weight loss in perimenopause/menopause

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Consider the DUTCH test as well which is used to gage hormonal levels and whether some replacement will facilitate your goals."

Can you say a little more about this? Can I get this test from an ob/gyn?

I think typically they use them at centers that specialize in perimenopause/menopause/ hormone replacement or ob/gyns that specialize in menopause.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found a ketogenic/paleo diet with fasts of about 17-18 hours is what gets the weight off for me in menopause.

This is me too. Pre-peri menopause, increasing my runs, lowering calories (to 1400 or 1500 calories) worked just fine to keep me at my ideal weight if I got off track. With peri-menopause I started gaining and that didn't work anymore. Going down to 1200 left me stable at my higher weight (about 10 pounds). I needed to move to much less frequent eating, keto/paleo to lose weight, not be hungry and increase my calories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 48 and lost 30+ pounds in about 5 months without counting calories (although I know I have been eating more than 1200 on most days). According to an online calculator, my BMR is 1200.

I spend 6 hours a week on the treadmill, which usually tells me I burned 550 calories per session (brisk pace, high incline). I am otherwise pretty sedentary. I try to eat between 11 and 7 (not strict), cut added sugar, and make sure I don't drink any calories.

I wasn't overweight because I am middle aged. I was overweight because I ate too much crap and wasn't exercising. So it was relatively easy to drop my BMI from 27 to under 22. I want to lose another 5+ pounds and will probably have to be pretty restrictive to do it.

That is pretty much me, and I would suspect a lot of folks. Clearly the hormonal changes do not help but it still comes down to making better food choices and moving more for most people.

I could stand to los another 5-10 pounds, I am at the top of the height range for my height and age but I am not going to stress over it. Just keep doing what I have been doing and maybe it comes off but if it doesn't, it doesn't.

[Anonymous]

52. I'm on Noom. It's been great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:52. I'm on Noom. It's been great.

How long have you been on it, how much have you lost, what have you changed and why do you think it’s helping you?

[Anonymous]

Not exactly an answer to the question asked, but for me I recently shifted m mindset from "lose weight" to "get and stay healthy." My body type is one where I have always had a bit of a gut in my entire adult life and have never been what anyone would call slim. I'm bigger and my body wants to hold onto weight. So for me, I realized that if I wasn't truly skinny when I was 30, why would I expect to be when I am 50? What really matters to me is mobility and continued quality of life as I get older. What I've done:

1. Move whenever possible. I take multiple short walks per day. If I have a spare five minutes between meetings, I'll go up and down the stairs a few times. On a boring Zoom? Do some stretching, planks, or static squats. I honestly think this has made the biggest difference.
2. Be thoughtful about what I eat- go for high protein, plan a day's worth of food, think of food as nutrition and a treat when it really will feel like one.
3. Strength train. It is so important for longevity to build healthy bones, muscles, and joints. I lift fairly heavy 3/4 times per week.
4. Meditate and have a regular sleep schedule of around 7 hours per night.

The result after six months if that I feel strong and amazing, the scale has dropped by about 10 pounds, but my body also looks different. I think I likely lost more fat, but gained some muscle to balance it out.

[Anonymous]

I’m trying carb cycling. High carb on workout days, low carb on rest to days. I got sucked into watching a vshred video and just decided to try the concept on my own.

[Anonymous]

I'm 53 and in perimenopause. I've always been thin, but now I've gained 20-25 pounds and I just started weight watchers. This is all new to me, I never had to be careful. I lost 15 pounds last year but I was eating like Henry VIII during quarantine. I like the weight watchers app, and I've already lost 4 pounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:52. I'm on Noom. It's been great.

How long have you been on it, how much have you lost, what have you changed and why do you think it’s helping you?

I’ve been on for 3 weeks. I’ve lost 8 pounds. I have another 5 to go. It’s been so easy and I am stuffed. I rarely hit my calorie allowance (between 1300 and 1600 depending on how much I work out that day). I do work out daily which helps, but I rarely use those extra calories. Something about the way it tracks makes me SOOO much more aware of what I’m eating. I also have a food scale that is keeping me on track. I like the little daily lessons and the fact that I have to weigh myself daily. I am now always aware of my triggers.

