Menopause

jenndaniel1979

Hey there my name is Jennifer and I’m just restarting my weight loss journey again. Does anyone have any weight loss tips for going through menopause? I’m struggling to lose weight.

cmriverside

I lost 80 pounds post menopause, 18 years ago. I'm still at my healthy weight (up five pounds right now due to an injury)

My advice? Log all your food and study your FOOD page to learn from it. Make the changes that you can with your food and get some moderate exercise. It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing with food - it does have to be some kind of a routine with which I achieve my goal and am relatively content.

jenndaniel1979

thank you for commenting

springlering62

same here. I lost ten or twelve sizes, post menopause.

No one had ever told me it was “more difficult” to lose weight, post menopause. I just thought it was hard to lose weight, period.

Turns out it wasn’t. It was just a matter of logging everything I ate, having that light bulb moment of “good lord, no wonder I’m gaining weight”, slowing down because of both reluctant retirement and no kids at home to chase after, and utter lack of exercise.

Once I started paying real attention and monitoring, it was honestly like the weight poured off. My body was so relieved to have me take care of it for a change.

After losing a bit, I felt better and began to have the energy to move more, which meant I lost more, and moved even more.

It’s not the losing that’s hard at all. It’s the getting started and sticking to it.

I see it time and time again here. People get off to jackrabbit starts, can’t cope, binge, cut harder, binge even harder, and they’re gone in a few days or weeks. “The plan doesn’t work for me” is the complaint. No, you didn’t listen and you didn’t work for the plan.

Don’t buy in to quick weight loss and fads. Slow, steady, without ridonculous goals.

Mindfulness is the key.

AnnPT77

Great advice above!

I'm another who lost weight in menopause. I have a maybe-weird perspective on menopause, though. Also, it worries me that so many skeezy marketers are now using "my program/supplement/book can solve menopause weight loss!" as a hook to reel women in. They can make us think we're doomed, unless we pay big dollars for what they're selling. We're not doomed.

It's true that many women experience side effects from menopause that potentially complicate weight loss: Water retention weirdness may become more likely to mask fat loss on the scale, fatigue can bleed calorie burn out of our day because we drag through it, sleep issues may make fatigue worse, hot flashes can be more disruptive than others would imagine, etc. Everyone differs in the nature and severity of those side effects. Some of the side effects can be countered, medically, dietarily, behaviorally. Some we may just have to ride out.

Still, weight loss comes down to the same old thing, at its foundation, whether in menopause or not: Getting calorie intake a manageable amount below calorie expenditure for a long enough time period to lose the weight we want to lose. Maybe in menopause or peri, our calorie needs will be lower than before, but that's not universal either.

I'd strongly encourage you not to focus on menopause as such as the issue, though. Why? Because it's unchangeable. At some point, it's here, nonnegotiably. Some women find relief of some of its effects via HRT, which you may discuss with your doctor if you want to explore that. (I can't do HRT because of my history of estrogen-fed cancer.) If the symptoms or side effects are issues for an individual woman, then sure, work on improving those symptomatically.

I feel like the only reason to focus on any roadblock is to figure out ways to get over, around, through or otherwise past it. Focusing on completely unchangeable things is a waste of time and energy. Just my opinion.

In general, in menopause, maybe some of the actually-important things we've been able to skate by on in the past will be more of a problem now. I'm talking nutrition (everything, but maybe especially adequate protein), sleep, exercise (especially strength exercise), daily life activity. As we age, our lifestyles tend to change in ways that reduce activity, exercise and daily life stuff. Changing that can be surprisingly helpful, in calorie terms. If fatigue is limiting activity, maybe look at sleep quality/quantity first and improve that if possible. Another option is starting a very gradual exercise increase, because some people find that very manageable, moderate exercise - like even a daily walk, if not active already - improves fatigue.

Weight loss in menopause is a thing you can accomplish. You may just need to be a little more wily with tactics than used to be necessary. The candidate tactics are still the same: Calories, nutrition, exercise, daily life activity.

I'd say, focus on the things that are in your control, including mindset, which can be hugely important. Menopause is inevitable. But weight gain isn't.

Best wishes!

csplatt

my standard response is to buy and use a digital food scale. i weigh my bananas, cheese, peanut butter, raw sweet potato before i cook it etc etc

ddsb1111

Does anyone have any weight loss tips for going through menopause?

You lose weight the same way as before, by creating a calorie deficit. Track everything accurately, using a scale helps as mentioned, and focus on the overall trend, since weight loss isn’t linear. Losing between 0.5 to 2 pounds per week is ideal, depending on how much you have to lose. The goal is to feel satiated and healthy while losing weight, not to suffer so much that you end up quitting.

age_is_just_a_number

In this related thread, I included some links to resources I found this year.
There are many opinions. One common theme is that everyone is different and everyone needs to figure out what works for you.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10930901/setting-calorie-goal-weight-loss-post-menopause

geltner1

Analyze your exercise routine and see if you can add more exercise time doing the things that you enjoy. Walking is a wonderful base. Add resistance training and other exercises for variety. It's so good for you in a variety of ways. Good luck.

floppybackend

Read Next Level by Stacy Simms and watch her youtube stuff. So much interesting stuff and scientific results that women dont respond the same as men.

springlering62

totally sidetracked by the user name @floppybackend

😂😂😂😂😂

tmbg1

For me exercise is essential. Pre-meno I could lose weight by just eating less but now I have to exercise every day and even then, it's much slower. I found a podcast called The Happy Menopause which gives good tips for overall wellness during this time of life. Menopause kind of sucks, but I'm learning to work with my new body and embrace some of the changes.

LizbethHeller

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10942040/menopause

We should talk! I just went through it a few years ago and fell susceptible to the gimmicky diet fad. The story is way too long to post here, suffice it to say that you don't need any of that garbage, not that you seem likely to. The pp was right. Join a gym or community center with a bunch of people at your own stage of life. We're all in the same boat, we ought to enjoy the cruise!

LiveOnceBeHappy

It's the same at 60 as at 30. Find your TDEE and make sure you are eating fewer calories than you expend in a day. I count my calories by weighing all of my food and planning my meals. You can exercise too if you like, but almost all weight loss will occur from your food choices.

springlering62

I read a neat article yesterday discussing how some aspects health can actually improve as we age, including after menopause.

Need more of that.

Enough negativity in the media.

cmriverside

My life crushing migraines stopped after menopause. So did the fear of pregnancy.

To be fair, unless it was Immaculate Conception Part II…