Menopausal weight

KeleshiaJ

Hello everyone!! New to the discussion group. My goal is to become a healthier version of me. I’m fairly active however, menopausal weight is so stubborn. Im open to any tips and advice. Thanks.

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

There's a lot of marketing hype around menopause lately - people trying to sell us their diet, exercise program, supplements, etc. - but I'm a little skeptical that menopause is all that special. (Yes, I'm menopausal. I lost around 50 pounds, obese to healthy weight, in menopause.)

There's reasonable evidence that the hormone changes with menopause can change where fat likes to live on our bodies, and some side effects of menopause (like sleep issues) can make weight loss somewhat more challenging. But the basics still apply.

A few other common issues is that we tend to be gradually and subtly less physically active as we age, and to lose muscle mass if we haven't consistently done things to keep that muscle.

I'm for sure less active at 69 than I was at 20: Less physical job, more door-to-door transportation vs. walking/biking, fewer DIY projects at home, less physical social life and hobbies, and more. That adds up. Most of us burn more calories doing daily life stuff than we do in exercise, even if we do a fair amount of exercise. Those subtle changes in daily life habits can add up to hundreds of calories difference from 20s to 40s-50s-60s and beyond.

Losing muscle mass is also common. Muscle does burn a truly tiny number of calories more than body fat, even at rest. The bigger deal, though, I think is that being stronger and fitter makes it more easy and fun to move, so we do more of it. Less fit, we do less, burn fewer calories through movement, lose even more muscle because of less movement, and create a negative spiral.

On top of that, many women by menopause time have yo-yo dieted multiple times. Our bodies get good at what we train them to do by repetition, and our bodies can't tell extreme diets from famine, so they learn to limp along on fewer calories very gradually with each repetition. There are scientific details behind that, and common dieting strategies make it worse (ultra low calories = more muscle loss; eating mostly salads/veggies and not enough protein = more muscle loss; intense cardio with minimal strength challenge = possible muscle loss; regain with minimal exercise and still inadequate protein = mostly fat regained).

So, what to do? Even most of the "for menopause" marketers - at least the non-scammy ones - suggest eating mostly nutrient dense foods including adequate protein, getting manageable strength exercise in addition to cardiovascular exercise, consciously increasing daily life movement (that "park further from the door, take the stairs" stuff), and not doing extreme, unsustainable things.

Guess what? That works. It doesn't even all have to happen at once, like some instant lifestyle revolution. Gradually improving our eating and activity habits adds up to surprisingly good results over time, in my experience . . . and is much easier to accomplish than some restrictive diet plus miserable exercise kind of approach.

Personally, I don't think there's much point in blaming menopause. We can't change it. It's here, and staying. Some women see improvements by taking hormone replacement therapy. I can't do that because of my cancer history. I lost weight anyway, pretty much by gradually remodeling my routine eating habits, making it a point to get exercise appropriate to my fitness level and development needs, plus trying to consciously move more in daily life. I've stayed at a healthy weight for nearly 10 years since, the same way.

That's pretty much all the advice I've got, and I know it's pretty boring - not the lastest trendy menopause diet or weight loss hacks. But quite a few people here have succeeded by doing manageable, boring things like that, and sticking with it long enough to see results. It's pretty achievable.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: If your experience is like mine, the quality of life improvement is more than worth the effort it takes.

Best wishes!