How to Look Better After Fifty

We women face a challenge in our post menopausal years. How to feel good and look good once our bodies start thickening around the middle and the wrinkles begin to deepen in our faces. How can we look and feel healthier?

Much of our appearance is determined from the inside out, and it can be very difficult to change old habits. We get used to being able to eat mostly what we want and to getting our exercise from our daily activities. At some point though, a fatty diet and too little exercise will show on the outside and result not only in poor health but in weight gain and an unattractive complexion.

After menopause, I found myself in the position of having gained thirty unsightly pounds in what seemed to be a very short period of time! However, I discovered through research that I could begin altering my diet in a very simple manner. This caused me to not only melt off the pounds, but to feel more energetic.

First of all, cut the fat. A little goes a long way. Once you cut the fat, you'll need to make sure you can keep yourself feeling satisfied without it. This will require eating more often, but eating healthy. Eat something every few hours and make sure that you are eating plenty of fiber. Eating more often also speeds up the body's metabolism, with the act of digestion burning calories. You do need to drink water, but most of us no longer need the eight glasses a day we heard about in our youth. The kidneys do not function as well as you get older, so now you only need perhaps half of the water intake you used to need.

Eating small amounts throughout the day will keep you from getting so hungry you are ready to inhale all the grease and calories you can at dinner time. You'll find yourself losing weight rather rapidly. You can add a half an hour of aerobic exercise daily. I do this simply walking around my neighborhood at a brisk pace. It feels great and I really notice the difference in my weight and how my body looks when I glimpse myself in the full length mirror.

How do you keep your skin looking healthy? Most of us don't feel the need for plastic surgery or to totally erase our "lived-in" wrinkles. But we would like to look less saggy and appear more toned in our faces. Once we no longer are producing the hormones we used to, the skin can dry out a great deal. It's important to not only eat right, but make use of many good skin care products to moisturize overnight and a good day cream with sunscreen and moisturizers during the day. This does not have to cost a fortune. Many product lines exist in bargain brands that contain the very same ingredients as the more expensive ones. Look for ingredients such as Vitamins E and C, collagen and retin-A. These particular ingredients all contribute to healthy skin. Follow a routine of washing your face morning and night with a good moisturizing cleanser, then using a bracing toner afterward. You'll be amazed at how different you will look in just a couple of weeks!

It may seem like there are huge hurdles to jump and an enormous hill to climb to look good after fifty. But just a few days of altering your day to care for yourself will be enough to create a new healthy routine. You'll be glad you did!