How to handle midlife metabolism is a topic for so many people. Have you found there are many changes that take place as the midlife phase of life begins? Are you discovering they make it challenging to achieve or maintain a healthy lifestyle? With all the changes taking place. Along with questioning life’s purpose and what’s next, that it brings does not make it any easier. Does it?
Are you looking at yourself wondering what’s next? What happened to the 30-year-old version of you? Suddenly there you are tired, ache, not sleeping well, and you put on weight that you can not seem to get off. No matter how hard you try with every fad diet and trick you know?
Does any of this sound familiar? Have you found the struggle at this phase of your life different and unfamiliar? Are you hearing others in your situation saying it’s your metabolism? After everything you have tried are you feeling they must be right? Do you find yourself wondering how to handle midlife metabolism?
As the midlife phase of life is coming into bloom many find this a time of change. Whatever shift you are making right now the key is you are shifting. Your life is changing and to live a healthy lifestyle you must consider all aspects of your life as a whole. Learn how to handle midlife metabolism and get the results you want.
Whatever your level of health right now you are going to need to make adjustments if you want to achieve change. Whether you are trying to maintain or improve your overall health there are multiple areas to consider. Let’s take a look.
How to Handle midlife metabolism with a holistic approach
Holistic, are you wondering what that means exactly? The actual definition is: relating to or concerned with complete systems rather than with individual parts. There are many aspects of holistic health and wellness. Here I am referring to the fact that everything you do encompasses aspects of mind, body, and spirit.
As an example, Have you ever tried to get your child to do better in school or at a sport? As you go through what you need to do to make the change and get them to participate in the process you use multiple tools. Usually, You instill better sleeping habits. Better studying or practice habits. healthier snacks to keep up the energy. Along with encouraging them with a lot of positive reinforcement to help them believe in themselves.
All of these are what make up a holistic approach to change. Without even realizing it you used the aspect of a mind, body, spirit approach. Let’s take this same approach and build you a roadmap. A map to navigate how to handle midlife body issues with the same approach.
What you Mind does matter
What we think, say, and believe lets our brain know what is possible and what is not. Your first step is to open your mind and assess your beliefs. To see if you need to reeducate yourself and update your beliefs to believe that your age is not an automatic roadblock.
The first challenge that comes with the struggle to get or stay healthy at midlife. Comes from the belief that it’s going to be a challenge because your metabolism is going to slow down. You have already set yourself up to have a difficult time. If you truly believe that your age is an automatic roadblock to maintaining or obtaining a fit and healthy lifestyle. Mind over matter may sound like a cliche, but it is actually very true.
Some of the stereotypes around the challenges of the midlife phase are just that. Deciding whether midlife is a crisis or your shot at building your dream life is a huge game-changer. Your challenge depends on your perspective now. Having the ability to look at your beliefs about midlife and making honest changes to any out-of-date stereotypes is a must to achieving any goals during this phase of your life.
Do you suffer from having half a mind to do something
It is as simple and as complicated as you believe that a healthy, happy lifestyle is achievable. That may sound silly but why would you work toward something you do not believe is possible? Having half a mind to do something is actually a thing. The brain has two hemispheres, right and left. When you understand the cognitive function of each side. It will help you see how both sides may not be on the same page.
To put it in the most basic terms possible, we feel on one side and think on the other. We process the logical linear thought process on the left and the big picture and emotion on the right. So it is possible to picture on the right that healthy lifestyle and desire to have it. While on the left you do not believe it is possible. Because you do not have a logical plan to get to the picture you have.
It is great to know what you want your dream life to be and set the goal to get there but if you lack the knowledge to get you to your result how do you begin? So half of your brain has the belief that it is possible while the other half does not because it doesn’t know how to get there. Hence, half a mind to do something.
How to make lasting changes with midlife metabolism
Before you limit yourself to believing the stereotype that it will automatically be your destiny to be out of shape. To not be able to do anything about it since you are now in the midlife phase of life. Take hold of any limiting belief you have. Open your mind to learn some facts that you can use to help you develop a healthy lifestyle even while struggling with how to handle midlife metabolism and all the stereotypes that go with it.
Let’s begin with the ultimate basics of weight loss and gain. In the simplest terms are Calories in versus calories burned equals maintenance, gain, or loss. You need to eat fewer calories than calories you burn to lose weight. Doing equal parts calorie intake and calorie burn will maintain your weight. Alas if you eat more calories than calories you burn you will gain.
So even before you start to consider what you are eating versus your dietary needs. You need to know your basic intake and your expenditure. The recommended basic dietary needs. They used to be displayed with the pyramid but have since been updated to the new standards at https://choosemypate.gov. You can use this basic outline as a start and build with any dietary restrictions you may have. Just consult with your doctor if you are unsure.
Midlife weight changes
As far as your expenditures, now this is your unique story. As you are now coming into this midlife phase you may be realizing you have a different activity level than 10-20 years ago. You may have spent years working or chasing growing children through all the phases of life. Maybe you are somewhere in between or did or are doing both. Finding out how to deal with the metabolic process of midlife begins with how you got there.
- Work – Years of sedentary life working behind a desk will cause many issues. Not getting enough exercise can lead to poor posture and tissue break down. Now, before you automatically think it is your age you need to realize these issues go with the sedentary life of the younger generations also. The difference is they are not concerning themselves with the long term effects they will face in later years. You are now at a point of change and now realize where you are. Sadly they will eventually when they slow down also.
