One woman’s fight to beat the bulge

 

This post is a follow up to the brief article I published on Examiner.com yesterday.  A new study released today in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that older women (45 years and older) have to exercise more if they wish to control weight gain. 

 

In my experience as a fitness professional, I've run across my fair share of women who can testify to the difficulty involved in maintaining their ideal weight as they become older.  In light of this "news,"  I would like to share one woman's success story. I've changed her name to protect her identity (and she made me promise not to disclose her weight or body fat then or now!  Go figure).  Anyway…here goes:

 

Sheila describes herself as a "48 year-old in a love-hate relationship with her body."  Several years ago, at the age of 41, Sheila began to put on weight even though her eating habits had not changed.  As a health-conscious person, she ate reasonably well by avoiding fatty foods and sweets most of the time.  She exercised by walking 2 – 3 times a week and she bowled on the weekends.  She did not workout with weights because she did not like the gym scene.

 

By age 43, she had gained 15 pounds.  Her clothes did not fit anymore and she became self-conscious about her appearance- to the point of avoiding mirrors!  Out of sheer desperation, she joined a gym and started walking on the treadmill 4 – 5 days a week.  Her routine consisted of a 15-minute warm up at a speed range of 2.5 – 2.8 of a warm up period followed by 30 minutes of walking at a 3.0 (similar to the pace she maintained prior to joining the gym).   She stuck with this routine for 3 months but eventually stopped going to the gym out of frustration and embarrassment.  At the time she claimed that her eating habits had remained the same but admitted to occasional "stress eating.  Eventually, she admitted to "stress eating" a lot more than she admitted initially but that was no surprise.

 

For her 44th birthday, Sheila decided to treat herself to personal training and fitness coaching with me.  After assessing her physically, we agreed to an average of 1 – 2 pounds of fat loss per week.  And she understood that there would be times when her weight would remain the same.  Therefore, I instructed her to always consider how her clothes are fitting and how she is feeling as a way to help monitor progress.  We identified a few major stress triggers and mapped out a game plan of re-directed behavior and food alternatives.

 

The first thing I did was put her on a simple, full-body  resistance program (free weights and body-weight exercises) consisting of an in-home version and a version for the gym.   She trained twice a week at first.  Eventually, I increased her frequency to three times a week.  Read more about The Benefits of Weight Training for Women.

 

The second thing I did was ratchet up her cardio training.  After years of doing the same type of exercise, Sheila's body had become accustomed to the routine and it was no longer effective for weight management; although being outside had its own benefits (natural sunlight).  I added 2 days of elliptical training, 3 days of walking and I asked her to consider a spinning class once on the weekend (which she loved!).  Instead of walking at a constant pace of 3.0, I increased the base speed and instructed her to do a specific set of intervals.   Incidentally, she found a smaller gym and felt more comfortable attending.

 

In keeping my promise to her, I will not mention her weight or body fat but suffice it to say that she lost 6 pounds within the first month of training and lost an additional 15 pounds within 4 months.  Currently, she does resistance training and bootcamp style workouts 3 days a week.  She mixes up her cardio by walking- her favorite form- using an elliptical, dancing, and spinning 3 – 4 days a week.  She still stress eats occasionally but knows how to compensate for it.  She has maintained her weight successfully.

 

When asked how she manages to find the time to exercise, she replied, "So much of my time was spent doing unnecessary things.  I made exercise my priority and cut out a lot of unnecessary busyness." 

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