Ruth Jane Fitness Coach

24/06/2024

As women start perimenopause it’s common to start putting on weight, especially round the middle. This is even when your usual way of eating and all your exercise hasn’t changed. Panic sets in and the cardio goes up and the eating goes down. Usually this works for a short time until it doesn’t. A downward spiral follows.

Losing estrogen has a profound effect. Poor sleep and loss of muscle are two of the big ones.

Lifestyle and exercise needs to adapt to that. More recovery, less drawn out cardio, add weight training for muscle mass and a lot more protein to your diet. Don’t skip meals.

03/05/2023

If you’re a woman over 45 and feel tired, one of the main reasosn is you’re losing muscle. Once you start perimenopause and your estrogen starts to drop, your muscle mass goes with it. The only way to put more muscle on now is to lift weights and eat enough protein. Muscle is good for your long ...

10/02/2023

12 month certificate finally available from April

Good news, the one off prescription charge for HRT will be in place from 1st April so women in England can access HRT every month without having to pay every time.
This is a great step forward and thanks to everyone who has campaigned and signed the Menopause Mandate petition to make this happen.

04/01/2023

Women over 45 should concentrate on building muscle if you want to keep your strength, health, everyday vitality and to keep your weight to a level you want. Cardio won't cut it.

The ONLY way to build muscle now is to lift heavy weights (heavy for you).

Less muscle = lower metabolism

Eating less and less and adding more cardio doesn't work. In fact, it has the opposite effect.

If you're panicking about the spare tyre round the middle you're not alone. It's very common for women 45+ as they go into peri menopause. You will be prone to adding timber round the waist, sometimes at a frightening pace. Once you're through menopause the weight gain is age related rather than hormone related.

The good news is you CAN do something about it. There's no magic bullet and it takes a plan with different lifestyle approaches. Two of those are strength training and eating to support your workouts. It's not about eating three salad leaves and running 80 miles a week. You'll be chasing your limp tail.

Shift your mindset to gaining strength instead of chasing fat loss. It's far more empowering and positive and you won't be a miserable sod.

Gaining muscle and strength (by lifting weights) is very important to overall health, wellbeing and confidence. A by-product of gaining muscle and good nutrition will get you towards the body and mind you want. Endless cardio and eating dust will not.

30/12/2022

Fitness doesn't need fancy, it needs the basics done on repetition, ie commitment. Whatever your goal, it's not going to happen by wishing - you need to take action. Many women want to get fitter and then let other people dictate their diary and spoil their own plans. Be more selfish. A couple of hours to yourself a week is not too much to ask of yourself.

If you want more advice on training and nutrition in peri and post menopause get in touch. I have group classes, small group PT and one-to-one sessions as well as online coaching.

29/12/2022

There's nothing as miserable as beating yourself up about your weight. Shift your focus to other metrics of feeling good about yourself: getting stronger, getting more mobile (both of those things can improve aches and pains that plague your everyday life), getting better quality sleep so it improves your mood. Eat well (nutritious food that supports your body and activity). Everybody eats more at Christmas - you should, it's the time for it. But don't berate yourself afterwards and start restricting or skipping meals. Long term, it doesn't work and you feel s**t about yourself.

Shift your focus to getting stronger physically and mentally and the "looking better" bit takes care of itself.

If you want more advice get in touch. I have group classes, small group PT and one-to-one sessions as well as online coaching.

25/12/2022

Merry Christmas 🎄

15/12/2022

If it’s good enough for VB…

Posh Spice used to rely on cardio and abs workouts. They stopped working. She switched to lifting weights.

If you’re a woman over 45 you need to switch your exercise to resistance training or you’ll keep losing muscle and get slower and weaker. Even if you love endurance exercise like running, your focus should now be on strength training with a side dish of cardio if you don’t want a drop in performance.

If you always hated cardio, here’s your chance to stop. Walking is good. Do that (alongside strength training).

We caught up with her PT.

13/12/2022

Is indecision stopping you from exercise? You don't know what programme to follow or you're worried about doing it "wrong"?

There's no such thing. The perfect programme doesn't exist. Walking is good for you. Do some of that every day. Dust off the equipment you've got. Make use of it. Some 3kg dumbbells? Do some overhead presses, lateral raises, bicep curls, overhead tricep extensions. It's good enough to start.

Fitness comes from being CONSISTENT, not perfect.

14/11/2022

Gemma GP Physiotherapy and I gave a talk on fitness for women over 45 last week.

We talked pelvic floors 💦 , perimenopause 🥵 , exercise 🏋️‍♀️ and nutrition 🍽

Thanks for coming! And thanks tothechapelreigatee for hosting for us 😍

18/10/2022

On World Menopause Day I thought I'd share an uplifting video of a chat between two intelligent women having a great conversation about menopause and how it can be liberating.

And, after this week, if this is the calibre of Scottish women, I'm up for moving north of the border.

Thanks to for the video

Opening , The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has a frank discussion about menopause with Kirsty Wark and answers some of your quest...

17/10/2022

~JBilbo