Menopause And Weight Gain
cinblog1965
Posts: 133 Member
So I'm one of those annoying women that always thought she was fat, but damn it now I all of a sudden am. 30 pounds up from where I was 15 years ago. My energy level slowed down when I started menopause and even though bio-identical hormones, that miracle cure, has me feeling better and more energetic, the weight is just not coming off! I admit, I'm not killing myself like I used to with karate or running until I can't breathe, my joints can't take that anymore, but I'm doing pushups, PiYo which includes a lot of lunges and squats, and I walk a lot at my job. When I get rid of this darn sinus infection, I'm going to start HIIT training on my treadmill a day or two a week. I've recently started following the PiYO eating plan which is putting me at 1500 calories a day (at 52 and 5'3"). But I seem to keep gaining weight. I have a neverending appetite. I will admit I have a free day and I do drink wine of Fridays and Saturdays. What more can I do? After working all week I really look forward to sharing that bottle of wine with my husband.
Just very frustrated!
Just very frustrated!
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Replies
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Buy a food scale. Weigh and log everything.6
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Thank you quicksilver. I do measure or weigh foods.0
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Are you accounting for the calories of your free day and your wine? If not, you could be undoing the rest of the week's deficit. Weigh (measure liquids) and log everything.2
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cinblog1965 wrote: »Thank you quicksilver. I do measure or weigh foods.
Which is it?
https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk 6 -
It could be a number of reasons. You could be consuming more calories than you think on your free days. You could be retaining water due to high level of sodium. If you just started exercising, your body could be going through a normal transition. Tracking make issues so much easier to find in my opinion. I suggest your track every day and see if you could pinpoint your problem after a few weeks.0
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cinblog1965 wrote: »So I'm one of those annoying women that always thought she was fat, but damn it now I all of a sudden am. 30 pounds up from where I was 15 years ago. My energy level slowed down when I started menopause and even though bio-identical hormones, that miracle cure, has me feeling better and more energetic, the weight is just not coming off! I admit, I'm not killing myself like I used to with karate or running until I can't breathe, my joints can't take that anymore, but I'm doing pushups, PiYo which includes a lot of lunges and squats, and I walk a lot at my job. When I get rid of this darn sinus infection, I'm going to start HIIT training on my treadmill a day or two a week. I've recently started following the PiYO eating plan which is putting me at 1500 calories a day (at 52 and 5'3"). But I seem to keep gaining weight. I have a neverending appetite. I will admit I have a free day and I do drink wine of Fridays and Saturdays. What more can I do? After working all week I really look forward to sharing that bottle of wine with my husband.
Just very frustrated!
You are my twin1 -
geneticsteacher wrote: »Are you accounting for the calories of your free day and your wine? If not, you could be undoing the rest of the week's deficit. Weigh (measure liquids) and log everything.
I was wondering this as well.2 -
I was thin my whole life but gained about 10 pounds when I turned 50, making me average. I started to really watch portion sizes and cut down and cut back. There's no other way.
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Tighten up your food logging - use a digital food scale and grams.
1500 may or may not be a good calorie setting. I'm 5'7" - past menopause 20ish years ago and I lose at 1500 - but slowly. I am at my goal weight and I exercise on average one hour a day 3-4 times a week. Other than that I'm pretty sedentary. Retired. Single. Small condo, so not a lot of maintenance/cleaning. I do cook/prepare all my own meals. At the very most I eat out once a week.
That "free" meal or free day you have could easily negate the entire week's worth of lower calorie. Just log everything. That video above is a really good one to watch. It will open your eyes on the whole "log accurately" thingy.
Open up your food diary so we can take a peek and maybe spot problem areas...
Here's where you do that: (at the bottom of the page, choose "Public")
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings3 -
No I don't watch my calories on free days, that's probably a big issue. As far as measuring I measure by weight unless it's a sauce or liquid which I measure in cups. Truthfully, I don't measure lettuce, or a slice of bread, but I track it by brand. I'm just frustrated. Never would have believed it would be this difficult to lose.0
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cinblog1965 wrote: »No I don't watch my calories on free days, that's probably a big issue. As far as measuring I measure by weight unless it's a sauce or liquid which I measure in cups. Truthfully, I don't measure lettuce, or a slice of bread, but I track it by brand. I'm just frustrated. Never would have believed it would be this difficult to lose.
