women hormones/ weight loss

fica21

Hello HELP!!! I am reaching 50 and had lived a just ok semi healthy lifestyle with really no weight issues. Fast forward 3 years of menopause & killer hot flashes I gained 30 stubborn UGLY belly, hips & thigh fat. I recently joined 9rounds which is basically boxing high intensity 30 min workout which I have managed to stick to 3 times a week & LOVE! Tomorrow will be my 6th class.. Here’s where I need help? WHY are my clothes fitting me tighter, I feel as if I am gaining weight. I have been trying to incorporate a healthier high protein diet. could it be a hormone issue? Has anyone experience similar situation and if so, any suggestions on supplements etc.? I teally want to lose weight, I feel I have a good workout regimen going and I am using this app for food, what am I doing wrong??

Emmapatterson1729

I've been dealing with menopausal symptoms for years due to an ovarian surgery that went bad. Things that have helped me over the years:

1 one ounce sip of dry red wine after dinner is a great source of estrogen. It really helps with dry skin and dryness in general.

Black cohosh really helped me with hot flashes and night sweats.

I like Astragalus and Dong Quai for general female hormone balancing.

And I started taking a sublingual b12 (under tongue tablet). It really helps energy levels and maintaining muscle mass.

Keep energy, hormones, and muscle mass up, and everything goes back to feeling pretty normal.

These are what help me. Good luck!

Hannahwalksfar

Are you eating at a calorie deficit? Weighing food? Exercise is great but a calorie deficit is how you lose weight.

missysippy930

^^^Exactly

kimny72

fica21 wrote: »

Hello HELP!!! I am reaching 50 and had lived a just ok semi healthy lifestyle with really no weight issues. Fast forward 3 years of menopause & killer hot flashes I gained 30 stubborn UGLY belly, hips & thigh fat. I recently joined 9rounds which is basically boxing high intensity 30 min workout which I have managed to stick to 3 times a week & LOVE! Tomorrow will be my 6th class.. Here’s where I need help? WHY are my clothes fitting me tighter, I feel as if I am gaining weight. I have been trying to incorporate a healthier high protein diet. could it be a hormone issue? Has anyone experience similar situation and if so, any suggestions on supplements etc.? I teally want to lose weight, I feel I have a good workout regimen going and I am using this app for food, what am I doing wrong??

Hormones can wreak havoc with your water weight fluctuations and energy. But fat gain and loss are about calories. Are you logging and hitting a calorie goal that keeps you in a deficit? The stuff you are talking about can make it easier to be in a deficit and be active, but it's the calories that must ultimately be in line.

It's possible your new workout is causing some extra water retention, that can last for a week or two as well.

These posts may help:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

Hang in there :drinker:

whitpauly

I'm perimenopausal and I swear my feet and body have been retaining water this whole period this month! Hormones make our bodies wonky that's for sure

snickerscharlie

Just remember that weight gain does not always mean fat gain, especially where women's hormones are concerned. But remember that if it *is* fat gain, it's simply because you're consuming more calories than what your body can utilize for fuel.

kshama2001

There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

VioletRojo

starting a new exercise routine can cause you to retain water. Keep at it and the water weight will normalize. Are you eating at a deficit? Just eating "healthier" won't cause weight loss, you have to actually eat less than your body needs.

earlnabby

Weight loss after menopause is the easiest weight loss I ever did. I no longer have the hormones cycling which means I don't get PMS with the cravings and bloating that typically accompanied it. hooray for menopause!

Post menopause DOES have one issue some get. The reduction in estrogen affects how you store fat. It is more likely that you will store your fat around the midsection. I does NOT affect how much fat you store, that is still only about calories. You gain or lose the same way, it just is distributed slightly different.

Emmapatterson1729

I love how I get wooos on things that were suggested to me while working with an OB/GYN MD who specialized in natural hormone replacement therapy, that actually worked!! Lol, lol, lol...

misscagal

earlnabby wrote: »

Weight loss after menopause is the easiest weight loss I ever did. I no longer have the hormones cycling which means I don't get PMS with the cravings and bloating that typically accompanied it. hooray for menopause!

