Look what Kaye’s up to now! 2 years on from MyMT she never imagined she would be 15kg down, sleeping well & doing her first marathon!
It’s International Women’s Day and with women from 15 countries now doing the MyMT programme, I wanted to have a shout-out to one woman who has blown me away this week – Kaye. Standing at the start-line of your first marathon is a nerve-wracking time. You have no idea how your body is going to hold up, let alone your mind – even if you are running around a beautiful mountain in New Zealand, Mt Taranaki. She got hold of me over the weekend and sent me these amazing photos of her running which she kindly wanted to share with you all too. “I want to give women hope” said Kaye.
“My own menopause symptoms and the continual weight gain were over-whelming me before doing your programme. If anyone had said that I would be training for and competing in a marathon in a couple of years time, I would have laughed at them. But I just feel so proud of myself and how far I’ve come in my personal transformation.“
I’m proud of her too. You see, just over 2 years ago, Kaye lived in Cairns and worked as a hotel housekeeper. When she sent me these photos I went back and found an old email from her which she had sent me before deciding to come on board into the MyMT™ programme. Here’s what she said,
“I feel exhausted. I’ve recently moved into a new apartment as well as started a new job and my stress levels have been through the roof. I have been going to work with as little as 3-4 hours sleep some days. I’m housekeeping in a hotel so my job is very physical. And then I walk 35 minutes home afterward in the heat. I don’t like being 51! My weight is going UP not down. I cry a lot!”
Menopause had landed her with an extra 15 kg of weight. Exhausted, she was trying everything to shift it, but nothing was working.
Not even exercise. So, that’s when I explained to her that it was lack of sleep that was disrupting her metabolism as well as her body holding onto heat as her hormones changed in menopause. Our body doesn’t like being hot all the time.
When we don’t sleep, our body fails to heal and recover from our day to day activities. Heart rate and blood pressure stay high overnight as does our stress hormone called cortisol. When cortisol is high overnight we fail to burn fat. This is why Kaye’s weight was going up not down. She wasn’t getting the lovely, healing sleep overnight which helps our body to burn fat. It’s why I always explain to women on my programmes, ‘if you aren’t sleeping, then you aren’t recovering or losing fat.’ This is because our gut health is also on a 24 hour circadian rhythm and when we don’t sleep, we don’t metabolise our fat properly. It becomes a constant struggle to manage weight the more we can’t sleep.
For six months, Kaye worked her way through the MyMT™ on-line Transform Me module. Then she followed up the weight loss module with the MyMT™ Rebuild My Fitness 12 week programme. She loved being able to do these at her own pace, fitting it around her shift work. So, imagine my surprise when she sent me this :
“The last time I weighed myself I’d lost over 10 kgs. That was a few weeks ago now…..I don’t own any scales just go by how my clothes fit…or not! Before MyMT, I was advised to have less than 1200 calories a day…..walking for an hour a day (not sleeping) and l didn’t lose any weight. I thought I was never going to be able to get rid of those awful hips! I was feeling quite depressed and spent a lot of time in tears which I was putting down to menopause! Thank heavens I’m feeling much better now.
On the up side I have been sleeping much better. Manage 7-8 hours most nights. My energy has returned and my moods are better too. Anyway just wanted to let you know all that. I can’t thank you and your programme enough.”
That was nearly 2 years ago which was when I last heard from her.
So when Kaye emailed me during the week and sent me photos of her completing her first-ever marathon I was overwhelmed. Seeing how strong, confident and back in control she looked, I knew she was well on her way to feeling transformed inside and out.
On International Women’s Day today, it’s my privilege to help women like Kaye to turn around symptoms of menopause using lifestyle change strategies and help them get their life back.
Wendy Sweet, PhD/ Women’s Healthy Ageing Researcher & MyMT Creator & Coach/ Member: Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
