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MENOPAUSE FITNESS AND NUTRITION

Name: Stronger Women Over 50
Address: GB
Telephone: 07748697693

Taking Care of You

1-2- 1 sessions (online/in-person)
workshops (online/in-person)
group online menopause courses
group online fitness sessions

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A BIT ABOUT ME

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, I was fortunate enough to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle before practicing law.

Disillusioned with the regime in South Africa, I left to spend a year in my parents’ homeland, Portugal and relearnt my mother tongue, Portuguese. Arriving in London, I converted my legal qualifications to become a solicitor of England and Wales and spent a few years in investment banking. Yoga helped me through those years of long hours of work.

I became a mother at the age of 40 and my sons are now teenagers – while I am going through menopause. As a family, we have been keen mountain bikers, road cyclists and enjoyed hiking in the French Alps. Until very recently, I enjoyed running and managed to complete a 10k race in Kew Gardens in good time with a group of wonderful women.

I was 47 years old when I started noticing menopausal symptoms - fatigue, irrational anxiety and irritability and insomnia. At the time, I couldn’t find the necessary support from the NHS and so sought help from a private menopause specialist who prescribed bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. After a couple of weeks, I noticed an improvement, and this gave me enough momentum to start exercising again. I was practicing and teaching yoga and Barre, cycling, mountain biking and running...and doing housework (lots of stairs in our home).

After a few years, my hormone levels dipped further, and I was exhausted. The private menopause doctor increased my dosage of HRT and put me on Androfemme (the female form of testosterone) – this made a huge difference in my energy levels and mood. I felt like Wonder Woman.

I started studying to become a Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach Specialist for Women and learnt so much about exercise for women. After training as a Menopause Yoga teacher, I understood why menopausal women have to move, exercise and eat in a different way to men. But I wanted to learn more. This led me to study further and I am now a certified menopause coach, nutritionist and fasting coach.

As a menopausal woman, I have come to realise that its more important to move than to exercise – in order to keep my hormones in balance. ..and keep cortisol levels low. And so, my favourite regular forms of movement and exercise these days are housework, daily walks, slow long cycles twice a week, yoga once a week, short Barre sessions twice a week and…strength training three times a week! And I enjoy my Yoga Nidra naps every afternoon before the boys return home from school.

Armed with the knowledge and experience I have gained over the years; I enjoy helping other women navigate the muddy waters of the menopause – through exercise, menopause workshops and private sessions.

If you are an older woman and would like to improve your quality of life, get menopause support and information and get stronger, then you’re in good hands.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Xxxxx

Strength Training For Women

What is Strength Training?

Remember when you were a teenager and could eat everything in sight and not put on weight? Somewhere in your 30s, things changed. Now it seems as if just looking at food makes you fat. What happened?

As we age beyond 35, we start to lose muscle (sarcopenia) and, if we’re less active than we were when we were younger, the process of losing muscle worsens. This loss of muscle tissue causes the resting metabolic rate to drop – i.e. you burn less calories when your body is completely at rest. For example, if you lose 5lbs of muscle, the number of calories you burn in one day will decrease by approx. 25p calories. If you lose muscle but continue to eat the way you did when you were younger, you will gain a lb of fat in 14 days…over 20 weeks, that’s 10lbs of bodyfat. And, as for dieting alone, it can result in weight loss but only temporarily and…that weight loss tends to be muscle. You can’t afford to lose muscle. A 150lb woman who strength trains is more likely to wear a smaller pair of trousers than a 150 lb woman who doesn’t – i.e. proportions change with strength training. They won’t with only aerobic exercise or dieting.

The key to getting rid of accumulated bodyfat is to get back your youthful metabolism by regaining your muscle mass. Because muscle burns more calories than fat - which means that the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories your body burns, even at rest.

Many people believe that activities such as walking, cycling, running or swimming will be enough to keep their muscles strong, but these activities are not enough to hold onto your muscle mass.

Adding resistance training (i.e. building muscle by using your own bodyweight, resistance bands and free weights) will help you regain strength, improve your appearance, balance, posture, improve cognitive functioning, sleep, lower blood pressure and help you lose weight all over. One of the leading causes of injury to older individuals is falling – if we maintain our strength and ROM (range of motion) we will be less apt to lose our balance and better able to recover if we do. Strengthening movements with free weights requires stability and therefore improves balance.

Menopause

What is Menopause?

Hot flushes. Night sweats. Weight gain around the middle. Most of us know the classic symptoms we can expect during our perimenopause and menopause.

However, there are other symptoms including aching joints, sore muscles, burning mouth, heart palpitations, sagging skin, acne, insomnia and irrational rage and anxiety.

Your menopause is when you stop having periods and are no longer able to fall pregnant naturally. However, the actual definition of being menopausal is when you have not had a period for one year. (Menopause, by Dr. Louise Newson, page 10).

Perimenopause is the period leading up to your menopause when hormone production decreases – rather fluctuates - and you may start to experience symptoms. Menopause is when you haven’t had a period for one whole year and Post Menopause is the time in your life after your menopause.

Your doctor should be able to tell if you are in perimenopause or menopause based on your age, symptoms and how often you have periods. Sometimes, health professionals carry out blood tests to ensure that there are no other issues (eg.an underactive thyroid) or to assess actual hormone blood levels in order to determine whether to increase your prescription dosages.

Falling levels of oestrogen can affect your bones, so younger women may also be recommended to have a bone density test (called a DEXA scan) to determine the strength of their bones. DEXA scans can be difficult to access on the NHS – done privately, they cost less than £350.

Currently, the NHS does not prescribe Androfemme (the female form of testosterone) but this may change soon.

How can Menopause Yoga help me?

Yoga, breathwork and meditation can improve the main symptoms of the menopause, including sleep disturbances, fatigue, hot flushes, low mood, anxiety, muscle tone and bone density.

Synchronising the movements with the breath encourages us to live in the present moment and observe our thoughts and physical sensations as a witness. In this way, we become aware that we are not our body, feelings, emotions – we are so much more.

With Menopause Yoga (MY) workshops, you will be encouraged to see the menopause as a positive opportunity for self-study, self-awareness and, most importantly, self-care.

Menopause Yoga (MY) was created by Petra Coveney , a British Wheel of Yoga experienced teacher and member of the British Menopause Society and developed with the support of Dr Louise Newson, one of the UK's leading menopause experts. It is based on hatha yoga but incorporates vinyasa flow movements, restorative yoga, yoga nidra and elements of yin yoga. The practice works to reduce stress, cool hot emotions, reduce sensory overload, build bone and muscle strength, balance and mental resilience.

The yoga movements differ depending on which phase of the menopause you are going through.

In addition to regular workshops where you can connect with other women (online or in-person), I also offer wonderful private 1-2-1 sessions in my bright loft studio in East Twickenham, TW1.

Perhaps, it’s time to recognise the menopause as a time to slow down and transform our lives for the better.