It's not any harder for you than for the rest of us.
Changes do have to happen and it's not fun. You can do it. It's all about watching your calories. It's pretty empowering once you get into the swing of it.
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I'm also post menopausal 5'5" and 57 years old, and gained the less-than-lovely 30 pounds after I retired in 2014. Even though I had a desk job I was quite active with always taking the stairs, walking on breaks and lunch and fairly active on the weekends, so I was able to maintain until retirement. I had about 6 months of being lazy before I really woke up and got serious.
Enter MFP with the logging and accountability and I was able to turn that around. It's been a slow go, but I managed to lose most of that 30 in about a 2 year time frame. I wasn't in a big hurry or I could have done it faster, but I'm still enjoying life and having fun with it all. I still have about 5 more to go.
I have found that I just don't lose at 1500 calories a day, even with moderate exercise. I'm currently eating about 1300-1400 cals per day and exercising 5 days a week doing aquasize, walking, disc golf, or aerobics like dance or stationary bike.
Sadly, the metabolism does slow down after menopause. Some people will say that's not true, but it IS true for me and many other women my age, but it's not a life sentence. Just have to eat less (or different things) and move more.3 -
menopause makes me reach for the wine bottle. the weight will come off, bad days when I am really bat *kitten* crazy, I reach for whiskey.3
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I found that 7-keto DHEA 100 mgs and 80 mgs of desiccated adrenal helped me immensely, along with eating Paleo / Keto about 75% of the time. The weight (and the body fat) slowly and steadily came off without exercise.
Menopause did stress my adrenals. I also found that I could dial back on my vivelle dot because once my adrenals started working I didn't need as much as I thought. Check out "Ageless" by Suzanne Somers in paperback (it's cheap on Amazon). She has a great index to thumb through on supplementing with 7-keto DHEA and desiccated adrenal.12 -
Thanks Sunna! My hormone doc has me on DHEA, B12 and D3. I will look for Suzanne Somer's book. I appreciate all the help. I don't know that I can eat less than 1500 and stick with it. I feel hungry at 1500 and I eat tons of low cal veggies. I'm trying now to limit carbs to a reasonable amount and up my protein, as that seems to help a lot of people with hunger. I will not ever again though give up a food group.2
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I just completed in June a 60 day challenge through my gym and you are assigned a trainer and mine happened to also be the nutritionist. I am 50, post-menopause and was at 151 pounds in May. She taught me all about macros (carbs 30%, protein 40%, fat 30% ratio) which she adjusted on the myfitnesspal app and had me on a 1200 calorie a day diet plus I was working out 6-7 days a week for 60 minutes. I lost 17 pounds and 24% body fat. I too LOVE my wine but cut it out during the week and enjoyed two glasses each night on Friday's and Saturday's. It was hard but even after it was over, I have maintained these past 6 weeks (upped my calories to 1500 and enjoyed wine a few times a week as well) with learning how to eat better (higher protein is key). I am doing the challenge again starting tomorrow to lose 12 more pounds and hit my goal weight of 120 and get below 20% body fat. I have never felt better!1
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I just completed in June a 60 day challenge through my gym and you are assigned a trainer and mine happened to also be the nutritionist. I am 50, post-menopause and was at 151 pounds in May. She taught me all about macros (carbs 30%, protein 40%, fat 30% ratio) which she adjusted on the myfitnesspal app and had me on a 1200 calorie a day diet plus I was working out 6-7 days a week for 60 minutes. I lost 17 pounds and 24% body fat. I too LOVE my wine but cut it out during the week and enjoyed two glasses each night on Friday's and Saturday's. It was hard but even after it was over, I have maintained these past 6 weeks (upped my calories to 1500 and enjoyed wine a few times a week as well) with learning how to eat better (higher protein is key). I am doing the challenge again starting tomorrow to lose 12 more pounds and hit my goal weight of 120 and get below 20% body fat. I have never felt better!0
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During menopause some of your weight gain may be hormonal water weight. It wasn't unusual for me to gain 5-7 lbs of water and keep it for a week or more. But, I just stuck with my goals and had faith that the weight would come off (despite drinking wine every day and not killing myself with exercise). Just be patient and stick to your plan and it will work.
