Do you think about food all the time? That dieting is a full-time job? And yet you feel you can never relax, or if you do, you gave five pounds by just looking at food?

Join the club.

In Part One of this article, I made a start sharing with you a couple of eye-opening (to me at least!) factors that can lead to weight loss issues. I worked with Diane Solomon, a nutritionist trained in London at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, and she told me about four common problems. In Part One, we touched on the whole insulin/blood sugar piece of the puzzle, plus what food allergies or sensitivities can do to your weight.

Here in Part Two:  Two more possible areas that may explain your weight loss difficulties.

ADRENAL FATIGUE

Do you have a hard time losing weight, feel tired a great deal of the time, have low blood pressure, feel dizzy if you stand up quickly from a prone position, and/or have cold hands and feet? You may have an adrenal exhaustion issue. It comes about from prolonged stress, or by being a woman! Seriously, the hormonal toll on our bodies is heavy, and pre-menopausal and menopausal women are more susceptible.   

Very simply, your adrenals create adrenaline, one of the hormones that is produced during fear or stress (the Fight or Flight mechanism), as well as cortisol. They are both pumped into the blood in response to stress and make you feel “wired.” But after prolonged stress, you burn out. You begin to feel foggy, crave salt, and feel dizzy when you stand up quickly. Your skin gets dry and wrinkled, you begin to store fat, and you feel fatigued.  Old before our time! And fat, too, unfortunately.

The answer? Rest and reduced stress, of course. And consider getting help from a Nutritionist, Naturopath, or Registered Dietician, for the right amounts of nutrients/herbs that will help. Eleutherococcus Ginseng and a short course (one or two months) of a good Adrenal Extract (Nutricology makes a good one) can do wonders. 

Also, talk to your natural health care practitioner about using natural hormone replacement. This helps to balance the “estrogen dominance” that can occur with this adrenal fatigue. Pro-Gest cream is Diane’s recommendation to her clients as a source of natural progesterone, and Phyto-estrogen cream for natural estrogen. Both are made by Emerita, and Diane tells me that if a woman uses these before hitting menopause, she can often sail through without so much as a hot flash!

Also, be sure to take a good daily multi, to ensure B vitamins and Vitamin C, other nutrients your adrenals need to restore prime function and balanced hormonal activity. 

Adrenal fatigue is one of the most common syndromes Diane encounters in her practice and is fairly easy to address. But it takes time – not two weeks. It is apt to be four or five months of taking the right nutrients, ginseng, and natural hormones, before results are very noticeable, and hold.  So if this applies to you, hang in there!

LACK OF SLEEP CAN MAKE YOU FAT: THE LEPTIN / SLEEP CONNECTION

That’s quite a dramatic statement. But have you experienced feeling tired and sleepy after a bad night, and reaching for food all day (more than usual!) to try to give you energy, or wake you up? And then you never feel full on days like that?

This is probably due to the see-saw workings of the hormones leptin and ghrelin. Simply put, ghrelin (produced in the gastrointestinal tract) stimulates appetite, and leptin (produced in fat cells) tells the brain you are full, and signals you to stop eating. The problem is, if you do not get enough sleep, your leptin levels fall, so your brain doesn’t hear the message that you are full. At the same time, too little sleep creates an increase in ghrelin. So your appetite is stimulated. Nasty combination for those of us trying to keep our food intake down!

The answer? More sleep of course. Find ways to ensure good sleeping habits, and enough sleep. Eat a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise. Try a small amount of high carb food or warm milk before you go to bed to help you get to sleep. And keep stress and alcohol to a minimum. All of these are important in ensuring you get a good night’s sleep.

There are so many possible factors that may be involved in your weight issues, besides the most obvious:  thyroid issues; lack of exercise, or plain old overeating. Unraveling it feels like a full-time job sometimes, doesn’t it?

Consider checking out whether any of these other possibilities are in play for you. It might be easier than you think to lose weight and keep it off.

I have my own story with regard to weight, and I hear daily from clients, friends, and colleagues – other over-50 women – about their trials and tribulations with slowed metabolism, weight gain, difficulty with weight loss, etc.

So, after some research, and a long talk with a nutritionist colleague, Diane Solomon DipI.O.N, here are some powerful factors involved in the whole weight issue. DARE to approach this with new eyes!

Why on earth can’t I lose weight and keep it off?

Are you having a hard time keeping weight off? Or losing weight in the first place? Do you eat “like a bird” but can’t drop any pounds? Is your energy low, and you crave food, sugar, chocolate, carbs, or coffee to get you going?

There are several key issues that may be in play. These may be factors your doctor does not know, or does not think of, that can explain your problem. A good nutritionist can help! And there may be a fix as simple as a blood test, followed by a nutrient supplement or a diet change.

