Perimenopause problems

sjoslen

I am looking for someone(s) who can give advice about diet and exercise during the perimenopause phase. If I eat 10 calories over I gain. If I exercise to much I gain. If I eat too little I gain. Seems a battle with body that I cannot win. Would like to lose 20 pounds this year, but last year couldn't even get 5 pounds off. HELP!!!

ritugetsfit

same boat, same issues

fiddletime

For me perimenopause was ok in that I kept working out and watching what I ate. When I hit menopause the weight starting creeping on, about 15 pounds in 3 years. Then another 10 in the next 5 years. At that point I discovered MFP and started losing. You'll lose if you eat fewer calories than you burn. Stick with the logging and counting and expect fluctuations from water weight so look at the trend. You can both lose weight. I'm almost at my goal weight of 120 and am 5'2" and 61. It can be done, but I had to mostly cut out wine as it just wasn't working when I drank routinely.

bethchoat

I am in the same boat. Watching everything that goes in my mouth and run/walk daily.(I am very active) weight is not moving

middlehaitch

The biggest difference when one is menapausal ( all stages) is your hormones are having a last hurrah.

They make you hungry, crave sugar and carbs; but rarely vegetables and fruit.

They also disrupt your sleep upping your stress levels. ( they can do a number of other things too; clumsy, forgetful, irratibility, etc).

Bloating when least expected. It's water weight- you know that; just realize that is all it is.

You have had these hormone rushes all your adult life and learnt to deal with them once a month. Now they are more constant and more pervasive.

Now is the time to start applying your knowledge garnered from decades of TOM, with a bit extra learning, to this long period of disruption. Read!

Don't always give in to the urge to splurge with food. Monitor and moderate.

Rough sleep and hot flashes can wear you down. Treat yourself gently and take a nap if you need it, or go to bed early and have quiet time with your favourite author. Take time for you. And relax.

Keep your exercise levels up. Anecdotally I found. cardio relieved hot flashes to some extent.
Strength training; if you aren't doing any, start now. Your bones and muscles will thank you.

About muscles. You don't just lose them because you are in some stage of menopause. You lose them because as we age we naturally slow down- keep moving=keep muscles.

That segues nicely to our lower BMR. It is lower because we are moving less and losing muscle because of it. Keep moving, keep muscles= keep BMR.

Our BMR is dropping at the same rate it has been since our early 20's and we stopped growing. The rate is somewhere between 50-100 calories a decade depending on height, weight and activity level. It really can't be blamed for not being able to lose weight.
(My BMR is 200 cals lower than in my 20's.)

As we age our organs start to drop, a little, and the hormonal changes can predispose us to gaining more visceral fat in the abdominal region. Diet and exercise takes care of that.

Weakened interior and exterior muscles, abs, obliques and others whose names I can't remember, in the abdominal region will make the fat in that area jiggle more. Tighten the muscles and give that jiggle a bit of support while you are losing the lbs or kgs of fat.

Eat at a deficit, weigh your food, move more and the weight will drop.

It is worth getting checked by your doc, you really really should, for thyroid, diabetes II and general deficiencies as these can occur.

As an FYI. My avitar is my 60th birthday. I lost weight during menopause. If curiouse there is my fifties fat and frumpy pic in my profile- my wake-up call.
5'1 62yo.
SW130
CW100-105 (maintained 6 years)

I had never ever exercised until my 50's now I do about 1 hr a day 3 weights, 3 cardio, 1 yoga. Still don't love it but I love what it lets me do!

Cheers, h.

TLDR: it is not all menopause's fault.

sallygroundhog

Thanks, @middlehaitch !! Great Post!!!

Need2Exerc1se

I am just coming out of perimenopause <fingers crossed> and hands down, no contest, it was the worst period (no pun intended) of my life. I didn't have night sweats or hot flashes but OMG the hormonal swings were crazy. PMS type symptoms - bloating, irritability, cravings - frequently and randomly. Several times a month.

The best advice I would give is regular cardio exercises. It is really the only thing that lessened the symptoms for me. Luckily, that also helped with overall health and weight loss.

1mumrevolution

middlehaitch wrote: »

The biggest difference when one is menapausal ( all stages) is your hormones are having a last hurrah.

They make you hungry, crave sugar and carbs; but rarely vegetables and fruit.

They also disrupt your sleep upping your stress levels. ( they can do a number of other things too; clumsy, forgetful, irratibility, etc).

Bloating when least expected. It's water weight- you know that; just realize that is all it is.

You have had these hormone rushes all your adult life and learnt to deal with them once a month. Now they are more constant and more pervasive.

Now is the time to start applying your knowledge garnered from decades of TOM, with a bit extra learning, to this long period of disruption. Read!

Don't always give in to the urge to splurge with food. Monitor and moderate.

Rough sleep and hot flashes can wear you down. Treat yourself gently and take a nap if you need it, or go to bed early and have quiet time with your favourite author. Take time for you. And relax.

Keep your exercise levels up. Anecdotally I found. cardio relieved hot flashes to some extent.
Strength training; if you aren't doing any, start now. Your bones and muscles will thank you.

About muscles. You don't just lose them because you are in some stage of menopause. You lose them because as we age we naturally slow down- keep moving=keep muscles.

That segues nicely to our lower BMR. It is lower because we are moving less and losing muscle because of it. Keep moving, keep muscles= keep BMR.

