Hi, welcome to Step It Up with Steph.

I'm your host Stefanie Mansour and this is your weekly dose of health, fitness and lifestyle entertainment.

I've been coaching women for over a decade in health and weight loss and nothing excites me more than helping people reach their goals.

My background is in communications, psychology and women's studies and I'm certified in personal training, yoga, pilates and life coaching.

I've been honored to be featured on National Outlets for my comprehensive approach to tackling every day wellness issues.

Each week we'll be meeting a new guest who's ready to step it up.

We'll provide everyday solutions for your wellness problems, talk to experts, give you food advice and also a workout to help you live healthier.

So, join us, it all starts now on Step It Up with Steph.

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On today's episode, we're meeting with a guest who previously has lost almost 100 pounds.

But since hitting menopause, she's gained 20 pounds in just four weeks.

We've brought in our doctor of naturopathy and a gynecologist who specializes in menopause.

We've also got pre and post workout snacks and a low intensity workout that'll help burn fat.

But first, let's take it to the streets and see what random everyday people know about menopause.

What do you know about menopause?

Not much.

Okay.

It's a big deal.

Yeah.

I don't know.

[laughing] That's okay.

I know it's troubling for some women.

Yes.

You get hot instantly.

I know my mom's going through it.

Okay.

Can you imagine how it must feel to gain 20 pounds in just four weeks?

That's what happened to today's guest named Kristy as a result of menopause.

So, let's meet her and see how we can help her.

I understand that around the time when you started gaining those 20 pounds it coincided with when the hot flashes started, right?

Correct.

Okay so was your weight prior to those hot flashes?

Well, 29 years ago I lost 100 pounds.

Oh, wow.

Congratulations!

Thank you.

So, it's been a journey to keep it off ever since.

And I always had the tools to-- You know, I'd gain 10 or 15 pounds and I'd lose it and be able to keep it off.

But when I started getting hot flashes then like in four weeks, I gained 20 pounds, like out of nowhere.

It's all around my mid-section and it's just really been difficult to try to figure out how to manage that.

All right, and what have you been doing to try to like help with the weight loss?

So, in the past I've done high impact cardio like Zumba, spin those kinds of things.

But I recently had an injury to my foot, so the last three or four years I've been doing more low impact Pilates along with weight lifting.

And I get up at 4:00 o'clock every morning to go to the gym.

Oh, wow.

Four to six days a week.

So, I keep a regular routine, but it just hasn't been working with the recently gained from the hot flashes.

Yeah.

And how has this weight negatively affected your life?

I'm just angry and uncomfortable.

I'm frustrated.

It's just on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm like a 20.

Okay.

Yeah, you've like tried so many things before and now they're not working now.

So, I changed my whole diet even more.

I cut out-- Gosh, so you've done everything, okay.

I cut out soda, processed sugar.

I eat pretty much all whole foods and very little processed food.

You think that would work.

But here I am.

So, between that and the working out, nothing's working.

Okay and what are you hoping to get out of me and the experts?

Well, my ultimate goal would be to get the weight back down to where it's manageable.

Where I feel comfortable.

I don't have to think about every piece of food that's going into my mouth and if I'm doing the right workout.

The doctor also gave me low doses of estrogen that I would like to not take if I don't have to.

So, I'd like to be able to navigate menopause in a way that is healthy and natural and makes me feel good about myself.

Well, you've come to the right spot because along with me I have a doctor of naturopathy and we have another expert who all together, we're planning to get you on the right path so that you don't have to think about this every minute of your life.

That would be lovely.

All right so let's take it to the couch and meet the experts.

Okay.

Weight gain during menopause is a major reason why women seek out my support.

As a holistic weight loss coach for over a decade, I've been helping women get to the bottom of the causes for their weight gain so that they can get back to the bodies that they love.

So, today Kristy and I are joined by our doctor of naturopathy, Dr.

Chavez and also her gynecologist Dr.

Nichole Williams who specializes in working with women during this time.

Kristy, I know that your hot flashes started at the same time as you gained those 20 pounds in just one month.

