Menopause The Crash and Burn

jewelryS

So here is what I am finding in the process of going through menopause....no damn balance. No matter what I adjust the weight keeps coming. This is not only frustrating but depressing and defeating. Anyone out there going through this and finding a process or change that helps?

1mumrevolution

Watching with interest. Am peri-meno. You have my sympathy, sounds like It absolutely sucks.

tiachristie73

I can totally relate, after a hysterectomy at age 35, I quickly gained 60 pounds in the next year no matter what I did. I'm 42 now and I have to fight everyday to keep things in check. basically in order for me to lose weight, I have to eat mostly vegetables light fruits and lean meats.....only

kimny72

OP, I'm not there yet, and this is just anecdotal. But most of the women I know who are going through menopause say exercise has been a huge factor for them. Both cardio and weights. I assume it helps in some way with the hormone swings, and holding on to muscle mass. That and stress relief . I hope you get lots more tips, good luck and hang in there!

chan1luv

I've been dealing with weight gain from early menopause for a while now and it's the greatest weight loss challenge of my life, definitely leaves you feeling depressed and hopeless sometimes. I've been trying for months to lose weight with no results. At this point I think if I don't seriously watch my daily calories, try to stay under 1300 a day, and exercise 120 minutes a day at least five days a week, I'll see zero change in my weight...so I'm back on myfitnesspal for the past week, praying discipline will help me finally shed the pounds! I also try to meditate a couple days a week or more for stress relief.

palwithme

I am just starting menopause. For me, personally, if I don't exercise then forget about losing weight. I have to do lots of cardio and eat 1200 calories a day just to lose 1.5 pounds a week. Going low carb seems to help too.

afmedic43

Menopause was my weight gain time. I finally started the Bio Identical Hormone therapy to get myself hormonally balanced. But if m expending more calories that I take in, I'm still losing weight. Just not as easy as in my 20's

jewelryS

Looks like I am not alone. Which let me tell you is nice to know. This has been a rough and what feels like an unfair card deal from nature.
Bad news with daily running on a treadmill and not the same each day changing up with intervals speed you name and weight training 3 days a week.... food I have been eating 85 to 90 % whole foods for 4 years. I don't eat much bread or pasta. When the hot flashes began in early November the weight came with a vengeance. Following everything above I gained 23lbs. in 3 1/2 months. No it was not muscle because my entire wardrobe because tight and every morning I would cry because I didn't know what else to do.
Good News, I did find a supplement to help with the hot flashes, night sweats, sex drive and so on and now that it has kicked in I am holding steady. I am tweaking and trying everything I can to undo what has happened so far with the weight gain and ladies all I can say is this is like a bad joke!!!
I took a break from weights as I was just burnt out but will be heading back as the one very consistent thing I keep reading about menopause and weight gain is to lift weights and keep changing your cardio routine. I have been warned by a nutritionist and my clinician not to fall into eating less then 1500 calories (my head keeps want to). I am eating different fruits now as well to reduce the sugar in hope this will help. I have dropped a couple of pounds over the last 3 weeks with that change.
Thank you for sharing all of you and anyone who would like to friend me it would be great! I would love to be able to share experiences and figure out what helps with others. It certainly would reduce the depression of feeling like I'm the only one.

snowflake954

It's not easy, but can be done. I've been in menopause for 7 years now. My doctor doesn't believe in hormone therapy--she's a woman and had hot flashes too. All the rules appy for losing--CICO + exercise. It just takes longer so don't get discouraged. I've lost 20lbs in the past 2 years and would like to lose another 12. I consider it a victory to maintain this loss, and not backslide.

softblondechick

I think that menopause is less of a shock for women who have always struggled with weight.

jewelryS

softblondechick wrote: »

I think that menopause is less of a shock for women who have always struggled with weight.

I have always struggled with my weight and it was still a shock for me. I was exercising, eating right and lifting. It was like being in quick sand.

jewelryS

snowflake954 wrote: »

It's not easy, but can be done. I've been in menopause for 7 years now. My doctor doesn't believe in hormone therapy--she's a woman and had hot flashes too. All the rules appy for losing--CICO + exercise. It just takes longer so don't get discouraged. I've lost 20lbs in the past 2 years and would like to lose another 12. I consider it a victory to maintain this loss, and not backslide.

