Menopause and dieting
 

Hi there, I am dieting and exercising but the weight isn't coming off like it did 10 years ago. I am going through menopause. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Same thing here! Twelve years ago when I lost the weight I lost 2-4 pounds a week and lost all of it in 3 1/2 months (35 pounds). Now I'm lucky to keep losing 1 pound a week, but it is coming off, just alot slower. After menopause weight goes on faster, and comes off slower. However I'll take the slower weight loss over the misery that accompanied my reproductive years!!!!! :)

Im in menopause too, and the weight doesn't come off very easily at all.
I don't have any particular advice, except to keep fit, and stay on plan.
I have lots of problems with insomnia too, (a common problem with menopause) in the last few years, and that doesn't help the weight loss either.

I'm on the cusp of menopause (haven't had TOM in 10 months) and my weight loss is so slow as to be virtually non-existent . I eat less than a thousand calories a day, walk all day on the job, exercise before and after work and lose less than a half pound a month. It sucks.

hmm, if you are true to your ticker, (5' 1" and 113 lb) you would seem to be at a good weight. That doesn't seem like enough calories, and I wonder if more (like 1200 or so) would be healthier.

Hi! I also am in menopause. Ten years ago this Sept. I had to have a complete hysterectomy- so it plunged me into menopause at 40 years old. I will turn 50 this year and I'm still having menopause symptoms. I use the harmone replacement patch- without it I am irritable and like a crazy person!!
I would suggest having some blood work done ordered from your doctor- get them to make sure that on top of menopause you don't also have hypothyroidism going on. I found out last year I was hypothyroid and they put me on that replacement. It really helped my sluggish metabolism and gave me wonderful energy. Also get your blood sugar, and cholesterol checked. Then you can breathe a sigh of relief and work toward your weight loss goals.
Try and stay motivated- take down all your measurements...lately I have not done too well on the weight loss but I am losing inches! The scale is not the only way to measure weight reduction. Eat healthy balanced meals, take long walks, drink lots of water and please don't starve yourself. It only sets you up for binge eating.
;)

I am just starting to try to shift excess weight (again) and am post -menopausal am now 53 - will be interesting to see if it makes a big difference. Will be a big test of will power without the good rewards I was getting a decade ago - 2 lbs a week like clockwork...
I'll keep you posted!

I tried eating 1200 calories a day for two months. Didn't lose a thing. Before that I tried 1400 calories a day. Didn't lose a thing. Ironically I lost my first 30 pounds eating between 1500 and 1800 calories a day. Then I stalled for two years.

I was so glad to find this post, I am 38 and had a hysterectomy about 6 years ago now. I lost 55lbs when I went gluten free however now at 180 I can't seem to lose anymore weight. My thyroid comes back normal, I have been extremely strict with my diet and exercising regularly. Everyone keeps reminding me muscle weighs more than fat however I'm not losing inches either. I am not on a hormone replacement so I was wondering if this might make the difference.

Ha! Found You Guys!
 

I'm new here and was hoping I'd find a thread that was addressing this issue. I'm a diabetic of nearly 10 years and been perimenopausal for about three years. Last fall and into the early part of the winter I lost about 32 pounds, easily. Then BAM I hit the wall. Nothing. Got down to about 197 and stalled.

It's the perimenopausal part that's seems to be doing me in... I think.

I don't think I've gotten any lower than that (except when I got sick and didn't eat hardly anything for about two weeks) and then my weight creeps right back up. A lot of is seems to be water weight, but whatever it is I seem to keep gaining and losing the same dang 10 lbs.

At first I was on a 12-to 15,000 cal diet. Made sure it was well balanced, minus unrefined carbs that tend to spike my blood sugar relentlessly. That, combined with my exercise led to swift and steady weight loss. But then it just stopped.

I tried dropping to 1,200 cal diet but I couldn't sustain that, I was always relentlessly hungry. By winter's end, I just freakin' gave up trying to lose, just maintain. Figured by spring, I'd be ready to try again.

So once it got warm, I gave it another shot. Started walking at lunch and going to the gym after work. Made sure I varied my cardio. Added resistance training in to tone and firm. I've also stepped up my game by making sure that I'm working out in my target heart rate zone building from 10 to at least 20 minutes a session. I'm encouraged (a little) because I've obviously lost inches, maybe even replaced a little fat with muscle cause I've gone down from a size 18W to a 16W. But for all my effort I've only recently lost two lbs. I now weigh 195 lbs.