If you haven't already you should also ask your doctor to check for thyroid problems which are much more common in/after menopause.2 -
@TiffanyLengyel I just started following the EM2WL group (eat more 2 weigh less). They call for the same ratios (if I remember correctly that's the 'Zone' diet in a nutshell that Jennifer Anniston swears by). They also get you to lift heavy weights to build muscle and have you set your diet to your TDEE - 15% to lose weight. They recommend that if you have obsessively dieted to do a matabolism reset. It's a very slow weight loss because you're eating so much more but you're finding your body what it needs to have energy to work out. I do feel better already and am back in the gym 5-6 days. Trying to have patience, not a quality I've been known for!0
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I was just doing some reading about menopause yesterday and highlighted several interesting studies. Most women gain 5-7lbs during menopause and our fat migrates to our bellies. We also lose muscle mass(not to mention bone density) which accounts for additional weight gain due to lower caloric needs. In fact, both men and women lose an average of 8-10% muscle mass every decade after the 30's. High Resistance Strength Training helps combat this by increasing and retaining muscle mass and bone density. The more muscle you can keep, the higher your TDEE will be. Also, Vitamin D supplements have been shown to help retain muscle mass on their own. We also need to increase our protein intake to ~1.5g/kg LBM.
Oh, also - both machine and free weights were shown to increase muscle mass and bone density in menopausal women, but free weights increased significantly more.1 -
At age 59 I weighed 300 lbs and was convinced it was impossible for my body to lose weight. I had given up. Now 3 years later I have proven that wrong and now weigh 150 lbs. If I can do it, you can too. I was a sorry case. It's a mindset and at this point in life we should be good at meeting challenges head on. If it's harder, it doesn't matter. Most of life is hard, but we keep on truckin'.6
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I found weight loss to be much easier after menopause (no HRT). I was no longer dealing with the cycling hormones and accompanying cravings and general weirdness. I got into a good groove regarding food and activity.5
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This is my first year of menopause and I gained 18.5 pounds. I'm 52 years old. I could not control eating sweets. I was waking up through out the night with hot flashes and night sweats. I could not wear any of my summer clothes from last summer. I got so frustrated that I would not even get on the scale. Well one night I could not take it, I prayed for help. The next day I got on the scale and it was a wake up call for me. I became a Vegetarian and started walking 30 - 60 minutes daily. My calorie intake is about 1540 and I do not eat my exercise calories. After 4 weeks I lost 4.5 pounds. It is slow progress but I gonna keep going. With all that said you have to count and record all you eat and be mindful of the choices. I eat a Whole Grain/Plant based diet which has open me enjoy veggie and grain I never eaten before. I do not even miss eating meat. You took the first step asking for help.
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I went into menopause at around 45. I kept my weight in a pretty good range till about 57. Then it became a real battle. I now eat 1200 cal plus my exercise calories (5'2"). I count and log every day. No "weekend off" as that had me gain ten pounds in a year.0
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53, 5'3", post menopause (early at around 43-45). I run (either 10k or speed sessions) 3x per week, am active with lots of walking, yoga & Pilates 4x pw, body pump 1x.
To lose weight (about 1.5lb pw) I have to stick at 1200 cals, not eat back any exercise cals, 7 days pw. To do this I avoid alcohol entirely as I'd rather eat my calories.
At maintenance I set a weekly calorie target (around 10,000) and spread it over the week according to my diary.
