It was a just over a year ago that I did a shout-out to Essential Workers who have had to face a most challenging year and I got in touch with Leann, in Queensland, Australia. She completed the MyMT™ programme in late 2019, so I caught up with her to see how she was getting on. There’s been a wedding (“finally” she said) after being in lockdown for so long.
“I feel amazing and yes I always feel that I need to achieve more weight loss, but I always go back to looking at my photos and say to myself, ‘you are doing OK’!”
Leann farms in Queensland, Australia. Farming is the backbone of the economy in both New Zealand and Australia and during a pandemic there’s never been a more important time for farming to keep the economy going. Having grown up on a farm myself, I know how hard all of the farming women on my programme work. But this year, the additional pressure of not having contractors around to support farming activities took its toll on Leann as well.
When women arrive in menopause and they are working physically hard, there are additional concerns with their ability to recover from day to day. Especially when they aren’t sleeping. This leads to worsening immune health and with the decline of oestrogen in joints and muscles, aches and pains arrive in various joints and muscles too. Leann from Australia experienced this and didn’t realise that the additional stress and worry about farming was clashing with her changing hormones during menopause.
I was blown away when I first met Leann at my live-event in Brisbane last year where I was presenting my Masterclass on Menopause. She looked and felt amazing and when she shared the ‘before’ photo of her from only 3 years ago, she said to me, “I’ve had my ups and downs with all the stress of farming and it’s been a long journey.”
Living in and with Australia’s harsh climate, it seemed that she and her husband had only got over the fires and then there was drought and then the pandemic. Phew! It was a lot of stress to deal with, which is why I am so pleased that she had been with me on the MyMT™ weight loss Transform Me programme.
“We are very busy planting winter crops, milking heifers, calving and I’m also helping my daughter who is pregnant with our second grand-child” mentioned Leann when I caught up with her earlier this year. “But I’ve hired some exercise equipment from the local gym which had to close and following your plans still. This is the hill I walk up from home.”
That’s when I reminded her that the weight loss research from the National Weight Loss Registry in America, set up by Professor Rena Wing and Dr James Hill, acknowledges that slow is better. In fact, ‘successful’ weight loss is determined as maintaining weight loss for a year or more. I was so proud of what Leann had achieved. It’s really tough concentrating on weight loss when you are busy and have so much going on from day to day, so I applaude Leann’s determination to succeed. Not sleeping was a big concern when she joined me and as I mentioned to her, when we aren’t sleeping, then this means we aren’t changing our metabolism and burning fat overnight. It was such a privilege to help her turn this around so she could become more active again.
Part of the solution with Leann, was helping her to understand what was going on with her joints. Swollen and aching, she couldn’t walk far initially. But our joints have oestrogen receptors in them too, so as we go through menopause and lose oestrogen, our joints become stiff and sore. Taking olive oil helps as does changing our diet, sleeping all night and reducing any excessive exercise. I was blown away when she said that she had completed her first 5km run earlier this year.
It’s been an incredible year on so many fronts for all of us, so I hope that whatever your job is and no matter whether you are essential worker or not, that you have a relaxing festive season.
Dr Wendy Sweet, (PhD), Member: Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine/ MyMT™ Founder.
If you are confused about what is happening as you move through menopause, and how to look after yourself, then perhaps start with listening to my 2 hour Masterclass on Menopause. Now that it’s online, you can now listen in the comfort of your own home and yes, you can ‘pause’ me anytime you like. This was the start of Leann’s journey and I would love you to learn firstly, how we get to the point where our symptoms and weight-gain can over-whelm us in mid-life and of course, I give you an overview of what to do to change this. There is just a small NZ$15 admin fee for it, and you can read more HERE.
The other way is to join me on either of the MyMT programmes for the next 12 weeks and I as my way of supporting you further I have dropped the price of these to an unprecedented NZ$349 which is NZ$50 off the usual price. If you aren’t sleeping, or your hot flushes are getting you down or your joints are sore or you feel depressed, tired an d anxious, or your weight has gone up whilst in lock-down, then I would love you to join me on the MyMT™ online 12 week programmes. Use promo code JOIN MYMT.
From my home-bubble whilst in lock-down to yours,
Wendy x
