Written by: Amy Bondar, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Throughout my 18 years of practice, I have worked with so many women who struggle with their weight and changing bodies throughout menopause.
The truth is, in the Menopausal phase your body changes, your metabolism slows and for many women weight gain occurs and becomes very difficult to release. Certainly, it is important to ensure your nutrition and exercise support these hormonal shifts and do what you can to have the healthiest body to carry you through your life, but in menopause, the body is meant to look different and be different because you as a woman are different. That’s right! Our body is a reflection of who we are and where we are at in our lives.
The menopausal body is meant to look like a “Queen” body, not a “Princess” body. It is meant to look solid, feminine, softer, curvier, and fluid. This new body is meant to carry a woman’s message, her service, her love, her knowledge, her accumulated wisdom. It is meant to be the strength for her family, her work, her mission, her community and herself.
This is also an important phase of life to make peace with food, body and self. It is absolutely important to find joyous movement and to eat incredibly well, but instead of doing that for the goal of fitting into a different dress size, rather move and eat for longevity, to slow the aging process, to prevent chronic disease, to feel amazing, to glow and to have energy and vibrancy so that you can do all the things you love to do.
Leading up to menopause, many women lose themselves as they dedicate years to their families. They define themselves in one way – as a wife and mother. But as children become adults and leave the home and husbands phase into retirement, women are often left wondering, “Who am I now? What is my role and what do I want to do next?” Women often have to learn how to reclaim their lives and redefine who they are separate from being a mother and wife. Who they are in their roles is changing, their values are changing and so their body can be in a little (or a lot) of upheaval as a reflection of that.
It is my experience that women who are unfulfilled in these roles or do not know how to shift out of these dynamics, can often manifest weight challenges, emotional eating behaviors and even illness. Often the biggest reason women have a hormonal imbalance and menopausal symptoms, such as aches and pains, brain fog, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, hot flashes, etc., is because they are not doing what they love. In fact, these symptoms are often the body’s feedback and wake-up call trying to assist you to live authentically and to get you on a purposeful and fulfilling path. I believe this is what menopausal women are being called to explore. When we do what we love, we have energy, vitality, our eating regulates and our body begins to find its balance. When we don’t, the body regresses into illness.
Women have to resolve the old stresses and unexpressed emotions, resentments, angers, guilt from the past in order for their bodies to shift the way they desire it to. In this phase of life, if women do not take the time to do their inner work and explore who they want to be, they end up focusing their thoughts, energy, feelings, around their waistline and continuing on the endless diet rollercoaster. The key is to stop the weight loss battle and put that energy and time into exploring who you are and what you are most meant to be doing now. When you do that your body shape will find its rightful place.
Menopause provides women with the opportunity to make changes, clear out what no longer serves, decide who she wants to be, how she wants to live and what she would love to do in this phase of life. It is an opportunity for deep inner exploration. It has often been referred to as a time of life that women dread and signifies “being old,” but we must shift this mentality because it can be the most dynamic and profound time in a woman’s life. This is when women step into their Queendom and have the opportunity to truly do what they love with new purpose and meaning and share that with others.
When you are who you are most meant to be and doing what you most love to do and releasing what no longer serves you, your body will find its rightful place as a Sage, a Wise woman, a Queen, a Warrior, a Strong Woman archetype you are meant to be throughout Menopause and beyond.
Yours in health and vitality,
Amy Bondar
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Amy Bondar, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Amy Bondar, Nutritional Therapist, Certified Eating Psychology Coach, Speaker, and Author, changes life! Amy brings two decades of experience in the field of nutrition and mind-body coaching and believes that nourishing our body with the power of food, resolving stresses that are blocking our physiology and hindering our full potential, and living a life with purpose are essential ingredients to optimizing our health. Amy offers virtual consults and lectures to clients around the world and will inspire, educate and guide you to transform your relationship with food, body, and self.