Good to know. I can't have hormones due to breast cancer on both sides of my family plus they can be difficult to tweak. Since I started taking "estroven" I have found the basic symptoms have subsided and I am glad to say the weight gain has stopped. It's the getting it off that is not coming very well. It is good to hear that it can happen and that I just need some patience and to keep at it. Thank you.

D_squareG

softblondechick wrote: »

I think that menopause is less of a shock for women who have always struggled with weight.

No. Not true. I've struggled my whole life but menopause took me from overweight to obese. It robbed my will to struggle for two years. I would advise you to see your doctor and tell them honestly what you are xperiencing.

walleymama

I have just started with the hot flashes and starting to delay/skip periods, so I think I'm on the cusp of meno. I have been running regularly for the past 2 years so perhaps that is why I have not noticed it affecting my weight. Mind you, I have not been more than 25 lbs overweight in my life, generally I fluctuate around 10 - 15 lbs overweight, so again that might also account for the difference.

Exercise is great for so many reasons, but few exercises burn enough calories to make a significant difference in your daily eating. I am 5'6 and 150 lbs and I burn about 380 calories on a 5K run. That's not even a donut and double double coffee at Timmy's! On my long run days I may burn up to 600 calories and then it starts to feel like I have a license to eat that day - but not to go crazy!

The CICO theory has served me very well over the last couple of years since I joined MFP. I am meticulous about counting my calories. When I eat at my goal, I lose weight. When I gain weight, it's no mystery.

I'm wondering how many of you here have been meticulously tracking your calories using a scale? Are there any scientific studies showing that menopause somehow changes the CICO equation? My guess is that my meno symptoms will only increase over the next little while, so best to be prepared if so....

jewelryS

D_squareG wrote: »

softblondechick wrote: »

I think that menopause is less of a shock for women who have always struggled with weight.

No. Not true. I've struggled my whole life but menopause took me from overweight to obese. It robbed my will to struggle for two years. I would advise you to see your doctor and tell them honestly what you are xperiencing.

Thanks for the advice and I have seen my clinician and a nutritionist. I work for a medical center so I have plenty of access. I am currently doing exactly as was suggested, caloric intake, exercise, rest and so on. I have an appointment check in with the nutritionist this week and another appointment with the clinician on the 1st of May.

The nutrition visit this week if there has been no progress we will be changing to a tracking of Macros based on lean body mass. She explained to me tracking just CICO isn't always the way to go for everyone. Not too thrilled about seeing my body fat measurement! UGH!

The clinician same thing we will see how this next month goes. There is a possibility that I will be having cortisol checked but the more worrisome is the HA1c. I developed gestational diabetes while pregnant with my daughter, my grandfather was a stage 2 diabetic so I am in the high risk category to becoming diabetic....stinks considering how well I have taken care of myself especially over the last 4 to 5 years. There are several other tests but we are trying the simplest approach first.

jewelryS

walleymama wrote: »

The CICO theory has served me very well over the last couple of years since I joined MFP. I am meticulous about counting my calories. When I eat at my goal, I lose weight. When I gain weight, it's no mystery.

I'm wondering how many of you here have been meticulously tracking your calories using a scale? Are there any scientific studies showing that menopause somehow changes the CICO equation? My guess is that my meno symptoms will only increase over the next little while, so best to be prepared if so....

I do track everything and have for quite some time. I am an extremely health eater as well, nothing from a box (so no hidden sugars) and I don't estimate I weigh it. Menopause does change the CICO. It is what your body does with what you eat. The conversion to fat becomes high because you are no longer producing the estrogen the body needs for all of it cells. Fat is an estrogen store so the body starts converting everything to fat especially belly and back fat, although my thighs have really put it on too.

I have also found out that weight training is very important. Though I have been lifting for over a year I am going to change it up and start pushing lifting more like a man. I recently read this is extremely helpful in the fight against the menopausal fat gain. I have also removed some of the fruit servings I was eating, replaced those with more greens along with changing the types of fruit I eat when I do have them. This is based on what I have read about the way a menopausal body converts sugar, all sugar natural or refined.

This is not an easy thing to tweak and every women I have talked to who has been through this tells me something different. It is amazing how different we all are. This is why I am ok with trying something new because the one size fits all doesn't work.

RoxieDawn

I am there and I second the responses on weight lifting and cardio. I do it 6 days a week, no supplements or pills and my swelling, bloating, back pain, night sweats, day sweats, weight gain, etc.. are gone. I also keep my self well hydrated all day. I never drank water before and now it is by the gallons...

