We Lost Pounds of Jiggly Fat

We’re in our 50’s, menopausal, and we still eat bacon

I don’t care if you want to lose five pounds or fifty — we can all agree that jiggly fat feels horrible.

Struggling with extra pounds when you don’t have a healthy diet or workout routine is common, and I guess expected.

But when 90% of your meals are super healthy, and your workout routine is consistent, extra pounds that don’t budge are flat out frustrating!

I’m a postmenopausal 59, and regardless of my healthy lifestyle, when I ran down the basement stairs or drove over railroad tracks, I could still feel things jiggle under my clothing.

I tried laying off the wine, eating smaller portions, adding longer workouts and intermittent fasting — you know, all those things we start and then decide aren’t working.

Nothing changed, and I was more disappointed than ever.

Discussing this with my little sister made me realize I wasn’t alone in my struggle. We’re sixteen months apart, best friends, live in different countries, but our ageing bodies behave the same way.

Our body styles are very different, so we carry extra weight in distinctive places. Still, we’ve had many hilarious conversations about what gravity and raging hormones do to a woman in her 50's.

“Menopause sucks!” — Liz & Jen

Some days we discuss the fantastic concept of hot flashes, sagging skin and disturbed sleep.

Other days we decide that eating all the bacon we want or enjoying that second drink during happy hour is justified because we’re enduring a friggin pandemic for God’s sake!

Hey, these are unprecedented times, right?!

We’re also getting older — we should enjoy life while we still can.

That mindset didn’t last long, but it was kinda fun while we were there.

Scrolling on YouTube one afternoon, I came across a young woman boasting about her easy seven-minute, low-impact workout. She didn’t use weights or any other equipment and promised I’d lose a dress size in seven days!

Laughing, I mentioned it to my sister on our FaceTime catch up call.

I guess if you’re twenty-five, it might work, but us old gals can’t drop weight that fast. We took a second look at the trainers simple moves out of curiosity and wondered how she could make silly claims that it works for everyone at any age.

Fast forward a week, and we changed our minds — another prerogative we continue to embrace :)

We decided to take that young chick up on her challenge and make one other simple change. Our goals were to reduce our menopausal bloating and rearrange some fat cells!

We were stunned by or results…

Disclaimer: We aren’t scientists or doctors, so we have zero authority on this topic. If you decide to try anything we did and get sick or hurt it’s on you — ok? Just sayin’.

Here’s What We Do

1. We add one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to eight ounces of water and drink it down first thing in the morning. It makes me feel a bit woozy, so I drink it with my breakfast or within 30 minutes of eating.
2. We stopped our regular workouts (which included pilates, yoga, lifting weights, and long walks). We adopted the free seven-minute low impact exercises we laughed about on YouTube a week prior.

Note: We didn’t change our eating habits, and continued to enjoy our COVID-19 happy hour routines.

We also decided that we could do them together Monday through Thursday during our FaceTime visits to save time and make it more fun because the workouts were so short and easy.

Here’s what happened…drum roll, please!

Week one

• The workouts themselves are more challenging than we anticipated. The majority of them are done standing and have you moving every part of your body. She includes seven different moves (that don’t repeat), and you do each one for 60 seconds instead of counting reps.
• We discovered different workouts by the same girl that target other problem areas, but they’re all low impact as promised, seven to ten minutes long and had us out of breath quickly.
• The only thing we noticed at this point was that our belly bloat was considerably better — we gave the vinegar credit for that.
• We were possibly less gassy (ya I said it) but couldn’t be sure it had anything to do with the changes we made.
• The challenge was to do the workout seven days in a row — we changed the rules and only did four because we had other stuff to get done :)

Week two

• By the end of week two, we were thrilled about our newfound menopausal belly bloat buster! There is no denying that the tablespoon of vinegar was having a definite impact on our digestive systems.
• The daily bloating relief had us feeling better in our clothing and encouraged us to continue that easy step.
• At this point, the scale suggested that I’d lost three pounds, but I figured it could be due to less inflammation, not necessarily fat loss.
• My sister wanted to wait another week before she weighed in.

After One month

• We’ll never stop taking the vinegar daily!
• Other family members (including hubbies) have also adopted this simple habit because of our excellent results. It keeps bloating at bay and controls all kinds of digestive issues, including relief from Celiac disease.
• My six stubborn vanity pounds are gone, and it’s staying off!
• My sister has similar results.
• We’re also more toned and flexible from our workouts.
• Our energy remains high all day, and it improved our moods.

Why we think it worked

• The apple cider vinegar is proven to have many beneficial health benefits, including weight loss and suppressing appetites.
• Changing up workout routines can boost metabolism and relieve boredom.
• Using the buddy system (our FaceTime visits) encourages consistency and kept us accountable.
• We do our workouts early, so our metabolisms are kicked in for the entire day.
• Being only seven minutes in length, the workouts themselves are easy to fit in a busy schedule.
• We didn’t incorporate diet changes (other than adding vinegar), but we kept enjoying happy hour and bacon, so we never felt deprived.

Tips on the Vinegar

Not just any vinegar will do the trick.

We tried using cheaper versions of apple cider vinegar but went back to the Braggs organic brand (with the mother) because it was less harsh to drink and did a better job.

Please don’t take it straight; always dilute it with water because it can harm the enamel on your teeth. It’s acid after all, so it’s just safer.

If your tummy is easily upset or you get diarrhea in the first few days, work up to the tablespoon per day — max out at one and one-half tablespoons.

We’ve noticed over time our bowel movements are less productive and much tidier — so if we get locked down again this fall, you can be less concerned about toilet paper shortages.

A great perk we couldn’t have predicted!

The Wipe Up…I mean Wrap Up

We’re just a couple of normal girls that tried something new to see if we could get some results.

I’m not trying to sell anything, so no dollars are being made by recommending either the vinegar or the workouts.

Take a look on YouTube for free seven-minute low impact workouts; there are plenty to choose from, so you don’t have to follow the same girl we decided on.

Sometimes you can’t stand the trainers voice, or their bodies are so perfect you want to puke; pick someone you can relate to.

Find a buddy with similar goals and give it a try!

I’d also love to hear about other tricks you have to keep those extra pounds off — you owe me now since I shared our little secrets.

Oh, and if eliminating bacon or wine is your secret — don’t bother :)

Here’s another true story that went viral…

I’m Liz, the self-empowered, red wine & coffee lovin’, personal growth fanatic behind this article. I’ve stopped shrinking into places I’ve outgrown, and I’m a fan of straight talk and practical solutions. That’s why I’m here to Empower, Educate and Entertain.