It is tough and takes discipline but is worth it to me. I have seen no difference in my ability to gain/lose weight from my mid 20s. The only difference I've noted is that my energy levels are not quite where they were (but still good) and any excess weight tends to go to my tummy/boobs/back.0 -
cinblog1965 wrote: »So I'm one of those annoying women that always thought she was fat, but damn it now I all of a sudden am. 30 pounds up from where I was 15 years ago. My energy level slowed down when I started menopause and even though bio-identical hormones, that miracle cure, has me feeling better and more energetic, the weight is just not coming off! I admit, I'm not killing myself like I used to with karate or running until I can't breathe, my joints can't take that anymore, but I'm doing pushups, PiYo which includes a lot of lunges and squats, and I walk a lot at my job. When I get rid of this darn sinus infection, I'm going to start HIIT training on my treadmill a day or two a week. I've recently started following the PiYO eating plan which is putting me at 1500 calories a day (at 52 and 5'3"). But I seem to keep gaining weight. I have a neverending appetite. I will admit I have a free day and I do drink wine of Fridays and Saturdays. What more can I do? After working all week I really look forward to sharing that bottle of wine with my husband.cinblog1965 wrote: »No I don't watch my calories on free days, that's probably a big issue. As far as measuring I measure by weight unless it's a sauce or liquid which I measure in cups. Truthfully, I don't measure lettuce, or a slice of bread, but I track it by brand. I'm just frustrated. Never would have believed it would be this difficult to lose.
That will do it!
That's how I gained my weight.
For 4 years, I ate well during the week, and lost weight during the week ... and then I'd let things go on the weekend, and would gain just a tiny bit more than I'd lost on the weekend.
In 4 years, I gained about 20 kg ... 5 kg/year ... 0.4 kg/month. Hardly even enough to notice, until suddenly one day ...
When I joined MFP, I stuck to my calorie limit absolutely without fail for 16 weeks. That made a big difference. At the age of 48, and well into perimenopause, I lost 1 kg/week.
Regarding exercise, I'm a long distance cyclist. That was one of my motivations for losing the weight. When I gained the weight, I couldn't cycle up hills anymore and that made me sad. When I lost weight, I was able to get right back into my long distance cycling. 4 -
I'm 60 and currently weigh what I did in my teens and early 20s. I lost weight fairly easily once I got my low thyroid properly medicated (about 15 years ago). I am able to maintain my loss as long as I keep up my exercise. When I slack off, the weight comes back. I found that by exercising regularly, I had very few bad menopause symptoms. It really helped. Currently I run 35+ miles per week and walk another 20 or so.3
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53 here and I hear you! I've fluctuated and dieted before, but nothing extreme, and usually keeping the excess weight off for 5 or more years.
Menopause hit me hard. I used to lose weight on 1500 to 1600 calories ( I'm 162 cm) - nowadays I'm busting my kitten with a minimum 10-15 hours cardio a week( 4 of those hours swimming laps) strength training (newbie levels) 3 x a week and eating 1100 - 1250 calories (+170 for extra protein shake on strength days) and I'm losing about 2 -3 pounds a month. I'm starving most of the time, hunger cranky and have frequent intense hot flashes. 5 months in it is taking everything I have to keep going. (Yes I carefully measure my food, I drink only 1-2 alcoholic drinks a month, I don't crave sweets, I don't drink calories...)
I totally disagree with the person(s) above who said it is as hard for everyone and menopause makes no difference, and anyone can lose weight without exercise (and they use 'it worked for ME' as evidence). I believe that is total *kitten*. Yes CiCo is true for everyone but what that means for the individual is different. My experience tells me for ME the calories expended post menopause have plummeted to a pitiful rate - so somehow I'll have to adapt. Ymmv.
What I HOPE is that I'll find that something that works and is sustainable for me. Keto works for some. IF for others. Etc. I'm going to go on a diet break soon (1 week at 1400 calories I think is probably maintenance for me) and try a new approach like IF. I'll try the next approach for a few months and reevaluate with another break.
I guess I'm trying to say: I understand where you're coming from. Don't give up hope – but keep trying at different things to find something sustainable for you. Also don't believe people who say this is the one and only way to do it. What works for someone else may not work for you and vice versa.1 -
I am 61 and had tried every diet known to man. Six weeks ago, the dr said my blood glucose was out of control and put me on a very low carb diet. I am down 13 lbs, my blood glucose is doing great, and I feel so much better- more energy, less inflammation/pain, better concentration. And this is the first diet I'm not hungry on.2
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you can friend me if you like. alot of my "friends" here on MFP are also in meno- or premenopause and we help each other. LCHF has been working very well for me post-meno. feel free to join us.
:flowerforyou:0
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