I've been seeing a nutritionist for the past 2 1/2 months and the weight the 2.5 lbs that I've shed has only happened in the last week. I'm toying with the idea of becoming vegitarian and have recently stopped eating as much meat. Mainly fish and eggs and a whole lot more vegetables. This has been really hard cause I'm hungry more often than not eventhough I eat small meals and healthy snacks throughout the day. My biggest fear is that I cannot keep this up. Same with exercise. I fear that I won't be able to exercise like this forever and then the weight will creep back on. I really just wanted to find someway (a healty way) to get and keep this weight off.

With the loss of two pounds recently, I'm hoping I've broken this dreaded plateau.

Is there anyone here who, under similar circumstance finally broken their plateau and experienced sustained weight loss in a way they know they can keep going and eventually maintain.

If there is, please share. I needs some ideas. Help!

If so, what the heck did you do? Did you change anything like how you're eating or exercising?

I'm about there, too. I've been in perimenopause for a while and, at almost 49, I'm wondering each month, "Maybe this will be the month it'll start not showing up". My mom had her last period at 47 years, 8 months. So I thought I might stop early, too.

As for the weight loss, yeah, it's coming off a lot slower than it did years ago. It's just something that I have to accept.

I too am so happy to see this thread of posts!

I gained more than 40 pounds during the end of peri-meno, and now the weight is coming off only in fractions of pounds. It is so hard to stay motivated. I have found that I need to make extremely small goals in order to fend off the frustration. I reward myself if I stay on track for half a day, then again at the end of the day. I only weight myself once a month. A reward could be something big like a new sweater, or small, like a cup of my favorite tea in a beautiful china cup.

Would anyone be interested in keeping in touch on a daily basis? I could sure use the encouragement.

Best to all,
Marcy

Thanks so much for posting this. I am 45 yrs & feel like this will be my 'last chance saloon', at losing the weight, before menopause hits. I'd heard that losing weight becomes much harder, afterward.

I think I am in peri- menopause, at the moment, because I have had the odd hot flush & am really tired almost all the time. I've had quite a bit of thinning of my hair too & itchy skin. I've also found that, even when I eat hardly anything, the weight does not go down.

I started a new, calorie controlled, diet, on 5th Sep. I weighed myself last Monday, for the 1st time in over a year. I've had between 1000 & 1500 each day, drank 2 litres of water & done, at least, half an hours aerobic exercise. I am hoping to have lost at least a kilo by next Monday ... I'll keep you posted .... ;)

I haven't had a period in two years and the gyno. says that I am in full blown menopause. I have some health issues that make exercise difficult, if not often very painful, but I typically eat well. Doing nothing different than before, I have gained 15 pounds and I was already about 30 pounds overweight before that. I am miserable and hate shopping, feel like I look horrible, and it is really affecting me emotionally too as I just feel worn out and tired all the time. The weight truly is just one of the issues of menopause...constant hotflashes, mood swings, insomnia, etc. But if I looked and felt better phyiscally, I think I could handle the rest better. What is the best diet to be on. I am allergic to eggs, so I have tried to stay away from Atkins. HELP!
Tricia

I am menopausal at this time. I have many obstacles to losing the weight but never thought menopause was one of them. I found this thread very enlightening.

I'm turning 51 in a month. My period is erratic and seems to be governed by how much stress I'm in at the time. My life was insanely stressful over the last four years, but things have been turning around for me and I'm feeling much better emotionally.

I lost almost 30 lbs rather quickly about five years ago, after I found out I was type 2 diabetic. then hit a huge wall. I plateaued in the same 10-lb. range for three years. It didn't seem to matter what I did, I couldn't drop below a certain level on the scale. I got desperate and went on a liquid fast. That's when I discovered I was very sensitive to soy. It was the biggest favor life ever did for me! I had to stop eating nearly all processed food (soy is in practically everything). I cleaned up my diet even more and now eat almost entirely Paleolithic Diet and I feel pretty awesome.

But I still struggle with losing weight! I am hovering just below 300 lbs. and can't seem to break past 295. I will lose a pound and then bump up and down for weeks before dropping another one. Losing the last 30 lbs have been like that all along for just over two years. I'm very frustrated with that.

I could do more, but I already do a lot and I have a life and people in my life that I still have to care for. I'm about to step up my game again. I have been playing around with intermittent fasting (I don't eat till late afternoon and stop eating by 9 pm, all in hope that I can't possibly eat as much as I usually do in an entire day - just a way to control calories) and that's how I lost the last 15 lbs. But over the last few months, I've been too distracted with other issues to stick to that schedule. But I'm ready to get back on it because it worked for me and I felt good.