For now, let me give you a few of the factors that may be creating a cog in the wheel of your determination to lose weight.

1)     INSULIN ISSUE: Do you crave food? Do you crave sugar especially? Seems the more weight you gain, the hungrier you are? This could be an insulin problem. You’ve heard of insulin with regard to diabetes, but many Americans are in some stage of pre-diabetes with its fluctuating blood sugar and resulting fatigue, hunger, and weight gain. Researchers have found that people who secrete high insulin levels have a far more difficult time losing weight than those secreting lower levels of insulin.

If this is true for you, what does this mean? Your insulin receptors have stopped working effectively. You have begun to secrete too much insulin, which lowers blood sugar. When your blood sugar is low you feel hungry and tired. So you reach for sugar, or caffeine (which raises blood sugar and wakes you up), and more insulin pours out to deal with this spike of blood sugar… and you are in vicious cycle – downward!

Solution? Keep your insulin levels low, by reducing sugar intake, processed carbs, and keep up your exercise – walk, cycle, jog, sweep out the garage! Park a long way from the grocery store and walk! You can test your insulin levels by asking your doctor for a simple blood test.

Also, an important tip: take Chromium, preferably in the Glucose Tolerance Factor version (GTF), or chelated Chromium. Many people with insulin issues are deficient in Chromium, an essential mineral for the entire blood sugar/insulin process. It comes in 200mcg capsules/tablets, and Diane suggests her clients take one, three times a day, with food, for three months, then two a day with food, for three months, then one a day long ter

2)    ALLERGIES: If someone asked you what your favorite comfort is,  you might say, with stars in your eyes and a yearning in your voice, “Bread, cereal, pasta…”  Oddly enough, if you have weight issues that will not resolve, and you crave a certain food (in this example, wheat) you may be allergic or sensitive to that food. Wheat, corn, and dairy are among the highest allergy foods in the USA. And many people do not know it.

When people complain of migraines, IBS, depression, skin rashes or eczema, bloating, etc., it is important to eliminate food allergies as a possible cause. The same applies to weight gain or weight that is hard to lose. When they come off a food to which they are allergic, they very often drop a few pounds without doing anything else, and their food cravings diminish rapidly. Funny, though, for the first four days off the offending food, they wander down food aisles in the store drooling and sighing over the foods they can’t have!

We should not crave a food – it is a sign of potential allergy. If you crave a food, you may be addicted to it.  Just as an addict suffers symptoms when the substance they crave is withdrawn, allergic people experience symptoms or discomfort when they stop eating the suspect food.

If you think this may apply, ask a Nutritionist or a Registered Dietician (R.D.) about trying an elimination diet to pin down the offending food.  Or research the method online and give it a try. There is no down-side except a few days without a food that you believe is your friend. It may not be!!

In PART TWO:

Do you have a hard time losing weight, feel tired, have low blood pressure, feel dizzy if you stand up to fast, have cold hands and feet? You may have an adrenal exhaustion issue – check back for Part Two of this article, where we’ll look at Adrenal Fatigue, and Leptin Resistance/sleep factor, two other major issues that can be involved in weight loss issues.

 Check back for PART TWO:

1)    Adrenal Exhaustion, and

2)    Leptin Resistance and the sleep factor…

Research in entrepreneurial finance proves out that regardless of your business model, it’s key that early one you cultivate those influential and powerful people who can champion you – not just assist, mentor or advise you.  The traditional corporate world calls such individuals “sponsors.” In fact, research by the women’s leadership nonprofit organization, Catalyst, indicates that one of the key differences between how men and women advance is that men tend to seek out, cultivate and benefit from sponsors.  Sponsors are different from mentors in that a sponsor will advocate for you, get you invited to meetings that you ordinarily would not have access to, or let you in on crucial information they have access to through their inner circles.  It’s important to network, yes, but manage your time well and make sure you cultivate, secure and exchange your talents with persons of power and influence – i.e., sponsors – who will actively champion your mission and vision.  This also means you have to learn about your sponsor’s priorities as well, and where there is mutual benefit. Working with a sponsor is an exchange.  It works best when there are complementary skills and talents at work.  

Check out the SmallBizTrends.com article here

This is an excerpt from the article:

How do women-owned businesses differ from companies owned by men? Not as much as they used to, according to a recent study from the SBA’s Office of Advocacy. “Business ownership no longer can be analyzed simply on the basis of the owner’s gender; businesses owned by women and men more and more share the same general development patterns,” write the authors of “Developments in Women-owned Business, 1997-2007.”

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Think “there are only seven days in a week!”?  These seven ideas can help.

1.     Create a design for living the rest of your life. Write down or create a vision board of your Before, Now and Future.