Post menopause DOES have one issue some get. The reduction in estrogen affects how you store fat. It is more likely that you will store your fat around the midsection. I does NOT affect how much fat you store, that is still only about calories. You gain or lose the same way, it just is distributed slightly different.

Ugh. No kidding. I used to be an apple now I’m a pumpkin lol. And I never had overly large hips/butt but now have really seemed to spread. At least my legs still look good

AnnPT77

Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »

I love how I get wooos on things that were suggested to me while working with an OB/GYN MD who specialized in natural hormone replacement therapy, that actually worked!! Lol, lol, lol...

I think it's great that those things worked for you.

However, there are several reasons people might woo your post (I didn't, BTW).

First, you list several supplements and strategies, and the science on them is mixed. Some have potential side effects (Astragalus, for example, seems to inhibit the CYP3A4 enzymes - similar to grapefruit - so can increase absorption of certain other drugs to potentially dangerous levels). Some of these are phytoestrogens, yet red wine shows some signs of being an aromatase inhibitor, so might actually do the opposite; that combination seems odd as a consequence.

As I said, I didn't woo your post, but hope that anyone interested in the hormonal-management aspects of any of those supplements or strategies will do careful research and come to their own conclusions based on personal circumstances, regardless of the source of information (which you didn't mention as being your MD in your PP, so others might suspect a "nutritionist" of questionable pedigree as the source, since some of these supplements are commonly recommeded by questionable alt-health sources as well).

Personally, I'm extra cautious about phytoestrogens, which may vary in their potential mechanisms of action. This caution is because of a history of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer (i.e., estrogen fostered growth of my type of tumors). Not everyone will have that concern, of course.

TheRealSlim_Shelly

I don’t have answers for you - I just wanted to drop by and say you don’t look anywhere near 50! I thought you were in your early 30s! Go girl!

Anabirgite

54 and still perimenopausal- so over this - gained 14 pounds. But have been watching my calories lost 6 and have flatlined. Sooo understand...will definitely look into @Emmapatterson's suggestion but deadly allergic to red wine dangnamit. Higher protein has really helped me. I was shocked in what I thought was my healthy diet at how little protein I was eating. I have more than doubled my protein and dropped several pounds last month and actually gained muscle too.

Pipsqueak1965

I am 54 and actually lost about 5 kilos while perimenopausal. It all down to what you eat - nothing to do with the menopause itself.

Ostrich218

Pipsqueak1965 wrote: »

I am 54 and actually lost about 5 kilos while perimenopausal. It all down to what you eat - nothing to do with the menopause itself.

I agree and yet disagree too

I completely agree that it’s down to what you eat, but I think menopause brings with it some significant challenges in relation to emotional and stress eating, to hunger drives, to fat storage and quite honestly to “why on Earth am I bothering at my age”

Perimemopausal and menopausal symptoms can include insomnia, fatigue and depression (among about 30-40 other symptoms...seriously why is this all such a surprise, where was the education and public knowledge). These symptoms can affect ones ability to simply move more as well as ones motivation or commitment

AnnPT77

Ostrich218 wrote: »

Pipsqueak1965 wrote: »

I am 54 and actually lost about 5 kilos while perimenopausal. It all down to what you eat - nothing to do with the menopause itself.

I agree and yet disagree too

I completely agree that it’s down to what you eat, but I think menopause brings with it some significant challenges in relation to emotional and stress eating, to hunger drives, to fat storage and quite honestly to “why on Earth am I bothering at my age”

Perimemopausal and menopausal symptoms can include insomnia, fatigue and depression (among about 30-40 other symptoms...seriously why is this all such a surprise, where was the education and public knowledge). These symptoms can affect ones ability to simply move more as well as ones motivation or commitment

The double-edged sword here is that these potential changes can either lead a determined woman to seek treatment (medication, nutrition, therapy, exercise, etc. - a productive response) or to give up "because menopause" (not productive). (I'm not ignoring here the fact that things like fatigue/depression limit ability to take proactive steps, but there's only so nuanced one can be in a sub-book-length post.)