[Anonymous]

I do not diet, I do not fast, I do not count calories. My weight is exactly what it was the day I got married, and yes I have had kids and am in menopause. I went back to ground zero with food. Ate like a toddler and figured out what my body liked and didn’t like in terms of food. Even recommend one of those allergy tests on foods. When I look at what people say they eat like chicken and then complain they have they have horrible menopause, well meat can have lots of hormones in it. Or people say they just eat salads. Well nightshades can cause bloating and stomach issues. It was not an easy overnight fix. It did take years, but once I found what foods worked for me, the weight was not an issue. And sleep was also better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not diet, I do not fast, I do not count calories. My weight is exactly what it was the day I got married, and yes I have had kids and am in menopause. I went back to ground zero with food. Ate like a toddler and figured out what my body liked and didn’t like in terms of food. Even recommend one of those allergy tests on foods. When I look at what people say they eat like chicken and then complain they have they have horrible menopause, well meat can have lots of hormones in it. Or people say they just eat salads. Well nightshades can cause bloating and stomach issues. It was not an easy overnight fix. It did take years, but once I found what foods worked for me, the weight was not an issue. And sleep was also better.

Your first little statement about all the things you "don't do" completely contradicts the rest. You obviously spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what you put in your body. No different than dieting or anything else restrictive.

[Anonymous]

Did the same elimination of foods. Gave up gluten and chicken. Has been life changing.

[Anonymous]

Perimenoausal and intermittent fasting has really worked for me. 8 weeks and 13 pounds so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not diet, I do not fast, I do not count calories. My weight is exactly what it was the day I got married, and yes I have had kids and am in menopause. I went back to ground zero with food. Ate like a toddler and figured out what my body liked and didn’t like in terms of food. Even recommend one of those allergy tests on foods. When I look at what people say they eat like chicken and then complain they have they have horrible menopause, well meat can have lots of hormones in it. Or people say they just eat salads. Well nightshades can cause bloating and stomach issues. It was not an easy overnight fix. It did take years, but once I found what foods worked for me, the weight was not an issue. And sleep was also better.

Your first little statement about all the things you "don't do" completely contradicts the rest. You obviously spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what you put in your body. No different than dieting or anything else restrictive.

While I would say the first poster in this chain sounds kind of pompous, their approach is different.

Dieting, fasting, and counting calories tend to be short term solutions for people to lose weight. Very few people count calories the rest of their life and most of the people I know who have done any type of fasting do it for a short period of time. These tend to be temporary solutions.

What the first poster in this chain did was think about food and try and identify what foods caused them issues that led to weight gain, then she eliminated those foods. It sounds like a life time change, not a temporary change to lose weight.

I did the dieting thing, Nutra System, Mediterranean, and the like. I would lose weight, return to my old habits after I lost the weight, and put it back on. Dieting never worked for me because I didn't choose something that I would do for the rest of my life. I went from 210 to 175 by changing my habits, using a food tracker to identify my problematic habits and changing those habits. 10 years later I knew I should work on getting to a healthier weight, my 175 was still 10 pounds over weight, and I returned to the food tracker to further refine my eating habits. A bit over a year later I am at 158. I am hoping that I have the same success maintaining my weight as I did 10 years ago when I dropped the first 35 pounds because I have made changes that I can maintain.

I think that people are attracted to the diet programs and the diet of the day because they hear that it is working for so many people so they try that. Some, like Weight Watchers and Noom, seem to focus more on a life time change in attitude towards food and eating. Others are the "eat specific foods, lose weight, don't learn much and probably regain everything after you stop eating this very specific way" I know Nutra System was that way, they send you their pre made food that you are suppose to eat but does little to teach you about how to eat to live on a daily basis. Or people try keto or IM because it is the new diet trend.

The real answer is that everyone is a bit different and you need to change your habits in a way that makes sense for you so you can lose weight and develop habits for a life time of being healthy. But that seems harder for folks.

[Anonymous]

OP it is all so odd. What you thought you knew goes out the door during this time.

I love working out. Just makes me feel better and sleep better. As I started gaining I worked out more and continued gaining which has never happened before. For me it is all about calories. I knocked out the crazy working out -- cut it down to 30 min max of strength or cardio then really watched what I ate. Got back to more whole foods and limited snacking.

Perimenopause and pandemic aren't great for anyone's waistline!