Menopause

chulipa

Weight loss after menopause is it harder to get the pounds off and is there things you should or shouldn't eat

dsboohead

I am done with menopause. Don't think it's the menopause that affects weight loss but the lack of muscle as we age.
We can still lose weight either way. Calorie deficit!

chulipa

I have just completed 12 months with no period so Im now officially in menopause

AnnPT77

I went through abrupt chemotherapy-induced early menopause at age 44. As far as I could tell, it was no harder for me to lose weight at age 59-60 than it is for anyone else of any age or menopausal status. I pretty much ate the foods I've always eaten, just in smaller amounts and somewhat different proportions, and lost 50+ pounds in just under a year.

chulipa

I have always heard it was harder but I have lost about 17lbs since early April after seeing Ortho Dr for really bad knees and was told to lose some weight need bmi under 40 Im real close about 10-15lbs away just wish I could get closer before May 30th when I go back and see if Im going to get a knee replacement.

kshama2001

I think the only thing that makes weight loss more difficult post menopause is if women are less active, and have less muscle due do having been less active for decades.

My mom is 80 and struggles to stay above Underweight because she is very, very active. Her plan for Mother's Day was to "Garden until I drop."

The day before Easter we had a burn party to get rid of trees and branches that had fallen in our four winter storms plus a huge pine tree damaged by carpenter ants she'd had cut down to take advantage of the extra help that was there that weekend. She was out there all day long, with breaks for meals. Actually, she made me cook dinner so she could keep working

chulipa

Im not very active because of my knees but i tryto walk as much as i can

workinonit1956

My own personal experience is that it’s been easier to lose weight post menopause than before, the reason being that every other time I’ve tried to lose in the past I’ve used a “diet” of some sort, gave up too soon because what I was doing wasn’t sustainable and went back to old habits. Learning what really works (cico) and applying it (patiently) is amazingly effective.
Maybe it would have been even easier when I was younger, I don’t know. Now, I’m not to maintainance yet so I can’t speak to that but losing hasn’t been very difficult at all.

mph323

I lost 50 lbs between the ages of 65-66, mostly sedentary. I didn't see any difference really in how the weight came off except that in my 40's I did stupidly low calorie diets and lost a lot of muscle with the fat, wheras this time I deliberately went slowly and saw less muscle loss. Now that I'm retired and more active, I find that I'm eating more than I ever did in my 40's to maintain my weight.

Not sure about what things you should and shouldn't eat after menopause - I think eating a well-balanced diet of foods you like is generally applicable to healthy people of all ages

edited for spelling

GottaBurnEmAll

Post menopausal weight loss has been the only successful weight loss in my life.

Oh, I've managed to lose weight in the past, but I was always floundering around not really knowing what I was doing and the weight always came back.

This time I've kept off the weight I've lost and have the luxury of actually working on vanity weight and recomp.

Advantages now as opposed to when I was younger? I'm more focused and much less gullible.

chulipa

I lost a little over 100lbs back in 2016 but put most back on due to a knee surgery and 2 car accidents the last one was back in August I hit my knee on the dash and was told it was a bone bruise but I found out that i had 3 fractures and my meniscus is torn bad so have had trouble just walking but before I would walk a lot go to the gym I guess thats why before it seemed easier.

kshama2001

chulipa wrote: »

I lost a little over 100lbs back in 2016 but put most back on due to a knee surgery and 2 car accidents the last one was back in August I hit my knee on the dash and was told it was a bone bruise but I found out that i had 3 fractures and my meniscus is torn bad so have had trouble just walking but before I would walk a lot go to the gym I guess thats why before it seemed easier.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that

While weight loss is of course possible without exercise, for me it is much, much harder.

chulipa

It does seem harder

mph323

chulipa wrote: »

It does seem harder

If you were able to be more active last time you lost weight, and have to be more sedentary due to injuries this time around, I definitely agree it's most likely harder. I don't think because of menopause, but not being able to use exercise to add to your deficit means you are eating less for the same rate of loss. Hugs - hope you recover soon!

staraly

I'm in menopause as well as being hypothyroid and terribly accident prone (I have so many old injuries & broken bones from being hit by a car and other accidents = ongoing pain, some mobility problems).
I don't think it is any more difficult to lose weight because of menopause, but as you get older you are more likely to have other health issues which can interfere with weight loss. These need to be identified and addressed.
I've been working on my leaky gut which is now so much better. I'm getting more nutrition from my food and don't get random uncontrollable cravings or weird nutritional deficiencies anymore.
I've also had undiagnosed and untreated allergies, which at least in part, led to leaky gut. This caused higher than normal levels of histamine which in turn interacts with estrogen. They increase and antagonize each other.
It might seem counter-intuitive to have issues with estrogen dominance in menopause but it's because progesterone can fall much faster than estrogen, leaving a temporary estrogen dominance. That's when higher histamine levels become a problem. The relationship between these two is well documented.
Many women with allergies may have noticed this effect previously with their PMS getting much worse as they age, even to the point of being incapacitated, and then things getting really out of control about the time of entering menopause.
When you are in this state, weight loss can be extremely difficult as there is a kind of domino effect onto various systems of the body. Once I had my allergies diagnosed and managed through diet and meds, it kick-started my weight loss. Now, I'm losing normally.
There are plenty of other health issues that come up as we age but as long as they are well managed we should be able to lose weight and maintain. They can even give us greater motivation to become healthier. I try to look at it all as an opportunity to put myself in a good position health-wise for the coming years.

emmamcgarity

I am post-menopausal and haven’t had an issue as long as I am consistently logging all of my food intake.

Maxxitt

Loss of estrogen will make you store your fat differently, most likely, and for many women, this means a larger waist and high-hip fat. Other than that, the process of getting to a healthy weight is about the same.

Sabine_Stroehm

I've found it difficult, but I'm in the vanity weight maintenance category, so I wonder if that's part of it, and the damned distribution!

chulipa

Thanks everyone so glad I got all this information from people who have gone through menopause