So, I want to ask you, Dr.

Williams, is this normal?

Actually, it's incredibly common because as your estrogen levels drop, your metabolism is going to drop as well.

And in addition to that, your satiety hormones, your ability to actually feel full, that actually drops as well.

So, you get this kind of double whammy of lower estrogen inability to feel full and there you go.

So, of course it makes a lot of sense that that weight would just shoot up like that.

Wow, okay.

How's that make you feel?

At least you're not alone.

[talking over each other] All right, so speaking of her metabolism, what's your diet and food like on an average day?

So, I usually start my first meal a day is around 7am after I've been to the gym.

I'll have a protein shake or egg white sandwich or something like that.

And then mid-morning I will have another snack maybe veggies and humus or gluten free pretzels.

And then for lunch it's usually salad or soup or you know something small.

And then sometimes I have a mid-afternoon snack, sometimes I don't.

Usually between 5pm and 6pm is when I have dinner.

Okay.

And it's usually protein and veggies sometimes a whole grain.

And I don't usually eat after that.

Okay.

That sounds great to me.

What do you think, Dr.

Chavez?

Good, good.

The one suggestion I would have would be you can move your breakfast up because you really want to speed your metabolism.

You could cut out some carbs like the bread for the sandwich and the gluten free crackers and things like that, just because they're going to have carbs.

And I would add in you know more fiber rich foods to fill you up, to satisfy you.

More good fats like you might even hold the yolk in your egg or something because fats can help to fill you up too.

But when you're going through menopause, estrogen metabolism is really important too.

And so binding any-- You want to make sure that your liver metabolism of estrogen is going really well.

And so fiber is a great way to do that.

So, vegetables, nuts, seeds are the most fiber rich foots.

You can even take a fiber supplement before bed.

It'll fill you up.

It'll help with getting rid of things that you don't need to hold onto.

It changes your microbes in your gut, it can really change your metabolism.

Green tea can also help with metabolism post menopausally and it helps with the anti-cancer affects and things like that as well.

I also recommend-- I know you can't eat soy because you have a sensitivity to soy.

But soy is a phytoestrogen and so is flax seeds and so those both can help to give you a little bit of estrogen stimulation.

Plus, the flax has a ton of fiber too and good fats, which fill you up.

So, that would be what I'd suggest.

Okay.

Great.

And what about your sleep?

'Cause I know Dr.

Chavez always wants to know how's your sleep.

Dr.

Williams you too, I'm sure want to know are there hot flashes in the middle of the night?

Or how's your sleep?

Not really.

I usually go to bed like 9, 9:30 and sleep until 4 AM when I get up to go to the gym.

So, I am out, you know.

I'm crashing because I get up so early.

So, if I do have them at night, I don't know it.

So, most of the time I notice them during the day.

I call them my little personal summers.

I love that.

That's a nice way of talking about something that you can't stand.

Dr.

Williams what would you say to someone like Kristy who she said she's like very holistic and wants to solve things in a holistic way.

Yeah, I completely understand that.

So, we talk about being able to replenish the estrogen that your body's kind of lacking during this time.

So, what I talk about is higher highs and lower lows.

So, when you're having a hot flash, you kind of have peak and a trough, then that's when the hot flash kind of overtakes you.

So, when we did the original study called the Women's Health Initiative, they looked at women who were after menopause and they studied those women and that's where most of the data comes from.

So, a lot of women who are initially going through menopause, those weren't the people who we studied.

And the data that came from that, it was a little bit of scary data.

And that's what they used on the news and made everybody so afraid to utilize this actually very vital tool that can be incredibly useful during this transition.

And also we know that there is some data about weight loss and replenishing your estrogen.

So, what I would do is annihilate those hot flashes with the estrogen since you don't have a uterus, you had a hysterectomy, then we're not so worried about other things.

Annihilate them and in the hopes that when you have this estrogen it'll kind of help to re-tweak your metabolism and get you back to the place where you were before.

Wow.

What do you think about that?