Our BMR is dropping at the same rate it has been since our early 20's and we stopped growing. The rate is somewhere between 50-100 calories a decade depending on height, weight and activity level. It really can't be blamed for not being able to lose weight.
(My BMR is 200 cals lower than in my 20's.)

As we age our organs start to drop, a little, and the hormonal changes can predispose us to gaining more visceral fat in the abdominal region. Diet and exercise takes care of that.

Weakened interior and exterior muscles, abs, obliques and others whose names I can't remember, in the abdominal region will make the fat in that area jiggle more. Tighten the muscles and give that jiggle a bit of support while you are losing the lbs or kgs of fat.

Eat at a deficit, weigh your food, move more and the weight will drop.

It is worth getting checked by your doc, you really really should, for thyroid, diabetes II and general deficiencies as these can occur.

As an FYI. My avitar is my 60th birthday. I lost weight during menopause. If curiouse there is my fifties fat and frumpy pic in my profile- my wake-up call.
5'1 62yo.
SW130
CW100-105 (maintained 6 years)

I had never ever exercised until my 50's now I do about 1 hr a day 3 weights, 3 cardio, 1 yoga. Still don't love it but I love what it lets me do!

Cheers, h.

TLDR: it is not all menopause's fault.

Brilliant response!

fiddletime

I'll third on the cardio. The more I worked out the fewer hot flashes I had. They went from daily to maybe once a month when I got back to jogging 2 miles 5 times a week. It wasn't a long distance, but made a huge improvement in..... everything related to menopause. I didn't lose weight jogging. I just kept cutting down on food until I started to lose. But my mood swings lessened, I was less bloated, and almost zero hot flashes.

Greenari

Same for me...so frustrating. Thanks for all the good advice.

perifecto

I had medically induced menopause in my early forties because of a hysterectomy. Cancer scare blah, blah so ovaries and all just gone. I woke up with less pain but they had to start low dose estrogen and keep me on it per the GYN/oncologist. Anyway, I immediately started to get menopause tummy which has stuck like glue.

I do crave more fat and things than ever in my life. I agree that the more I can exercise, the better I feel overall with lower cravings, less hunger, improved metabolism, better sleep and better weight management.

My huge issue has been that about 8 months after the surgery I got promoted to the peak of my profession as a judge. I was thrilled at first to reach this goal about 20 years ahead of the norm, but then I realized that ever other part of my life started to take a back seat. I'm tied to my chair where I do not get even 5 minutes to stand per hour every other week. I changed my schedule to force those cases all into the morning at least temporarily to see if that allows me to move more at work. It has helped tremendously since I started that in the past few months as now I can use my standing desk all day on my "office weeks" and at least 3 hours on my days in court. I got a Fitbit and restarted on thus site with the app on my phone for both. I already see things improving.

For managing health through menopause, my first recommendation is to carve out the time to do sustained exercise daily with more on days when you can. At least start and end the day with 15-20 minutes of yoga or Pilates plus add walking or something during lunch at work if you get an hour.

Next, I believe weight training is a must with heavy enough weights to actually build muscle mass. No woman who isn't doing steroids or something similarly stupid is going to accidentally build huge masculine body parts, so don't worry in that regard. Literally the best figures I have ever seen on women through menopause and beyond are women who pump iron with commitment.

There is no "spot reducing" of fat, but weight training can sculpt figures in pretty amazing ways. Working the chest can literally make breaststroke lift and appear perked as the muscles make a nice curve from the collar bone down and underneath the breast tissue as well. Working the lower back and oblique muscles around the sides with weights can pull in tighter looking waistline even when the actual waist measurement may not change as much overall. Obviously working thr gluten can sculpt and lift an aging rear too.

The other great thing about getting more muscle mass from weight training is that every bit of muscle you add will burn more calories whether you are active or enjoying the bonus of post work out calories still burning at a higher rate. Yes, it's likely to keep the number on the scale from going down until you have enough muscle increase and fat decrease for the muscle gains to plateau while the fat loss continues. I suspect what sjoslen mentioned about gaining weight from "too much exercise" was actually muscle gain. A pound of muscle is more compact than a pound of fat, so while the scale might go up or not go down, you might notice that clothing is getting looser or just fitting differently.

There is an old weight training book by Rachel McLish that I still love called, "Flex Appeal." It has decent photos of exercises and some showing her transformation from a slim girl who looked okay to a sculpted natural bodybuilder who even has a more lifted, shapely face.

sjoslen

Thanks for all the info, I appreciate it. I actually know all the fitness info as I have spent my whole life trying to keep fit and healthy, that is why this issue is driving me crazy. The things I used to do, dont work anymore. I may have additional medical issues (just had physical) I am going to try eating according to book I also enjoyed ("This is why your fat and how to get thin") basically clean eating in moderation. I am going to start measuring more consistently too. I am also going to be doing 10,000 steps daily and strength training on at least 2 days. Hard to believe I was in such great shape only a couple years ago and now I feel like I have never exercised in my life....

Those of you going through this now: @ritugetsfit, @bethchoat, @greenari would love to keep in contact through our journey. Menopause is different for every person I am learning and the best way to survive it us to have others to talk to about it. My relatives have no info because they too were forced into menopause due to breast cancer so I feel like I am winging it..but gathering as much info as possible.