- Children – Chasing children and running them to and from school and to sports and activities will have even the most energetic parent running low at the end of the day. As your children grew up the running changes and the amount of energy you expend changes also. Sadly not always the number of calories consumed. Sometimes it even increases with boredom that comes as the children develop their own independent lives with friends and hobbies.
- Combination – You may be one who is a combination of the two. So you are entering this phase with multiple changes as your work schedule and activity level are taking a hit from all around. Most of the time as one slows down you focus on the other more. Either way, the changes were happening and slowly overtime for all cases the physical effects take place with the physical break down of tissue and loss of muscle from lack of use and a steady slow weight gain
How to make changes that last with midlife metabolism
When you add in the stress of work and/or family. Any challenges with sleep and getting the proper rest. Coupled with the feelings of unsettlement as to what comes next? Add in the negative connotation with the midlife phase of life and things can feel overwhelming. The is a lot more going on here than figuring out how to handle midlife metabolism. So how do you make lasting changes when so many aspects of your life are actually changing?
When there are so many aspects of life-changing all at once the key is to find an approach to facilitate change without feeling overwhelmed and stressed about the change also. Am I right? Who wants to make changes that also add stress and negativity to an already confusing time.
Let’s break this down into three steps to approach to help you see it in a way you are familiar with just maybe not seeing the association.
Mind
Beyond the obvious need for making sure your beliefs are not holding you back from even making a lifestyle change last during midlife, you will also need to look at your self-talk. What are you saying to yourself? Do you need to work on it? Here is a great place to start changing self-talk. Your perspective will affect what is possible and needs to be addressed. Finding ways to approach life with a positive outlook is a big step in preparing yourself to learn new things.
Sleep is of the utmost importance. It’s not just for the body it is for the mind to rest and organize the information you have stored from your busy day. The mind uses your sleep to reorganize and optimize its functionality. Developing an effective evening routine to slow down your thoughts to get a more restful night’s sleep is important also. You can begin by limiting your time on electronic devices in the late evening.
Take time to make a list of the things you know you need to do in the morning so the brain has closure and increases your ability to not overthink. Make some time as you lay down to be grateful. Not only does gratitude predict greater subjective sleep quality and sleep duration, and less sleep latency and daytime dysfunction as shown in this study on Science Direct, but it also helps you wake up with a more positive perspective, All this makes a great place to start with no real earth-shattering changes needed. Are you surprised?
Body –
One of the biggest physical factors that gest overlooked on a regular basis is hydration. According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%. So it is safe to say that hydration is kinda important. The recommended amount of water needed daily depends on various factors like age and gender and can also be affected by where you live. For more information to determine your needs, you may start with the article The Water in You: water and the Human Body on the USGS water school site.
As discussed above the basic weight requirement for weight loss, maintenance and gain are pretty simple. Implementing and maintaining is a matter of perspective and mindset and not giving up. To find a starting place for you to begin you can use this wonderful Calorie Calculator. You can use this to get a starting point and make any adjustments, up or down to your calorie intake to achieve your desired result. You also need to be aware of what types of foods you are eating and try to incorporate plenty of fresh healthy choices into your dietary needs using https://choosemypate.gov.
Obviously, sleep is also important for the body. It needs time to do repair work and rejuvenate while you rest. You also need Physical activity. A full range of flexibility from stretching, myofascial release to yoga will help with mobility but you also need to look at some type of fitness routine to help you build back any lost muscle and core strength you may have lost from neglect of your body. You may find it helpful to consider what type of exercise is best suited for you and your goals.
Spirit –
As the nonphysical part or seat of emotions and character, it is important to be congruent with what we believe, think, and feel. Finding the time to slow down and reflect inward can have a huge effect on how you think and feel. This does not have to be traditional meditation, it can be quiet breathing focusing on your body, Here are 23 Types of meditation for you to try. Whatever style you prefer taking time to hear yourself will help you discover who you are. It can also help you uncover what is causing any imbalances in what you are thinking and feeling.
Right now with all the changes you may be experiencing finding out how you truly feel about the changes can help you be more proactive in making the desired and needed changes to get you to where you are wanting to go. Any negative emotions you are feeling usually have negative thoughts or self-talk with them. This is the time to understand what is causing them and then you can work to update the beliefs associated and move into a more positive frame of mind.
Now is also a good time to declutter your world. Not only will it help you calm your mind with less to think about it will help you develop a more congruent lifestyle with who you are now becoming. Start small, even one wall of a room at a time. You don’t need to stress yourself. Just create an environment you find soothing and comfortable for you. It’s now your turn. Develop a space that is your haven where you feel calm and at peace.
Midlife Dream Life or Midlife Crisis
Using the holistic approach to making change is more effective because it helps you develop and maintain a more congruent self. When you are happy with yourself life tends to be more positive overall.
Having the mindset that midlife is going to automatically come with a set of predetermined roadblocks that will make it more difficult is going to hinder this magical phase of your life. You may not have the optimal health you once did but when you take responsibility for the actions that got you to hear instead of labeling it metabolism you can make a plan to change it.
Just as slowly over time, the decisions that lead you to this time may have changed you to a version of yourself that you are not totally satisfied with. Start today to acknowledge where you are. It will help you begin the journey to make the necessary changes for improvement, slowly over time. Adding one step at a time you will find your way to the new happier, healthier midlife version of yourself.
Learning how to embrace midlife and make it fun and exciting is up to you. I am here to help inspire you along the way. In my experience having the right perspective can change your world. There is a silver lining if you take the time to look for it. Even if it’s your new free highlights. That’s money in the bank.
Have a blessed day Y’all,
Peggie Sue | The Midlife Dream Life Coach