That would be awesome.

Yeah.

And are there any other ways to get estrogen besides I mean like a patch or a pill or like what, what are we talking about here?

Yes, there's several different ways to do estrogen.

We can do a patch of course.

There is oral estrogen that is both bio identical and of course something you can get at your local pharmacy.

Then we also do a gel, we do a ring.

There is so many different ways.

And so when I talk to my patients, I go look, we have a lot of different ways that we can manage this.

And we're just going to work together until we can figure out the right thing for you.

Yeah.

Okay, great.

This sounds awesome.

Just to recap, Dr.

Williams you're recommending that Kristy stay on the estrogen until the hot flashes subside.

And Dr.

Chavez you're recommending that Kristy move up her breakfast a little bit earlier in the day, close to when she wakes up and also add in some flax seed to her diet.

So, Kristy we could add that into your morning smoothies.

And, for me, I would love to have you get set up so that you're feeling like you can relax throughout the day.

So, we can have these little like breath breaks, your little meditation breaks, 60 seconds, so we can get your body back into a homeostasis level, so that your body can then just let go of that fat and release it instead of feeling like you got to go, go, go kind of fight, fight, fight.

'Cause I know you've had success in losing a ton of weight in the past, so we want this to be like a natural transition for you back to how you were when you were happy with your body.

How's that sound?

Perfect.

Okay, great.

Let's step it up.

This heat starts creeping up on you and it takes over your entire body and it could last for 20, 30 seconds up to a minute, minute and a half and then it goes away and then you get cool.

It's like you go in a hot shower on your own.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Hot flashes and weight gain.

You can't have kids afterwards.

I know that's when you stop getting your period.

And your body changes and your hormones do as well.

Like today's guest Kristy, many of my private weight loss clients are so overwhelmed by the amount of information out there about healthy eating.

Do you eat this or do you eat that?

And sometimes the information can be a little bit conflicting.

And one of the most common questions I get is, what's a good pre workout snack and post workout snack?

So, who better to bring in here to talk with me than registered dietician and the Chicago Cubs Nutritionist, Dawn Jackson Blattner.

Hey, how are you?

Hey, Dawn.

I'm good.

Nice to see you too.

So, I want to talk to you about the difference between what you recommend for professional athletes before and after their workouts to eat.

And what you recommend for the everyday people like us.

It's actually very different.

Okay.

Because an everyday person, just like us, we're just doing maybe an hour of a workout.

And then-- At the most.

At least, yeah.

Okay, so at the most, right.

So, the other 23-hours of doing nothing.

Right.

So you oftentimes don't even need anything special for sports nutrition.

If you're an average everyday person, you probably are just eating your breakfast, lunch, dinner and healthy snacks as your sports nutrition.

Okay.

Okay?

And if you're an athlete that's where you have to start thinking about, okay, what am I going to eat before, what am I eating during and what am I going to eat after to fuel me in addition to all the meals that you're eating.

Okay.

Got it.

So, what are a few healthy pre and post workout snacks if it's not a meal?

Let's say you're waking up in the morning and you're ready to workout.

Yeah and you want a little something.

There's the dynamic duo that you can eat.

It's carbs because that's going to fuel your muscle.

And carbs are like fruit, okay.

But you wouldn't think.

People don't think that-- They think it's a bowl of rice or something.

So it's like fruit.

And then you need a little protein for staying power.

So, some combinations of this dynamic duo would be like an apple and almonds that you could just grab as a quick pre workout snack.

Or 2% plain Greek yogurt with some berries.

Or grapes and a string cheese or a banana and some pumpkin seeds.

So this combination helps fuel your muscles and keep your blood sugar going for a workout.

But then after the workout, you could just eat breakfast.

You don't need like a whole sports shake and all this other stuff.

You're just looking to breakfast and that's your sports nutrition if you're an average person.

Okay, now for those professional athletes, I'm curious, I'm sure everyone else is.

So are they eating the same thing just more of it?

Or what's their sports nutrition like?

