Physiology including hormones, daily activities and appetite make subtle changes post-menopause. But the equation for losing weight is the same: eat fewer calories than you burn. Unfortunately, you can’t chose or target where the fat comes off first, meaning it will come off but where most fat leaves first can change with age/hormones. Below is a frequently asked question that will detail your answer.
Q: How do I lose belly fat?
A: Losing body fat anywhere on the body requires consuming less calories than you burn regardless of the type of diet you consume. The goal is to find a diet that you’re comfortable with so you can stick with it until you reach your goal knowing there is no such thing as “spot reducing” – i.e. fat leaves the body from wherever it’s genetically program to lose it and sometimes the places you want it to leave from first do not happen till later – but it will happen if you stay in the calorie deficit. You do this by eating less, moving more or a combination of the two until you reach the goal. As mentioned, finding a diet you can stick with is the key as well as maintaining your exercise program to complement the diet. There are also supplements that may help with controlling appetite, especially if you’re not adverse to stimulants such as caffeine. One such supplement is ThermAccel and an effective non-stimulant supplement is Weight Loss & LiverSupport.
Meal replacements integrated into your daily meal planning is also very effective in weight/ loss and maintenance as it helps control calories and appetite. I have placed a sample supplement plan at the bottom of this email that includes the meal replacement LeanMR (meal replacement). All this said, for your best chance of reaching your goal, you have 3-options:
3 options:
1. You can visit one of our licensed health clubs using the club finder The expert fitness professionals in our licensed health clubs can give you direct service for all your fitness goals including nutrition needs (non-clinical).
2. Alternately, if a club visit or training session with one of our trainers is not a viable option, you can receive all your diet, supplement and health, fat loss or muscle gain needs online from the dotFIT program. Go to the dotFIT home page and register for free. From there simply follow instructions creating your program and setting your goal. The dotFIT program will give you the meal plan outline you may easily customize as desired, with the proper calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats to get started, track intake and monitor results. It will also give you your supplement recommendations (I placed one below also) and exactly how to use them. Every week when you enter your weight and/or bodyfat, the program will tell you what to do until you reach your goal including recreating menus as necessary.
Once you create the program and get menus, you can go to our recipe section on the dotFIT website to get recipes with meal preparation instructions including meal replacement recipes: https://www.dotfit.com/learn/recipes. There is also a complete exercise program you can use to create the proper program to accomplish your goal – and again, just answer the simple questions and your exercise program will be created. However, if possible, we recommend one of our trainers to help you get started. On the dotFIT website you’ll also see a category called “Learn” where you will find many frequently asked questions and answers.
3. Reply again to this email or call us at 877-436-8348 and we will put you together with one of our phone coaches.
Weight Loss/Maintenance & Health Supplement Program
Daily:
• dotFIT Multivitamin & Mineral for your age and gender
o Take as directed
• LeanMR
o Use as directed within daily meal planning (see below) and to make sure you get ~1gm of protein per pound of lean body mass (or weight if not overweight) daily from all sources divided 4-5 times daily
o Can also be used as a supplement to a meal or by itself (or mixed with desired supporting contents) to shore up total daily protein needs
As needed
• Super Calcium
o Use if you do not meet the daily needs of calcium (~1000-1200 mgs) from food intake
Females take 1 or 2 daily with meals; if you need to take 2, take one with AM meal and the 2nd with PM meal; Males take 1 only if necessary
• SuperOmega 3
o Take 1 daily with meal if not consuming 2-4 svgs/wk of fatty fish
Meal Replacement Integration
Weight loss phase:
• Meal Replacements (MRs) generally supply two small meals a day and allow freedom of choice from traditional foods for the remaining allotted foods/calories. Therefore, use as two small meals within any calorie restricted meal plan of 4-5 meals since it's been shown that frequent small meals are better for weight loss than fewer larger ones especially as it relates to satiety, preservation of lean body mass (LBM) and energy levels
o Get LeanMR recipes here: https://www.dotfit.com/category-cid-1868.html
Maintenance phase
• Continue to consume 4-5 small meals daily within caloric allotment that include 2 MRs for convenience and to help ensure overall diet quality while reducing food costs
You can go to our recipe section on the dotFIT website to get recipes with meal preparation instructions including meal replacement recipes
Here’s are some frequently asked questions that you may find helpful