Other things that helped me feel good were the right exercise for me. Pilates is the perfect exercise for me. I feel amazing after class and have a great day. If I skip class, I don't have a great day. I also love weight training and I'm starting a new 12-week challenge in two weeks. Looking forward to the soreness! And the other thing I do is ergonomic rowing, every day, for 20 minutes after I eat.

When I do it all, plus cut calories and eat really clean, the weight comes off. But still at a very slow rate, like maybe a pound a week. I am seriously considering putting the scale away and focusing entirely on sticking to the plan for the 12 weeks of the fitness challenge. I need to focus and I don't want to be distracted by disappoinment!

Still, my kids, work and running my life in general are a major distraction from my health. Wish it wasn't like that for me. Wish I could get through this menopause thing with flying colors and not have it affect me at all. But I am such a girl right now, crying at the stupid Folgers commercial, getting weepy with joy when the boys are destroying the house with Silly String (that was last night - and I started it!) And the hot flashes. And the anger flashes.

I'm so glad to have a support team in place. I come here, plus three other online support groups for various things. I have two therapists (one is actually my ADD coach) and about to go get a third one for another specific issue. And my posse in Pilates. And some very good friends who are all in the same boat as me. I am getting on top of caring for myself, finally putting me first.

Maybe that's why I needed to go through this menopause thing...

Great thread. I'm 53, and have been in menopause for a few years now. I did lose 30 lbs a couple of years ago doing WW, but I gained almost 20 back, so now I'm losing it again.
Here are my take-aways about this whole thing:
1- It is definitely harder to lose the lbs - not only because they come off slower, but they also come on quicker
2- Harder is not impossible, which is why my head is finally getting a grip around the "lifestyle vs diet" thing.
3-We must think about what we can do forever, even if it means a slower loss. Find something that is permanent - that doesn't mean there won't be times when we fall away from our plan, but our general lifestyles always need to be leading us in the right direction. This permanent aspect, was probably the most difficult for me to get my head around, but it is the most important.
4- Next year will come, whether we've lost weight or not, so if we're dropping 3 pounds per month, that's 36 pounds for the year - pretty substantial, and if it's done in a sustainable form, we will keep losing. Of course, my goal is to lose quicker, but my job is to stay on my plan, the weight thing will take care of itself.
5- I try to maintain a healthy sense humor about the whole thing.
6- The people who love us, love us anyway.
7- It's easier said than done!

We have all accomplished great things in our lives, we can do this too!

I'm also 53 and into full menopause now (started peri @ 46 y/y). I have a lot of hot flashes druing the night, so have insomnia too; I wake up from being too hot. Often, I have to turn the furnace down 2-3 degrees so I can sleep. After reading this thread, I understand why my WL has been so slow; but I am still losing inches & sizes; and some lbs too, just very slowly at present.

I had one blip several years ago after being sick (about 3 years before I joined here). I had lost 30+ lbs and gained back 12, but not by eating too much, just more than I could eat when I was sick; but I just kept going and lost that 12 again, and them some -- which has been very encouraging for me.

I am hoping that losing slowly this time bodes well for me in that I won't regain it back; so far so good. I'm looking at this as a lifetime transformation, and I think that is key.

So, I hope that encourages all of you as well ... :D

This is just the thread I needed. I still have my monthly but I never know what Im going to have. Its either one extreme or the other.I am waking up with hot flashes almost nightly now. I am gaining faster and losing so slow now. Thanks for helping me understand whats going on...

I've been menopausal for 10 year. I am finding it IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight now. Weighed in this morning and the scale hasn't moved. I'm so disappointed, because I KNOW I stuck strictly to the program. (South Beach Diet) It's times like these that I feel like giving up. Doesn't help that I have fibromyalgia and the depression hits pretty hard sometimes.
I am so glad I found this group so I have a place where I can talk about my weight loss problems. I have no one in real life who goes through the challenges I go through.

Same thing here! Twelve years ago when I lost the weight I lost 2-4 pounds a week and lost all of it in 3 1/2 months (35 pounds). Now I'm lucky to keep losing 1 pound a week, but it is coming off, just alot slower. After menopause weight goes on faster, and comes off slower. However I'll take the slower weight loss over the misery that accompanied my reproductive years!!!!!