Small section: what you dreamed and excelled at between ages 10-18;

Small section: what you dreamed and achieved between 18 and now;

As much space as you want: Think about your vision of the “perfect life,” as if you are looking back in your old age. Then decide what you are dealing with that’s keeping you from that vision, and what you need to do now to reach that vision.

Be sure to revisit and revise these last three as your priorities change.

2.    Ready, Set, Take Aim. Aims help you target, prioritize, and drive your life.  Set as follows, for:

a. Next five years

b. Current year

c. Next six months

d. Current month, week, day, hours

3.   Always in a Race?  Protect your Space! “No” time to exercise? Need to better manage your finances? Longing to finish a personal project that’s lurking?  Set a deadline, schedule time every day or every week to work on it, when you know you’ll actually do it. Otherwise, it won’t happen.

4.    Read it and reap. Start a daily journal, password it. Write what’s making you happy, driving you crazy, or whatever else is on your mind.  Generate ideas for what you really want and need to accomplish for yourself – that day, the next day and so forth.

5.    Deal with it – lead with your strengths. Many women focus too much on their own weaknesses and external obstacles. Laser in on your strengths – what you do well that you actually like to do.  Strengths help you maximize opportunities, diminish weaknesses and defuse obstacles.

6.    Unwind your mind! There are at least seven kinds of intelligence: verbal, mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily, intrapersonal and interpersonal. Learn to do things better, do better things, and tackle your priorities more productively.  All help you become more adaptable, flexible and resourceful.

7.    Rally others to your priorities! Is your multi-tasking about sustaining others’ approval, acceptance and loyalty?  If it’s leaving you with no time to plan, exercise, eat right, unwind your mind through journaling, and doing other life-affirming activities for yourself, then you need to rally your family, work team or other support to help you.

Not enough hours in a day, or days in a week? Embrace your space!

Sometimes it really does have to be all about you.

If that’s your urge, then take time, take stock and take care. Then, take action.

Are you energized about learning and doing something new and exciting with every coming year since you’ve turned 50?

Whether your response is a yelping “Yes!” a tentative “Well, maybe” or an anxious “Not really, but I know I have to, in some way at some point in the second half of your life, you will experience the natural desire or face a compelling need to rewire, reboot and resurge. The economic realities of the late 2000s eliminated the option of “No way” for most of us, because we will be working for longer than we ever thought. For most people that alone is “new and different.”

It’s not as impossible or untenable as it might seem. Whatever “camp” you’re in, I have good news for you: a rewire, reboot and resurge will absolutely power your life for the better. Just who am I to talk? In my early fifties, I was firmly in the “Yes!” camp of doing something new and different than my long career in marketing, only to embark on a series of soul-wrenching and workaholic career moves that challenged my overall physical, emotional and financial health. The experiences almost led me to believe that I couldn’t overcome even minor setbacks, let alone deal with bona fide crises. Making those career moves taught me a lot about resilience.

My resurge began in 2007, when I enrolled at New York University’s Stern School of Business to earn an MBA at age 55, graduating two years later, on my 57th birthday. Armed with extensive research I conducted while in business school, I started writing a book on how visionary, intelligent and motivated individuals over 40 drive and advance successful organizations, their careers, and their own personal development – despite the fact that many stereotypes cast midlife professionals as “over the hill” or “landing on a short runway.” Business school taught me how effective leaders get the right things done, not just by doing things better, but doing better things. Not coincidentally, I expanded my consulting practice to help other motivated individuals over 40 rewire, reboot and resurge. In the process, I’ve met and learned even more from other bold, brave people over 40 who are accomplishing more in the second half of their lives than they thought possible – even after great adversity.

Rebooting and resurging in midlife is necessary regardless of your calling, goals, stages, challenges, or roles – past or present. Whether managers or machinists; teachers or technicians; surgeons or salespersons; the fact is that all of us are CEOs – managers of our own lives. In carrying out our own mission and vision, we have much to learn from adapting sound business principles of good strategy (being effective), disciplined operations (being efficient with resources, especially time) and inspired leadership (managing ourselves and motivating others). We are all CEOs – with the “E” standing for enlightened, enriched and empowered.

Feeling the urge to rewire, reboot and resurge? Thinking “maybe”? Still in the “no way” camp?

Here are three Power Lines to get you going!

1. ) Whether your response is “Yesssss,” “maybe,” or “not really, but I know I have to,” you very well may experience a desire to do something different in the second half of your life. It requires taking the time to be thoughtful in figuring out what you really want; taking stock, so you lead with your strengths; and taking care, so you don’t compromise any aspects of your health. Then, develop an action plan to accomplish concrete goals and execute within a sensible timetable.

