Menopause struggle

cloriann7923

Hi! Introducing myself here.

I used to be fit and athletic, but with menopause weight gain came among. To make things more challenging, exercise wasn’t always easy after two consecutive concussions.

Now, I am retired, so I have more time to track what I eat and work and hopefully workout. I need motivation to stay away from sugar, pastries and to make it to the gym. Hoping to lose between 7-15 lbs.

mattWilson2534

I hope you're able to find the motivation you need to lose the 7-15lbs you are hoping to lose :)

AnnPT77

Hello and welcome!

With so little weight to lose, the most health-promoting route is to lose it slowly, like half a pound a week. The good news is, going slowly makes losing it easier. The bad news is, the downward weight trend takes longer to be obvious on the bodyweight scale. But that time's going to pass anyway, right?

There is some limited research suggesting that strength training is especially helpful for menopausal women, not to mention an eating routine with ample protein. As we age, it becomes more important to spread protein through the day, too, rather than concentrating it in a more limited number of meals, because we metabolize it less efficiently.

Seems like many of the skeezy marketers' much-touted "weight loss for menopausal women" programs boil down to mostly that: Strength training and protein. 😆 I don't think we need to pay them in order to know that. 😉

This doesn't work for everyone, but for me making it a point to eat several servings of whole fruit daily significantly reduced my cravings for more calorie-dense sweets like baked goods and candy. I've seen other people here say the more-fruit thing helped them, too, so it's not just me. It took a while for the effect to kick in - maybe a month? don't recall - so willpower was involved at the start, but not so much later.

If the cravings for sugary things tend to happen more in the evening, sleep quality/quantity can also be a factor. As we get more distant from our last sleep, fatigue accumulates. Fatigue triggers the body to seek energy; sugar is quick energy . . . voila, cravings.

Someone here once called the weight management process a series of problem-solving opportunities. That's not wrong.

Context: I'm an MFP long-timer, lost from class 1 obese to a healthy weight back in 2015-16 starting at age 59, of course menopausal, and athletically active. I'm now 69, still maintaining a healthy weight, still active.

I'm confident that you can lose those few pounds and probably gain some other quality of life benefits by being more active and improving eating patterns, if you commit and keep chipping away in a positive direction. It needn't be some miserable, punitively intense forced march, either. Small positive changes add up.

Best wishes!