Salaam
I'm Mejegan
I'm 49 and in menopause. I'm a mom of 4, and an ISSA certified nutritionist, personal trainer and menopause specialist.
Perimenopause hit me at 44 and I had no idea what was happening. The weight would not move no matter what had worked in my 30s. My face was puffy, my joints hurt, I was awake in the middle of the night, and I started choosing black clothes and blazers so I could hide my stomach at parties.
My daughter left for college that same year, so I was grieving that while trying to work out what my own body was doing.
I already held two certifications and it still took me 3 to 4 years, because I was piecing it together alone. Every plan I found was written for a woman shopping at an American supermarket, with nothing to say about Ramadan, or biryani, or training modestly at home. So I built a different one.
Then I started talking to other Muslim women and found the same thing everywhere. Nobody had told us. In our families this life stage is barely spoken about at all, and strength training for a woman our age is treated as something other people do.
That is why this exists.