2. ) Figure out which “station” you’re in before you set a destination or route (i.e. your “strategy” for getting there). Here’s how:

If you answered “yes” and are looking forward to a new career, hobby, relocation, etc., but are not exactly sure what or how, then you’re ready for a first-class ticket on the rewired-not-expired express. You’re in good company: millions of people over 50 are determined to mash the myths, slam the stereotypes and bash the biases that people over 50 are “winding down.” Yay, you!

Your route/strategy: Focus on what you really want, figure out what or who is keeping you from getting there, and whether it’s your own diversions, distractions, or other time management issues that are stalling you. Then write down all the things you want to do – in the next five years, one year, six months, all the way down to the current month, week, day and even hours. It doesn’t mean you become a robotic efficiency slave; but, without plans and to-lists, the unimportant “dandruff” in your life (emails, Facebook, Internet overload) will consume you, and you’ll have no time or energy left for what will get you ahead. Focus on “a-head” and get the “dandruff” under control!

If your replies were more tentative “maybes,” today there’s an abundance of “maps” – reputable information, sound research, and credible advice about why it’s beneficial to start something new and different over 50, and how to deal with roadblocks. Many people who can’t or won’t get going on something new and different focus too much on their weaknesses and external obstacles. Laser in on your strengths – what you do well that you actually like to do. Strengths help you maximize opportunities.

Your route/strategy: Think about whether the pursuits you’re engaged in now are holdovers from the first half of your life. If you’ve already accomplished those earlier goals, then you really need to consider new pursuits. Either you regenerate, or you stagnate! Whether your new pursuits focus on personal goals, career transition, hobbies or community service, always be developing new ways to utilize your brain and maintain your physical health. The more you do physically, the better your brain performs, and a positive mindset accelerates exercise benefits, leading to more energy and more power over your choices.

If your reaction to rewiring, rebooting and resurging veer into the “no way but I really have no choice” zone, for you I have a special affinity and empathy. In this economy, financial and health challenges seem insurmountable. In fact, if you have to go back to work for the first time in many years, or you need to start work in a new career, new industry or new city, then it’s understandable that you’re stressing out. If you’re dealing with divorce, the death or prolonged illness of a spouse or partner, or your own illness, and the financial challenges of all these stressors, then you’re definitely overloaded. You may be too over-committed to sort out all the things you feel you have to do, let alone pursue new and different things you’d like to do.

Your route/strategy: You are the very person who needs not to rush into anything without first making a concerted commitment to build in private time to take care of yourself, so you also figure out what you really need and want, and what resources you need to help you. You have to make the time and effort to eat right and fit in exercise, even if it’s a short walk. You have to pay careful attention to your finances. Carve out quiet time, to journal, read, jot notes on index cards or on your smart-phone, meditate, pray, get a massage, a manicure or some other respite from your stress. You owe it to yourself and others who rely on you, to take that time. These are all coping mechanisms – for you they may be exactly the new and different things you need the most.

3. ) Dare to “arrive” at your final destination: create your own “Power Structure” and “Bottom Line” for the second half of your life. We all know that “power structure” usually refers to hierarchy in an organization. Your life has a hierarchy too – the Before, the Now and the Future. The Now and the Future should rule your own bottom line. Here’s an exercise I use in my workshops. Using one sheet of 8½ X 11 sheet of paper and a pen (computers and pencils make you think too hard and edit too much), write the following:

— a. Top half: Write ONE (1) sentence about what you dreamed, desired and were good at as a child (ages 10-18);

— b. In the same half: write ONE more sentence: what you dreamed, desired, achieved and were good between the ages of 20 and 40;

— c. In the bottom half and back of the page, write as much as you want on: 1) Your vision of the “perfect life” – when you look back in your 80s and 90s; 2) What you’re dealing with now that is keeping you from that perfect vision; 3) What you think you need to power up in your life – i.e., to rewire and reboot – so you can resurge and drive that vision to reality.

That exercise alone can help you see the many strengths you have and appreciate the opportunities before you, so you get going on your action plan.

Rewiring, rebooting and resurging help those of us over 50 to explore, examine and expand – creating new ideas, new insights, new solutions and new horizons. What energizes me is that the alternate route – to assume that I’ve “had a good run but now I’m ‘done’” – is so demoralizing I can’t even think about stopping now. Most likely, neither can you.

Yes? Maybe? No? Here’s what I dare you to believe: The power is yours. Use it or lose it. You are your own power station, in control of your own power structure. You are the only one who can take stock, take action and take charge of the rest of your life. You are the only one who can take care of your health, by making time to think, pray, read for inspiration, meditate, exercise and eat right. And, you are the only one who can take concerted action to make a plan, set concrete goals, get rid of the distracting “dandruff” that’s holding you back, access the right resources, stick to a schedule, and advance that plan to make the second half of your life even more powerful than the first. Think ahead – I DARE you!