Perfect storm (?) of factors leads to weight gain-- help!

rungurl3

Augh! I have been in maintenance mode for years now, with no problem. Then in May of this year, things started changing. First. I was out of work for awhile (without daily access to my onsite fitness center, although I ran every day until I started working again). I have felt some stress (although mostly good stress, but you know, a new job is stressful. And office goodies have been kind of the social cachet and personal comfort food at my new job). Then my eldest son graduated from high school (and I would snatch bits from the leftover grad cake for awhile-- cake love plus loss of my first son). Then said eldest joined the Air Force, and graduated from Basic Training. So my hub and I went to Texas to see his graduation and vacation. I thought I was eating healthy and walking A LOT around base and such, but... Oh yeah, and around this time I also started some perio-menopause...

Since may of this year I have gained (eek-- 11 pounds)! Blammo! I am 5'6 and went from 119 to 130 lbs. I am solid, have no jiggly fat, but I am not stick-straight size 2-3 anymore. Now I have a bit more booty and wear size 4-5.

I DON'T want to go over 130 lbs. In fact I'd like to call 125 home. I think that's a good compromse between stick-thin and what I don't want to weigh. I'm tracking, running or working out at least 2 -3 times/week, sometimes more. I will get there. But I am looking for suggestions, support and maybe some insight into what the heck happened!!

Thanks in advance!

gothchiq

But you just told us what happened. You have been snacking on fattening things. Knock off the office goodies, cake, etc and that's probably all you'll need to do.

rungurl3

I think I omitted-- I used to be able to shake off an occasional indulgence-- but now it's sticking. Either I am indulging more than I think or I am comfort-eating. Must get ahold of this!

Anonycatgirl

You know what to do. You've done it before and you can do it again. Start tracking again, set your calories to lose half a pound a week or less if you want to try to lose those few pounds, or figure out your new maintenance and be careful to average to at or just below it. Keep exercising.

rungurl3

Yeah... just cuz that big delicious cookie is there doesn't mean I have to eat it! Augh!

JCM1969

Oh I feel your pain.... Im officially out of denial and back on track after gaining 8 pounds on "maintenance". I still exercised... sorta watched what I ate... but....
injuries made my workouts less strenuous than I would like
perimenopause sucks
ate WAY out of control when I wasnt logging
"sigh"
We can do this...

astrampe

Peri menopause will do that...the inability to shake off a bit of vacation gain I mean... Eat as clean as possible, drop long cardio sessions in favour of HIIT and lift weights....It sucks, but welcome to the never ending struggle! ;-)

SueInAz

More than likely it's just the extra calories you've been eating but it's also possible that your metabolism may have slowed down a bit. As we get older that definitely starts to happen. It gets harder and harder to lose weight. Watch your calories, keep up the exercise and if you haven't, definitely add in some strength training. Building more muscle will help your metabolism, now and in the future.

rungurl3

Thanks, all! What is HIIT? And can someone explain how periomenopause factors in-- is it the fluctuating hormones? I have noticed my breasts are tender and they look fuller. Plus the changes I've seen have been in the booty area-- no longer straight and flat but a bit curvy-- and the size 2 low-rises don't want to fit. It's like puberty all over again!

P.S. I chose a black been burger on whole wheat with a huge leaf of lettuce and a mater for lunch. And I stopped eating as soon as I was full. Gettin' back to it!

Snip8241

Go back to your basics...you know what they are. Peri menopause and menopause can make it harder. You can do it!

MinnieInMaine

Above all else, be sure to have some patience. I had the same kind of experience this year where all the little indulgences from vacation and family visits and such seemed to be adding up more than usual and before I knew it, I was up 10 pounds! And I though it would come off quickly like some of it must've just been water weight, right? Nope - took me 3 weeks to finally see a loss.

If you're not doing any kind of strength training, I'd encourage you to start as soon as possible. This will help you to retain your muscle mass and keep your metabolism higher. This will also help with bone health which is essential for you now because with peri/menopause your bones will slowly become weaker (osteoporosis)

And yes, with perimenopause, your hormone cycle is going to be less regular so that may cause more fluctuations than you've seen in the past - again, patience. Maybe take body measurements and go by that and how your clothes are fitting more than what the scale says.

kdiamond

First of all, unless I clicked on your profile, I would have never guessed you were 50. You look great!

Secondly, I'm guessing 50 has something to do with the fact that some weight is sticking and isn't as easy to get off as it used to be.

As someone else noted, you're gonna have to lay off the office snacks, and while stress does tend to either keep weight on or take weight off (for me its the opposite of you) you can counteract that with good quality exercise.

As others suggested, weight training will be your friend. Especially as we get older, our muscles take a direct hit. While I would say the 2-3 times a week of running is great, add in another 2-3 days of weight lifting. Building muscle is the BEST thing you can do to counteract time!

SimaN2014

Here's the math... I'm assuming a pound of that is water weight, just 'cuz. That's a 35,000 calorie surplus over 5 months, or 233 cal per day over what your body is needed (that's assuming you have gained fat,of course, or we wouldn't be having this worry, right :-) It's not a huge amount of surplus. A couple pieces of chocolate a day, a little too much oatmeal or pasta, the occasional extra piece of cake and you are right there... But the converse is true.... if you eat just a little less now... a couple hundred calories deficit for a while, then by the new year, you should be back to the old you or as close as you want to be. As others have said, adding strength training in to your routine can never hurt either.

rungurl3

Good stuff, all. Mostly the weight gain was due to the math, as noted above, and a change to how often I was working out and the type of workouts I was doing. I'm adjusting and am down a few pounds. I'm 5'6 and was 119 last year, then went to 129 this year. Now I'm looking at around 126 - 127. That feels right for me.

lavaughan69

I feel for you, I'm currently on the slippery slope. I've been at goal for nearly a year and now I'm up 5lbs. It's because I stopped logging/measuring/reading the forum. Time to get back on track! No more guessing. I have a vacation planned for the end of December so I have to get rid of these extra pounds!!