‘I’m exercising my way through the menopause’
say's EMMA FORBES, who can hardy believe she now looks forward to her training sessions
Exercise is something I’ve always hated – I’ve never felt the endorphins that other people do from getting fit. It made me cross that I found it such a drag. The turning point was my 50th birthday, two years ago. I was dreading it – at the time, I was starting the menopause and carrying around 10lb more than I was comfortable with.
At the same time, I was very aware of my mortality and realised I needed to take my health seriously. I decided to give up caffeine and to cut sugar out of my diet. I had terrible headaches, but it was a radical change and I didn’t feel weighed down by food any more. I had this energy I hadn’t had before where I felt I could exercise.
I started working out with a personal trainer. I’ve had a bad back in the past and, although an operation improved it, I was anxious not to make it worse. My physiotherapist recommended a personal trainer, Jon Fielding. Now
I work out with him three times a week. Sometimes we’ll go to a park and do exercises there or, if it’s rubbish weather, I’ll go to the gym. He rings the changes, so I’m never bored.
The other days I’ll go to the gym and do a 45-minute workout. I do something every day, bar one. I miss it if I don’t do it and so does my body – it gets stiff.
It hasn’t been a quick-fix – it took me about a year to shed the weight I’d never really been able to lose, but in a gradual, safe way. It has also stayed off, which has never happened before.
I feel better than I felt in my 30s and 40s, and I never thought I’d be that person. Exercise has helped me with the symptoms of the menopause, it helps with mood swings because of endorphins, it helps with the anxiety, it helps with sleeping if you’re more physically tired out.
It’s good to have a focus to your day. Anyone of my age and above is at the time of life when kids are fleeing the nest so, for your own sanity, go and do some exercise. It helps.