of producing chronic disease. It also makes your midsection wider and it can create that curvature of your belly. And so visceral fat is definitely a fat that you want to keep your eye on. We have technology in our center that we can check your levels of visceral fat to make sure it's in a healthy range. So reach out to us if you are local in the Penguin Pines area, then reach out to us because we do have technology to check your visceral fat. Um, also around the time that you're perimenopause, menopause, your metabolism slows down. So with age, naturally muscle mass will decline. And when muscle mass declines, then that means that you're not burning as many calories. And so when you're not burning as many calories, you can store more fat. And then also insulin resistance. Hormonal changes can make your body less responsive to insulin, leading to more fat storage, particularly in the midsection area. So those are four reasons why. And the last one, super common sleep and mood changes, hot flashes, anxiety, sleep loss, um, all can affect your metabolism and also your hunger hormones and fat storage. So if you're not sleeping well at night, the next day you're fatigued, usually human nature, you want to go grab um comfort food, which is usually high in sugar and carbs, and then you're not burning as much. So now you're storing fat, and because um you're in this phase of your life, you can be storing it more in your lower abdominal area, and there is the pooch. So, so many things that we deal with, right? The really great thing about it is though, we can do something about it. We can do something about it. Obviously, number one, let's talk about how we can we we can get rid of it, okay? So, number one, we talk about it all the time. Here, you're gonna hear it day in and day out, is balancing your hormones. So, number one, balancing your hormones naturally. So, you can take bioidentical hormones. Remember, we're not doctors here at midlife madness, but um, we talk about our experience, life changer to me. Um, and so go to a functional medicine doctor and start uh checking your hormone levels. Don't take your your numbers are normal or you're within range. Um, you if you feel symptoms, you need to go to a provider that's going to figure out what's wrong, is going to figure out what your hormone levels are. You it's okay to do sec two or three opinions to make sure. Okay. So, number one, balance your hormones naturally. You can also do that with eating, you know, fiber-rich foods, cruciferous vegetables, omega-3 fats. Okay, so go check your hormone levels. Eat um a good balanced diet. So make sure you're looking at fiber-rich foods and cruciferous vegetables and great sources of omega-3 fats. Manage your stress. This is number two. Manage your stress and cortisol. It's so, it's like, I feel like we talk about this every video too, because it is such a life thing. Like, I cannot explain to you how stressed people live every single day. And so start doing things that are gonna help you with this, guys. Red light therapy is incredible to reduce cortisol levels, deep breathing exercises, bring in your faith, you know, do faith-based meditations, um, worship, prayer, um, also go do gentle movements like yoga and walking, go outside, get outside. Nature is incredible for our soul, it brings down our cortisol levels. Boost your metabolism. This is number three. Let's boost our metabolism. So, how do we do that? Start focusing on building lean muscle. If you are in perimenopause, any of the pauses, okay, then you should be focusing on building lean muscle mass. This is number one for us, guys. So build lean muscle, do strength training at least two to three times a week and start building muscle. Eat high protein meals and balanced macros. So, like again, high protein, good healthy fats, and complex carbs. Okay, make sure you're feeding your body the things that it needs to help transition through this period of time and stay hydrated. Um, you actually, it's something that people may not know is that if you're dehydrated, your metabolism actually um slows down, so fat loss slows down and then increases bloating in your body. So you want to make sure that you're staying hydrated. Half your body weight per day is a great rule of thumb. Number four, address the insulin resistance, limit your processed carbs and added sugars. Nothing new. Sugars and carbs, processed foods are disruptors for our hormones. And so if you eat high in these things, then you're you're really not doing a good thing for your body because we're trying to move forward in this transition in our lives, and there's certain things that our body needs now. It didn't need these things back when we were in stage one of our metabolism and in in our you know high school years. We're not there anymore, and so we have to shift our lifestyle and shift what we do for our bodies in order to live a life that we are happy with, and that requires change. That requires change. I know, I know it sucks, and I know that once in a while we want to have that ice cream or this and that, and we whatever. However, like you have to pick what your priority is, and if you want to do something about this menabelly and about just all you know, symptoms of menopause in general, then it requires change, guys. Mindset and patience, that's number five. That is very important. Remember, you are not broken, your body's not broken, you're just in transition. We're in transition from you know, before from our 20s and 30s and 40s into now our menopausal years, and out, you know, in society, it's made it such an ugly thing to go through menopause. Actually, guys, it's not an ugly thing, it's a beautiful thing, it's a thing that we all go through together, and um, we need to embrace it because it's not over, right? The end is not near, it just looks different, so it requires different things. Um, healing your metabolism and your hormones takes time, but it is absolutely possible. It's absolutely possible. So do the things that are gonna help you, they're gonna help you live this life that you want to live. And you have to always have your your your thumb on it, see how you're feeling. For example, um, I'm on bioidentical hormone replacement and life changer, like I've said before, feeling amazing. I've been on it for a couple years now. However, I am am noticing now that I may need an adjustment to the dose. And how do I know that? Because I'm feeling tired, I'm a little like brain fogging. My, you know, just a couple of days ago, I was so excuse me, out of whack that I'm like, uh oh. I had some of these side effects of perimenopause starting to show up again, and I said I need to get back to the doctor and um and check my hormone levels again to see if I need to adjust the dose. So it's a it's uh it's a ongoing management thing, guys. We manage so much, us women, we manage so much. Um, and we need to put ourselves in the top of the list. We need to put ourselves in the top of the list, we need to manage ourselves, you know, schedule those appointments, do the things that are required for you to live a happy and joyful life in this midlife madness. Madness is gonna come, and that's okay. We just have to do the adjustments to live in this madness in a really great, awesome manner, and one that we're happy with. Okay, you don't have to be miserable during your midlife. So your body might be changing, but that doesn't mean you're powerless. That means that you just have to do the things that you need to do to get your body aligned where you were where you want it to go, okay. So remember that it's important for you to work with your hormones, not against your hormones, and there's things that you can do to do that. So midlife madness is or midlife is not the end, it is a new beginning to a new era in your life. So let's live it, you know, with with joy, let's live it with um swag, and let's go, let's do the things that it's required, okay? All right, if this was helpful, make sure you comment, subscribe to the channel, and um, I also want to mention for the mental belly, you can do red light therapy body contouring. We have a ton of clients that come to our center to do that, and the reason why is because we can target specifically that area of your body. So we have pads that we'll put in your lower abdominal area, it will open the fat cells, make it drain. You're gonna lose inches in that area, it's gonna help with so many things, it's an anti-inflammatory, it also um helps your body trigger the production of collagen and elastin, so it's gonna tighten your skin in that area. There are things that you can do, so look into it. If you're local here, come see us. Uh, the information will be uh available to you. How you can contact us. There are things that you can do, you don't have to suffer through it. Okay, all right. I hope this was helpful. I'll see you next time.