It's a biased sample, but in my immediate social circle (i.e. people I know pretty well), I think it's more common for women to be treating menopause as a convenient rationale, as opposed to being truly too fatigued, depressed, or otherwise challenged to act. (And yes, I am post-menopausal: Age 63, immediate hard-stop into menopause at age 44 due to chemotherapy for breast cancer, onto which anti-estrogen hormonal therapies were added, something that can result in more extreme menopausal symptoms. Admittedly, I don't really know whether I'd had extreme immediate menopausal symptoms, as they were lost in the chemotherapy side effects for 6 months or so. After that, nearly any form of feeling better and being alive was A-OK with me).

I truly believe it's the case that the overwhelming majority of women can lose weight and get fitter during and after menopause. It may require some other interventions first, if the emotional or physical consequences of menopause itself are too extreme. It won't always be easy . . . but it isn't always easy for people who aren't menopausal either, and they equally can have complicating health or psychological factors.

P.S. I don't intend to be arguing with the post to which I'm responding; I'm simply reacting to a conversation in which it's the immediate context.

Ostrich218

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Ostrich218 wrote: »

Pipsqueak1965 wrote: »

I am 54 and actually lost about 5 kilos while perimenopausal. It all down to what you eat - nothing to do with the menopause itself.

I agree and yet disagree too

I completely agree that it’s down to what you eat, but I think menopause brings with it some significant challenges in relation to emotional and stress eating, to hunger drives, to fat storage and quite honestly to “why on Earth am I bothering at my age”

Perimemopausal and menopausal symptoms can include insomnia, fatigue and depression (among about 30-40 other symptoms...seriously why is this all such a surprise, where was the education and public knowledge). These symptoms can affect ones ability to simply move more as well as ones motivation or commitment

The double-edged sword here is that these potential changes can either lead a determined woman to seek treatment (medication, nutrition, therapy, exercise, etc. - a productive response) or to give up "because menopause" (not productive). (I'm not ignoring here the fact that things like fatigue/depression limit ability to take proactive steps, but there's only so nuanced one can be in a sub-book-length post.)

It's a biased sample, but in my immediate social circle (i.e. people I know pretty well), I think it's more common for women to be treating menopause as a convenient rationale, as opposed to being truly too fatigued, depressed, or otherwise challenged to act. (And yes, I am post-menopausal: Age 63, immediate hard-stop into menopause at age 44 due to chemotherapy for breast cancer, onto which anti-estrogen hormonal therapies were added, something that can result in more extreme menopausal symptoms. Admittedly, I don't really know whether I'd had extreme immediate menopausal symptoms, as they were lost in the chemotherapy side effects for 6 months or so. After that, nearly any form of feeling better and being alive was A-OK with me).

I truly believe it's the case that the overwhelming majority of women can lose weight and get fitter during and after menopause. It may require some other interventions first, if the emotional or physical consequences of menopause itself are too extreme. It won't always be easy . . . but it isn't always easy for people who aren't menopausal either, and they equally can have complicating health or psychological factors.

P.S. I don't intend to be arguing with the post to which I'm responding; I'm simply reacting to a conversation in which it's the immediate context.

Hi

I’m surprised you feel like anyone would imagine you’re arguing with my post, rather your post was considered, well structured, interesting and added relevant information to move the discussion on. Thank you

Personally I’ve been prone to injury, suffering from ridiculous insomnia (awake at 2.30/3am) and muscular fatigue which has resulted in my lifts (I lift weights for fun but am not a powerlifter) dropping significantly and my cardio fitness taking a nose dive. I make no excuses for my weight gain, I’ve put on weight cos I eat too much, (not because of hormones) totally on me

It’s just I don’t currently recognise myself or my ability to say well f it (that’s new and annoying)

TrishSeren

I quit the birth control pill in March and I am still dealing with the hormonal fall out from it!