HELP! Post-menopausal weight loss -- nothing's working!

meredithfp

I'm really struggling! I have been motivated and on point since January 1. I've lost 15 lbs. since then, which sounds great, but there have been so many ups and downs that it's hard to know what is really working. For the past 5 days I've been eating around 1200 calories each day, getting my steps in, and the scale keeps creeping up.

I did the Whole30 during the month of January and had some success with it, but things seemed to stall out after a couple of weeks.

I'm thinking that menopause is making weight loss more complex than calories in, calories out and that I need to take a closer look at macros. I'm willing to try different ways of eating -- low carb, paleo, keto -- if I could find something solid recommending one way of eating or another.

Suggestions? Resources?

Ninkyou

Give it more time. You lost 15 lbs in a month and a half. That's not nothing.

There's a whole gamut of reasons why you may not be losing at this moment. Could just be temporary water retention. Give it 4-6 weeks and if you still haven't lost, then reevaluate what you're doing.

janejellyroll

If you've lost 15 pounds since January 1, I would *not* freak out because of one bad week.

What I would do: pick a plan and stick with it for a meaningful amount of time. If you keep switching plans, you'll find it impossible to gather real data about what is working and what might be causing a stall or even weight gain.

If you like Whole30 for the long term, do that. If you like calorie counting, do that. Don't switch when things "seem" to stall (like I said, you lost 15 pounds already, so that's not a stall). You aren't going to lose weight every day even when your plan is perfect. You might even have a week when you don't lose weight.

Patience is vital for successful weight loss and maintaining.

RoteBook

You've lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks. You're not stalled, just impatient.

Weight loss isn't linear. Sometimes the scale will go up. Maybe you ate something a little saltier than usual and you're retaining water.

GottaBurnEmAll

It could be that you need to give things more time, but if the scale continues to creep up...

I'm post menopausal and lost 95 pounds being that way. I also have Hashimoto's disease. I found that neither affected my ability to lose weight and I did not need to eat a certain macro balance to do so. It also sounds like you've been relying on a way of eating to bring about weight loss. That's not going to work. Creating a calorie deficit is what will make the weight come off.

With that out of the way, I notice you said that you've been eating "around 1200 calories". How have you been assessing that intake?

Accurate assessment of caloric intake was crucial for me in losing my weight. In addition to being older, I'm short and when I first started losing weight, I wasn't very active. Since I was on very few calories, I wanted to make sure I was only eating that many calories.

I thought I was.

When I started logging accurately, it turned out that I wasn't.

Are you using a food scale?
Are you verifying the entries you use in the data base?

Are you doing any exercise? Do you eat back any of the exercise calories? How are you assessing the calorie burns for that exercise?

If you're not doing any of these things, you are likely eating too much.

RoteBook

Also if I'm remembering correctly, whole 30 is really low carb. Low carb makes you lose a lot of water weight, which tends to come back when you start eating carbs again.

janejellyroll

RoteBook wrote: »

Also if I'm remembering correctly, whole 30 is really low carb. Low carb makes you lose a lot of water weight, which tends to come back when you start eating carbs again.

It *can* be low carbohydrate if someone wants to eat that way, but the plan itself doesn't restrict carbohydrates. It's more of an elimination diet (removing certain foods entirely) combined with restrictions on added sweeteners and some processed foods.

cmriverside

I lost all my weight post-menopause.

It wasn't the menopause. It was the previous refusals to pause eating that caused the trouble.

Don't go looking for excuses, they are a dime a dozen. I lost 70ish pounds in 2007 and have kept it off by simply using this site and keeping my calories in line. Yes, I ate every single delicious exercise calorie, too.

You're doing great! 15 pounds is significant - don't over-think this.

*edit to say, oh, yeah. Hashimotos, me too! No excuses!!

joaniebalonie088

I would be over the moon to lose 15 lbs in 6 weeks! I have only lost 5 in the past 2 months. Be proud and don't let the fluctuations take away from the fact that, overall, the number is trending down!!!

leanjogreen18

That's right at 2lb a week average you are actually doing really well.

Water, waste and food in your body could cause the scale to go up on any given day.

Give it more time as others have said.

KWlosingit

I am also menopausal and so far I have lost over 50 lbs with 60 more to go. It really has been just a case of not eating everything I used to eat and moving more. I don't exercise but I do try to walk, or paint the house or clean the garage. Anything to get me moving.

wrharvill

Hi, I'm post menopausal, too. I'm 5'3", almost 49 years old and have lost 46 pounds since last April. I'm also sedentary as its described. I reached and exceeded my goal a while back and have been zeroing in on my maintenance calories ever since (still losing a wee bit). I couldn't be bothered with tracking my macros, it was enough to accurately track my calories in. If this process was too rescrictive, if I had to look at too many things, I might not have made it. I can say that I believe, on this side of it, that I could have eaten more than 1200 calories a day and still lost weight at a good pace. Good luck and cut yourself a break, sounds like you're doing great!

ugofatcat

What was your starting weight and what is your goal weight?

meme249

2 pounds a week is a healthy way to loose weight. Diet alone can not do it you have to add some exercise, even walking to continue. We eat mostly plant based-no oil no fat meat very little (chicken, shrimp or salmon once a week). Just keep tracking and keep at it-shoot for healthy.

quiksylver296

This thread has awesome advice for everyone trying to lose weight:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1

meredithfp

Thanks so much for all of the encouragement. I guess I do need to recognize my success and not dwell on the fact that things aren't changing as quickly as I would like. Seems like over the course of a month I drop a few pounds then bounce back up, stay the same for awhile and then drop some more.

I do think that for my body it is more complicated than calories in, calories out. Limiting carbs seems to help, so I'm trying that for awhile. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again for all of the responses.

catwomanclaws

You have done well....just continue and be patient. I am also post menapausal. The difference is that you need to do more weight resistance training than before and also increase your grams of protein to 100-115....but not by eating more red meat....drink a high protein shake.

cbelc2

I'm there with you. I'm losing, but only because I have redoubled my efforts. It's harder than its ever been to shed some pounds. I walk 13000 steps a day, circuit or zumba 3 days a week, no sugar, no processed foods, nothing fried, no transfats, 1200-1300 calories per day. I'm only losing about 1.6 lb/wk. But I'm losing! I stay fairly satisfied, cravings are all but gone, and my belly is shrinking. I also feel stronger.

onward1

Woo-hoo, 15 pounds lost! You're doing fine. Have you been weighing your portions and logging? Keep doing what you're doing, it's normal to hit a few weeks with no loss. Just keep going.