weight loss in perimenopause/menopause

[Anonymous]

I am 59 years old and 20 pounds over my ideal weight. Yes, I have tried it all. I track every last morsel. I exercise hard and cross train. This past year, I even tried Noom. The counselors couldn't understand why I don't lose weight eating 1,200 calories. All of my friends are in agreement that 1,200 doesn't work for weight loss like it did in our 40s. One friend has been doing IF for a year and lost 50 pounds. Now, she is too slim. Up until know, I dismissed IF as not something that I want to do. After reading both the Harvard and Hopkins reports, it appears to be a solid possibility. This past weekend, I started IF. Personally, I was shocked that I am not hungry! At this point, I am keeping my calories below 1,000 and continuing to log my food and workouts. My goal isn't crazy but I am targeting 10 lbs off by June 1. I am curious to see how effective it will be. It goes without saying that I am eating clean with about 30 net carbs per day. I welcome success stories only about IF.

[Anonymous]

I follow dieticians on social media who are older. There is Dr. Beth Westie who gives holistic advice. She talks about the Dutch test all the time. Also, not much talk about exercise here, so let me say - “lift heavy sh**”. Dr Stacy Sims is an expert on hormone changes and coaches athletes. Her book Roar is considered a bible to some. In menopause we are losing muscle without even trying, and replacing it with unhealthy fat. Learn about how to exercise for your age (more intense workouts are better for us and provide better results) and also, eat more protein. She will help you determine how much and the timing of what you should eat.

I also like MyFitnessPal for tracking macros and calories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This. For me, what works is:

1) cutting out desserts except on special occasions; and,

2) intense boot camp-style exercise class 2-3 days weekly, plus less intense exercise other days -- i.e., walking, playing tennis, etc.

[Anonymous]

I figured I would post in this thread since there are already people checking it and it relates to perimenopause.

I had my long delayed annual physical. My Doctor said that she thought the over the counter herbals and options for perimenopause were safe. My mood swings are all over the place and I have been noticing all my normally mild PMS symptoms are becoming far less mild. My period is coming every other week, not super heavy or anything dangerous but so much more frequently.

Do any of you use a supplement/medicine for perimenopause? What has worked for you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, it sucks. I had held to a steady weight for 15 years and then when I started menopause, my appetite went crazy as my metabolism tanked.

I'm a really bad dieter, I love my food. But intermittent fasting helped me take off the 15 lbs. I gained, and I've been doing it for nearly two years now to maintain that.

54 and similar experience. I was always tall and thin but those few years of perimenopause were tough. IF as well as stepping up my exercise and logging into MFP every day helped me get back to my regular weight range. I’ve been able to stay in that range ever since. But I do have to be much more disciplined than I did before menopause.

[Anonymous]

I am 59 years old and 20 pounds over my ideal weight. Yes, I have tried it all. I track every last morsel. I exercise hard and cross train. This past year, I even tried Noom. The counselors couldn't understand why I don't lose weight eating 1,200 calories. All of my friends are in agreement that 1,200 doesn't work for weight loss like it did in our 40s. One friend has been doing IF for a year and lost 50 pounds. Now, she is too slim. Up until know, I dismissed IF as not something that I want to do. After reading both the Harvard and Hopkins reports, it appears to be a solid possibility. This past weekend, I started IF. Personally, I was shocked that I am not hungry! At this point, I am keeping my calories below 1,000 and continuing to log my food and workouts. My goal isn't crazy but I am targeting 10 lbs off by June 1. I am curious to see how effective it will be. It goes without saying that I am eating clean with about 30 net carbs per day. I welcome success stories only about IF.

Your calories and carbs are way too low and may end up tanking your metabolism. I’m 55 and have lost 11 lbs since Jan. 1 by cutting out wine and dairy, doing cardio or strength training for 30 min at least 5x a week, and doing 16:8 IF with carb cycling. On my low carb days (2-3 a week), I limit to 50 g or less. On other days I eat 3x that amount of carbs, but all from whole foods like fruit, brown rice and sweet potatoes (no processed foods). I track all macros in My Fitness Pal. Total calories are 1500-1600 per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I figured I would post in this thread since there are already people checking it and it relates to perimenopause.

I had my long delayed annual physical. My Doctor said that she thought the over the counter herbals and options for perimenopause were safe. My mood swings are all over the place and I have been noticing all my normally mild PMS symptoms are becoming far less mild. My period is coming every other week, not super heavy or anything dangerous but so much more frequently.

Do any of you use a supplement/medicine for perimenopause? What has worked for you?

I have just started bioidentical hormones and supplements (52, perimenopause, history of worsening pms). Only a few weeks in, I feel better already, and my sleep is improved which helps my appetite and ability to make better choices. I too am fasting and exercising more. My joints feel much less stiff, it is going to be a process, absolutely but I will share with you that if you have hormone issues it will be an uphill battle because they influence everything and there are options now for safe replacement. Consider seeing an md who specializes in menopause. Or maybe an endocrinologist, I also took the Dutch test and it enabled my physician to customize my hormone replacement. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I'm doing WW- it's been 7 weeks and I've lost 5 lbs. My metabolism is super slow (no thyroid so rely on medication). The plan is pretty easy and the app is great. I log everything I eat, stick to the plan and I work out a lot. I am hungry during certain periods of the day but I deal with it because I know it's part of the process of losing weight.