Yes, so sports nutrition for a pro athlete who's always working out.

Working out is literally their job.

Right.

So you're having breakfast, lunch, dinner and you're doing all sorts of snacks before workout even during the workout you're fueling and after a workout.

Okay, so they're just having more of these?

Lots of food.

Okay.

It's like fuel the furnace because they're always exercising.

Right, okay.

Awesome.

And then you also have a drink for us to make, right?

So, this is a natural sports drink.

Okay.

So, when you would have this is if you are going to work out for more than an hour and you really need to fuel yourself to keep going so you don't peter out, is that you need hydration from water in a sports drink.

Okay.

You need some carbs, which is a fuel for muscles.

So, I use 100% juice like orange juice.

Okay.

And then because you're sweating-- When you lose sweat you lose electrolytes like salt.

So, I'm going to put in some salt.

And if you have those three things, that's all your body needs during a workout: the carbs, the water and the actual salt.

And this is not good for recovery because there's no protein in it.

You'd want a protein shake or a meal.

Right.

That's for after.

If during you need a little boost, this is a nice natural way to do a sports drink.

Got it.

And if you're not working out for that long of a period of time, just fuel yourself with water during the workout, right?

Water.

Water.

Water.

Yes exactly.

Don't forget it.

Okay, awesome.

Well, thanks so much, Dawn.

You'd be stressed, like you get menopause when you're stressed also like if you're older.

And then you perspire, a little sweat comes right here and your nose and your hairline and if you're in public, you're most embarrassed.

You don't want anyone to know.

So kind of hide it.

I think menopause affects your weight, depending on like everyone's hormones and like everyone's bodies are different obviously, but it totally affects everyone differently.

Yes.

I don't know much about it because I didn't have any menopausal symptoms at all.

Wow, that's awesome.

Okay, great.

It was awesome.

Yes.

Today's episode is all about menopause.

And if you're going through this period in your life where maybe your old workouts aren't working any more, maybe high intensity workouts aren't getting you the results that you're used to getting, you may want to scale things back and do a lower impact workout that doesn't stress your body out so much.

So, today my exercise girls and I have a pilates and bar inspired workout for you.

So, to start we're going to place our hands on our hips and point one foot forward.

So, pointing here with the toes, we're also going to squeeze the quads so that we're pulling the kneecap up to help stabilize the knee.

With the abs in, we're going to lift up with the foot and lower down.

So, Kia is going halfway as a modification and Kelly and I are going up as high as we can but not too high.

We're just doing this low impact workout here.

So, as you lift up and lower, think about really stabilizing with that standing leg.

So you're pressing down through the heel of the standing leg as you're raising up the foot.

One more and rest.

Now we're going to go out to the side.

So pointing that foot out, squeezing the quad again, we're pulling that kneecap up.

We're going to lift the leg up and lower.

Up and lower.

Good, now this is working the gluteus medius which is part of your core and it's your outer hip here.

So, this is really good to work because it helps with stabilization and it's really good to feel nice and secure in your body especially throughout your core.

Good, three more, three, last two, good and one, rest.

All right, now we're going to go to the back.

So pointing that leg back, squeezing your glutes, abs in, lift up with the back leg and lower.

Up and lower, good.

So we're really pulling that navel in towards the spine to help support us so that we don't tip over as we're working the back body.

So this is working the hamstrings, the glutes and it's also working the stabilizing leg.

Good, three more.

Three, last two, and one, rest.

Okay, moving on to the second side.

So, pointing that second leg, squeezing the quad again pulling that kneecap up.

Abs in, lift the leg up and lower.

Good.

Nice job.

Five more, five, and four, good.

Three, two and one, rest.

All right now we're going to go out to the side.

So pointing that foot out, abs in tight, lift up and lower.

Up and lower.

Good.

So this routine is great to give you a nice well-rounded glute on both sides and it's also a good balancing exercise.

But if you need extra help with balance, you could put your hand on a chair, on a counter or if you're at the gym you can put a hand on a bar.

Two more, last one and rest.

Good.