Most of all it was free! Not pain free but economically free!!!! LOL

jewelryS

gia07 wrote: »

I am there and I second the responses on weight lifting and cardio. I do it 6 days a week, no supplements or pills and my swelling, bloating, back pain, night sweats, day sweats, weight gain, etc.. are gone. I also keep my self well hydrated all day. I never drank water before and now it is by the gallons...

Most of all it was free! Not pain free but economically free!!!! LOL

good advice

happy2026

I gained 20lbs since November.... its crazy.

ajkolb

I just started the Biote hormone therapy pellets. I workout (lift and some barre classes) 5 days a week. I'm 5'1, and average 115. Since the pellets I have gained weight. Instantly. I fluctuate between 5-8 pounds. Nothing has changed for me. Not even my foods. Its been since November of 2021 and I am so frustrated. My clothes dont fit, my lower back hurts worse, and I am just at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions that also have experienced this with the pellets? My husband also did them, and is up 10 lbs. WTH? I have started doing 3 rounds of cardio on the treadmill a week also.

AnnPT77

ajkolb wrote: »

I just started the Biote hormone therapy pellets. I workout (lift and some barre classes) 5 days a week. I'm 5'1, and average 115. Since the pellets I have gained weight. Instantly. I fluctuate between 5-8 pounds. Nothing has changed for me. Not even my foods. Its been since November of 2021 and I am so frustrated. My clothes dont fit, my lower back hurts worse, and I am just at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions that also have experienced this with the pellets? My husband also did them, and is up 10 lbs. WTH? I have started doing 3 rounds of cardio on the treadmill a week also.

This is a thread from 2015. Like many threads that old there's some . . . hmm . . . unscientific? . . . content.

Generically, if a medication leads to weight gain, the mechanism is one or a combination of these:

* Water retention increase, or perhaps unpredictable fluctuation
* Fatigue (perhaps subtle), so moving less (daily life and/or exercise intensity) therefore burning fewer calories. (Fidgeting alone can burn in the low hundreds of calories daily, and noticing reduced fidgeting in oneself is pretty hard.)
* Appetite increase, so maybe portion creep (shouldn't be an unnoticed issue if logging/weighing food carefully and consistently).

Are these "bioidentical hormones" doing something for you that's worth the side effects? (Rhetorical question, no need to answer.)

I admit, I'm a skeptic about the "menopause as weight loss doom" theory, experientially as well as theoretically. (As background, I'm female, 66, went into menopause hard-stop at age 45 as a side effect of chemotherapy for cancer, then spent 7.5 years taking anti-estrogen drugs of a couple of types. 5 years of that was on one that stops estrogen production outside of the ovaries, creates a sort of hyper-menopausal state. (After ovaries shut down in menopause, fat tissue and adrenal glands, etc., still produce some estrogen. That's what those drugs shut down.) I lost weight fine (50+ pounds in less than a year at age 59-60), and have continued to maintain a healthy weight since, despite menopause. Maybe I'm a special unicorn, but I doubt that, since other women here do the same.)

Weight loss is challenging for everyone, in various ways. Lots of things happen as we age, that tend to reduce calorie needs (most of them behavioral). That can be among the challenges.

I'm sorry that you're going through this, sincerely. I don't have any magical answers. For me, calorie tracking, and adjusting as needed based on my own results, has resulted in a reasonable body weight. Exercise seems to result in reasonable strength and vitality, though my resilience is lower than when I was younger, so I need to manage intensity and recovery more intentionally.

Good nutrition is really important for everyone, but protein increases in importance as we age. Among younger folks, nutrition timing isn't a major variable, but there's research suggesting we need more protein as we age, and timing of protein becomes more important. Since that affects body composition, and body composition affects "metabolism" as well as potentially spontaneous activity, that can be important.

Ref: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23867520/

For the back pain, specifically, have you sought medical attention (and been assertive about accurately diagnosing it if necessary)? Back pain can be a sign of some worrisome things. If nothing else, being referred for physical therapy for it could be helpful, if you can get a referral. A good physical therapist can be kind of magical. For myself, I've also seen an osteopath (fully credentialed medical doctor) at a university clinic regularly for back and hip issues (very helpful), and in non-pandemic times also worked with a massage therapist who is well-credentialed in sports and therapeutic massage, not just relaxation massage.

I hope you can find a solution, sincerely.