Thrive in Menopause: Weight Loss and Fitness with Amanda Thebe

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EPISODE SUMMARY:

With 30 years of fitness expertise, Amanda Thebe is a midlife woman using her experience and knowledge to help educate menopausal women on how to maintain healthy and happy lifestyles as they age. In today’s episode, we spoke to Amanda about diet, exercise, and her book, Menopocalypse. First, we asked Amanda about what inspired her to write, and she told us that the idea of Menopocalypse came from her own personal experience with menopause. After starting menopause, she realized how little books and resources surrounding menopause are available for women. The lack of resources inspired her to write a book that educates and offers advice for menopausal women that is easy to understand and follow. For the book’s cover, Amanda told us the inspiration behind it was her attitude towards menopause. She approached menopause with a “bring it on!” kind of attitude, and she wanted this to be reflected through Menopocalypse’s cover art.

When asked about the Menopause tool kit, Amanda emphasized the importance of maintaining the right mindset when trying to be healthy. For her, true health comes from adding things rather than restricting or taking them away. Next, we spoke to Amanda about the importance of rest and exercise in midlife, and she told us that one of the first things women should realize is that exercise changes over time. Our bodies in our twenties and thirties are different than our bodies in midlife; as we change, our exercise and fitness should change as well. Instead of trying to emulate old habits, we should instead learn to adapt to our body’s new needs. Midlife women should prioritize daily movement as well as taking periodic days of rest to let our bodies reset. For exercise, non-fitness related movement, such as carrying the laundry upstairs, is just as important for staying healthy. When asked about advice for boosting energy, Amanda gave a few recommendations, such as hormone therapy, daily movement, and to focus on healthy nutrition and stress management. We then spoke about Amanda’s hunger and food chart. According to Amanda, restrictive diets have a short life cycle, and as such, should not be used to improve a person’s relationship with food. Instead, it is important to work through behavioral habits and mindsets surrounding food to try and create a more positive outlook. Amanda also talked about hunger and menopause, since our eating habits can change when we’re menopausal. During menopause, our two hunger hormones can start sending the body mixed signals, so having a better relationship with food and our bodies can help balance hormonal issues.

Finally, we spoke to Amanda about how Menopocalype is a refreshingly transparent and detailed book about menopause. Amanda told us how she wanted to speak about every aspect of menopause, and as such, has an entire chapter dedicated to vaginal changes women go through during menopause. Menopausal women experience genital urinary symptoms, vaginal region changes, painful sex, vaginal bacteria, UTIs, and more. In her book, Amanda offers both information about these vaginal changes as well as advice and treatment options for lessening symptoms.

Amanda Thebe

Amanda Thebe is a force of nature for women who are experiencing menopause hell and want to start feeling healthy and fit in their 40s and beyond. With nearly 30 years of experience in the fitness industry, Amanda is a highly regarded expert on women’s fitness and health. A popular guest on podcasts and online summits, she brings a refreshing humor and no-nonsense approach to subjects usually shrouded in shame. Through her frank articles, hilarious social media posts and inspirational and entertaining talks, Amanda continually inspires the loyal readers of her website, FitnChips.com.

Her exercise workouts and fitness tips have been features in Shape, Prevention, Health Line, Global News Canada, The Doctors, Lifehacker, Breaking Muscle, Girls Gone Strong, and Ultimate Sandbag Training. She lives in Houston, Texas.