weight loss in perimenopause/menopause

[Anonymous]

I am just on the line between overweight and obese BMI. I have packed on about 25 pounds during the last 3 years of perimenopause, mostly around my waist and really need to get it off. I haven't had a period during most of the last year, but I am not quite menopausal yet.

Has anyone successfully lost the weight gained thru perimenopause/menopause? Was it different from losing weight at an earlier age? I lost 20 pounds about 6 years ago in the space of about 12 weeks, through low carb diet and kept it off for a couple years, but for the life of me, I cannot get into ketosis now. My calorie requirement also seems to be very low -- I can eat about 1200 calories a day and still not lose weight. Is 1200 calories a "normal" caloric intake at my age and should I be trying even fewer calories?

I generally have black coffee and high protein milk (which has less sugar in it) for breakfast and am not even hungry until noon-ish, so I am naturally doing a kind of 16-8 kind of IF eating window.

How many calories should I be eating at my age? What kind of exercise -- lots of steady walking or HIIT or weightlifting? Due to the pandemic, I won't go to the gym, and I can't afford to pay for any programs online.

The good news is that I haven't really gained weight during the pandemic -- I lost about 5 pounds in the beginning but gained that back this past fall, so haven't really changed weight at all.

Suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Try good old South Beach diet. There are tons of free YouTube HIIT workouts on PopSugar Fitness, Fitness Blender and the Body Project (Aussies). Simon LaRue has fun free dance workouts too. You need to lift weights too. Good luck, I'm trying to accomplish very the same thing!

[Anonymous]

48 and perimenopause here, too. Also have Hashimoto’s.
Losing weight is 10x harder now. Gaining weight is about 100x easier than ever. Never really struggled with weight before, but now... my normal diet + normal exercise routine = weight gain.

1200 is really low, but that seems to be the norm for female weight loss unless you are particularly short it would be less. But you also need to look at height, current weight, health, activity level, etc. I get really hungry on 1200 and can only manage a week before I lose my marbles, get ravenous during the night, and wind up overeating. so am just about to start trying 1400; I’m 5’8” and 165 lbs, 30-75 minutes of exercise daily with varying degrees of intensity.

Sorry I don’t have answers, but thought perhaps my experience might help ... you are not alone in this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:48 and perimenopause here, too. Also have Hashimoto’s.
Losing weight is 10x harder now. Gaining weight is about 100x easier than ever. Never really struggled with weight before, but now... my normal diet + normal exercise routine = weight gain.

1200 is really low, but that seems to be the norm for female weight loss unless you are particularly short it would be less. But you also need to look at height, current weight, health, activity level, etc. I get really hungry on 1200 and can only manage a week before I lose my marbles, get ravenous during the night, and wind up overeating. so am just about to start trying 1400; I’m 5’8” and 165 lbs, 30-75 minutes of exercise daily with varying degrees of intensity.

Sorry I don’t have answers, but thought perhaps my experience might help ... you are not alone in this!

appreciate the support. it's nice to know I'm not crazy.

[Anonymous]

I’m 46 for another two months and gained 4 pounds over the past year. I started with my usual tricks of eliminating snacking and increasing exercise and those did nothing. Once I began religiously tracking my calories and limited myself to 1200 + a couple hundred exercise calories depending on what my fitness pal said that day, the weight began to come off. I have limited calories at points in the past and realized while I was tracking this time that I had been *way* over eating. If you are weighing your food and tracking accurately, and still not losing weight at 1200 cal, then I will probably head in for some blood work.

There has been something about all of this time at home that I think drove many of us to eat more than we typically did. At least, that’s what happened to me. Personally, I did not find it any harder to lose weight this time than I had in the past even though I am well into perimenopause. I find that I need to be pretty hungry in order to lose weight. And if I attack it before I get over 5 pounds then it can be corrected quickly. I’m in maintenance now at 1600 cal a day and realizing that’s not a whole lot of food either.

I recommend using my fitness pal and good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Weight Loss for Busy Physicians podcast has an episode on this.

Her general approach is to not pathologize yourself and weight gain is not invevitable.

It was helpful to me. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You’re not crazy but I have nothing helpful to add. It seems like the women that are successful are either runners or eat very restricted diets (almost no carbs) or both.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

what is your IF pattern and what do you eat around that?

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

49 and in peri menopause. I lost 20 pounds in the last year mainly by tracking my calories and focusing on eating better. I have added in more exercise as well. I started with mainly spin but have been focusing on adding 20-30 minutes of strength a day and working in yoga.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

I don’t eat sugar and eat three meals a day (no snacks) and maintained 135lbs at 5’7. At the start of Feb I cut out drinking wine during the week and I am now 130lbs.

I also exercise 5 days a week (mix of weights/HIIT and cardio). I am 48.

For my three meals a day I just eat whatever. I do think cutting out sugar was the game changer for me. I still eat things with sugar in them like ketchup and fruit. But no cakes, candy, cookies etc.

[Anonymous]

"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?