Now we're going to go to the back and lift up and lower.

Up and lower, good.

Up, remember to keep that core tight, great.

Five more, five, I'm really feeling the burn.

Good, three, two, and one, rest.

All right so now we're going to move into another balancing exercise and for this one, Kia is going to come up onto her tiptoes and then lower down.

And that's going to be her exercise.

And Kelly and I are going to step it up a little bit and lower up onto the tiptoes but come down into a wide leg squat on the tiptoes and then stand up back to the starting position.

So down and up.

So, this exercise is not only working the glutes and the thighs and stabilizing the lower legs and ankles, but it's also working those inner thighs.

Good, three more.

Three, stand up high on the tiptoes, two, last one and rest.

Great.

So, for this last exercise we're going to come down onto the mat because we're going to move into a plank.

But don't feel intimidated because we've got modification.

So down on the ground.

We're going to first come into a forearm plank like Kia.

So, Kia's on her forearms.

She's going to scooch her knees back just a little bit and pull the abs in.

And that's going to be her plank position.

Kelly is going to scooch her knees back and tuck the toes under and come into a plank position.

And I of course, I'm going to show you the most challenging plank which is up like this, pressing down through all ten fingers.

Pulling the abs in, shoulders over the wrists or if you're on your forearms, shoulders over your elbows.

We're holding this here for 30-seconds and breathing.

Good, five more seconds.

You can do it.

Three, two and one, rest.

Phew, great job.

It's been about four weeks since we met Kristy.

So, let's check in on her.

Hey, Kristy.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thanks for joining me on this rainy day.

No problem.

So, I know that weight loss especially during menopause is not always a walk in the park.

So, what has been your biggest challenge with all of this?

For me the biggest challenge is really embracing the changes.

You know I have lost weight in the past so I feel like I kind of know what works and what doesn't.

So, making big changes was hard for me to embrace.

Yes.

And you know that's common.

You feel like you did it in the past, so why won't it work right now?

Exactly.

Exactly.

But that's why we started working together.

So I'm glad that you have made these changes.

What things have you put into place from what we've recommended?

Getting the extra sleep has been helpful.

I don't feel as tired.

I have a lot more energy and I'm not as stressed as I used to be.

So that's been huge.

And the extra sleep I have to admit has really helped.

Okay.

I feel less tired and I'm not as stressed.

So it has been a welcomed change.

I also changed my workouts.

I don't go do cardio and lifting as much.

I still do that occasionally but I've been doing a lot more pilates, like with reformer pilates, and I really enjoy it, it's helped a lot.

It's helped change my body structure and my foot doesn't hurt as much, so that was a huge bonus.

And well, with the increased estrogen, I was able to have way less hot flashes.

I don't think I've had a hot flash in like three weeks.

Wow!

So that's been amazing.

Yeah.

And I feel full.

More full than I did before.

So that's been helpful as well.

Yeah.

And in terms of weight loss, where are you at with weight loss?

So, I've only lost a few pounds.

Okay.

But I just don't feel as poofy as I did before.

So that has made me feel a lot better about it.

Yeah.

And sometimes with this it can take a little while for things to assimilate.

So, what are some of the changes that you're going to continue on with after all of this?

I'm definitely going to sleep.

Okay.

Great.

I really enjoyed that part.

And I will continue with the Pilates because I do feel like I'm getting better results with that.

Yeah.

And then follow up with the gynecologist to make sure that I have the right balance of estrogen.

And then really keep working on the food choices and changing that up a little bit to find the right combination to see what works the best.

Great.

Well, I'm so proud of you.

Thank you.

Yes.

And thank you for all that you did because I know it was a challenge to get me to embrace those changes.

Yeah, you know that's okay.

You know it's all about getting the program that works for you, you know.

So, I'm really proud of you.

Thank you so much.

Well, and for everyone at home, remember to always step it up.

Announcer: Step It Up with Steph is made possible by... Lifeway Foods: makers of probiotic Lifeway Kefir and Plantiful products.

Natural pain relief.