Cork woman launches book ' Say NO to Menopause Weight Gain'

INSTEAD of ‘settling’, women in their 50s need to think more about fuelling a fabulous and fit life.

That’s the advice from Cork weight loss coach Anna Burns, who wants women to stop accepting that they’re feeling past it, or settling for less, when they hit the half century mark.

Anna, from Curraheen, has just written a book called Say NO to Menopause Weight Gain to help women realise they can feel as well, if not better, in the second phase of their lives.

“It’s not a diet-book,” she stresses. “It’s a motivational book, to get us to question our assumptions about weight at menopause.

“There is a dietary approach in there and a couple of starter recipes, but really it’s a book to get you off the starter blocks to a more energetic, fitter, healthier you, at this age.

“The weight will come off no problem at this time in life, like it will any other time, but it’s about finding out what’s causing it. That could be a lack of self-care, or confidence, taking the time to prioritise their own needs and figuring out where they are on the map.”

The book, she said, will help re-energise women and help to “correct and question our norms”.

“Our norms over the years have changed. Our norms whether we like it or not are that 60% of people over 50 are overweight. So, you’re normal if you’re overweight,” she said.

But with people now living longer, she asks: “What do you want for the next 50 years? Are you ready to settle? I’m not, I’ve no intention of it!”

Anna (herself, middle-age) said she’s of a generation whose norms were to be feminine, fragile, and secondary almost and “now we need to challenge that.”

She pointed to people like J Lo and Jennifer Aniston as being great role models for what life over 50 can look like.

“Yes, there’s a team of people behind them but we need to expect more for ourselves at this age, turn it around, find that for ourselves. We’re still young and that’s being lost on women my age,” she said.

Anna said she hears women referring to their ‘problem area’, or saying things like ‘I’ll never fit back into that’.

“We need to realise that we can be fitter and stronger than ever - I’m fitter now than I ever was,” she said.

Acknowledging the pressures on women’s time such as possibly caring for elderly parents, caring for family, and working, she still stressed: “This is the time to take your own life in hand, no one will do it for you.”

Anna says there’s nothing she can teach women at this age about food that they don’t already know: “I just put some structure on it in the book, and base my advice on the Mediterranean diet, as there’s a plethora of evidence behind it.

“Essentially, we need to eat well to lose weight; we need to embrace fitness and start from where we are at; we need to enjoy the journey and the results will take care of themselves,” she says.

Anna describes herself as an overt advocate for HRT: “I see no point in not exploring it. There’s no need to suffer in silence - “I feel we’re on the cusp of it becoming normal and as long as you’re discussing it with your health professional, that’s the important thing.”

Crucially, she says women shouldn’t wait to have that conversation as a last resort either.

“Get it on the radar in time because by the time you’re ‘suffering - be it with hot flushes or sleeplessness - you have to ask yourself what else has been impacted in your body that you don’t see, such as loss of bone mass, cognitive facilities. Personally, I’m not prepared to lose any of that.”

As well as her book, she has launched a website and blog at www.menopauseweightlossknowhow.com