Best Exercises for Menopause Belly Fat After 50

Nikkiey: I spent 30 years doing everything right. Crunches, cardio, cutting calories. And at 47, in full menopause, my belly fat had gotten so bad that I had to undo my pants just to tie my shoes. But what finally changed everything for me were four simple exercises. And they took me from that moment of complete frustration to having a leaner stomach at 52 than I had at 35. So if you are a woman who has been trying everything and still is not seeing results, this is the only video you are going to need.

And make sure you watch until the end, because I'm going to share the number one driver to getting a lean stomach. Let's get started.

Before I show you the four exercises, I need to explain something that most fitness advice completely skips over. Because if you don't understand this, nothing I'm about to say will even make sense. Belly fat in menopause is not the same as belly fat in your 30s. So if you're fighting it the wrong way, you're just going to make it worse.

What's actually happening in your body is that as your estrogen drops, so does your ability to hold onto muscle. As your muscle depletes, your body is going to get softer. It's going to change. It's going to deposit fat in different places than it ever had before. It shifts from your hips and thighs directly to your belly and your organs. On top of that, cortisol skyrockets during menopause. And cortisol's number one job is to store fat. Specifically, right here.

Once I understood this, I went from hours of cardio and starving myself with zero results to finally getting a flatter stomach with exercises that actually work for my body at this age. That's exactly what these four exercises changed for me. And they'll do the same for you.

Exercise one: sprint interval training, or SIT. This first exercise is non-negotiable. If you do nothing else from this video, do this one. And I say that because it's the only exercise that continues to burn belly fat for up to 24 hours after you finish. When I first started sprint interval training, it was when I had hit my first plateau. I noticed that adding it got me off that plateau. It got my body functioning at a higher level as I put a different demand on my body.

What do most women do wrong with cardio in menopause? Long sessions. They actually spike your cortisol, which signals your body to store more belly fat. Even when women try interval training, they go too long. They do it too often. That's going to keep cortisol chronically elevated, which means more belly fat, not less, and more exhaustion with nothing to show for it. Instead, SIT ensures that your body actually starts releasing that stubborn visceral fat instead of holding on to it.

Pick your sprint method. It can be a treadmill, a bike, an outdoor track, stairs, a rowing machine, jump roping. Whatever is going to get your heart rate up. Warm up for three to five minutes at an easy pace. Sprint at maximum effort for 20 to 30 seconds. Rest completely for 90 seconds to two minutes. And then repeat this for three to eight rounds. Start small and then work up to it. Do not go longer thinking more is better. The intensity is the point. It's not the duration.

Exercise number two: walking. I know what you're thinking. Walking? Really? But stay with me, because this is the exercise that shocked me most when I saw what it actually did for my body. This is an exercise that puts less demand on your body, so your body can go for fat stores instead of that quick-releasing glucose.

There are a few tricks you can implement when you're walking that will switch you into fat-burning mode. Walk at a pace where you can hold a conversation but feel like you're actually moving with purpose. Aim for about 10,000 steps a day. It does not have to happen all at once. Walk after your last meal whenever possible. It helps your body clear out the glucose and keeps insulin, the fat storage hormone, low.

Now, exercise three is the one most women are most afraid of, but it's the one that changed my body more than anything else. Squats. For years I told myself exactly what most of you are probably thinking right now: I don't want to get bulky or get big legs. And then I actually paid attention to the women in the weight room with the bodies I admired. And they were squatting. And they were squatting heavy. I couldn't argue with what I was seeing. I would see women throwing heavy plates on a bar, putting it on their back, and going all the way to the ground.

For one, I didn't think my knees could handle it. That's why it's important to start low and work up to it. Knees that used to never get me down the stairs now allow me to squat my body weight and go all the way to the ground. My knees function better, and my body is stronger and more resilient than it ever has been.

And here's exactly how to do it properly, so you start building the muscle that actually changes your body composition. Start with body weight squats to nail your form before adding any load at all. Chest tall. Chin up. Hips back. Knees tracking over your toes until your hips go past 90 degrees. Drive through your heels to stand, squeezing your glutes at the very top. Once your form is dialed in, add a bar to your upper back and start progressively overloading it with time. Do not go light forever. Your body won't adapt.

When I started, I could barely do 10 body weight squats. But now I squat my full body weight for working sets and do 50 reps as a warm-up. That progression is exactly what changed my stomach.

And now for the last exercise. This one surprises everyone, but it might be my favorite of all four. Push-ups. Most people hear push-ups and think it works the upper body, like arms, chest, shoulders. But that is only half of what is actually happening. And the other half is exactly why this made my stomach flatter.

When you're doing a push-up, you have to keep your entire body supported. That means tightening and flexing every muscle that is involved: your abdominals, your lower back. You're going to strengthen every muscle involved in performing that moving plank.

Most women either skip push-ups entirely or drop straight to their knees and rush through them. Rushing kills the tension on the core completely. And it's that core tension that is the entire point of this exercise for belly fat. No tension, no abdominal strength, no change to how your stomach looks. The core has to be working the entire time. That is what makes this exercise change your stomach.

And if you're not seeing results yet, here is exactly what to fix. Hands directly under your shoulders. Body in one straight line from head to heel. Ribs down. Glutes squeezed tight before you even begin. Lower your chest with complete control. Do not let your hips sag or your lower back arch. If you need to modify, start with incline push-ups or knee push-ups. Progress to tempo push-ups, shoulder taps and deficit push-ups as you get stronger.

These are all four workouts. But the final thing that trumps all of it is what you put in your body. And that is exactly what the Macro Method covers: the full step-by-step nutrition plan that supports just what I walked you through. It has helped over 20,000 women finally see results in menopause. For example, it took Tina from being overweight to losing 35 pounds just by finally understanding what her body actually needed. So if you're ready to stop guessing, the link is in the description. Thanks for watching.