's motd Sunday December 19, 2010 - Menopause

[Guest guest]

MENOPAUSE

Sunday, 19 December 2010

Yesterday, while teaching class at

Slimmons, I realized that I was surrounded by women

who're menopausal. (You may have heard it referred to

as the "change of life.")

Now, I have to tell you, I did not

know too much about menopause until I did some

research on the subject. But now that I've done that

research, I have a much better understanding of how

menopause affects a woman's life. I get it now.

See, menopause is caused by hormonal changes in the

female reproductive system. And research has shown

that fully 70% of women have a rough time with their

menopausal symptoms. (Some of you ladies know

oh-too-well what I'm talking about.)

Some women get hot and/or cold flashes as a result of

menopause. I've been around women who've had those

hot flashes. And I could just see as it began taking

over their bodies. They'll often excuse themselves to

be alone so they can have some time to bounce back.

Some women have mood swings, get emotional and cry

very easily as they're going through menopause. Others

feel fatigue and many women have terrible headaches

brought on by their body's dropping estrogen levels.

A lot of women struggle through

sleepless nights due to their body's hormonal

changes. And others are filled with anxiety making

them feel at ease in everyday social situations.

Memory loss and the inability to concentrate are other

issues that may affect a woman going through

menopause. Wow! This is all so terrible.

And here's one more not-so-good thing women going

through menopause have to deal with. And that is,

many of them have a tendency to gain weight

during this change in their bodies. Specifically, the

added weight shows up around their middles. (Oh,

those mean-old hormones!)

But I'm not finished, menopause also causes some

women's hair to thin. They may experience episodes of

rapid heartbeat or aching joints and muscles, too.

Oh, I'm so sorry, ladies, that you have to go through

so much. God bless you all.

There are several women at Slimmons I truly admire

because they work hard at losing the weight, in

spite of their menopausal issues. I've watched

them stay on program even as they worked

hard to lose about a pound-a-week. But the goods news

is...they're doing it!

So, are you going through

menopause right now? And have you suffered weight

gain as a result? Well, I can only tell you what I

tell the ladies in my classes. You can lose

weight during menopause if you work hard at it.

And so many of my students at Slimmons...do!

In fact, there's one lady in class, who has

experienced many of the symptoms I've discussed. But

still, she's lost nearly 40 pounds this

year. In fact, she provided me with much of the

information I needed for today's message. I want to

thank her for all of the help. And I hope that you

won't let menopause get in the way of your own

weight-loss goals.

Love,