Any Menopause weight loss success stories?

Bump for success stories

I keep walking although I haven't been very good with that the last couple of weeks due to work being nuts (I am retired but doing a long term occasional). I normally walk for an hour and half a day and longer on the weekends. I eat 1500 calories a day and I have been losing a half pound a week. I have been in menopause for a year plus. Not sure exactly when because I had a partial hysterectomy 2 years ago. My blood work showed I was in full menopause a year ago.

In terms of food, I have cut out juice and milk and I try to stay away from chocolate. Otherwise, I eat just about anything (we eat pretty healthily) and keep my portions down so that I stick with my 1500 cals per day. I don't eat my exercise calories back. I have 7 or 8 pounds to go to reach my goal weight and will have lost 55 pounds by then. In May, it will be 4 years that I started losing weight so the journey has been slow but I am getting there nevertheless.

I hope this helps.

I had success post-menopause by cutting out most processed foods, keeping my carbs fairly low and walking everday. I've now added some strength training as well.

Good luck to you in your journey.

I am 60 years old. The last four years have been the worst for weight gain and it has come on around my middle. I gained 40 pounds over four years. I started MFP in earnest the beginning of Jan. and have lost the first few initial pounds but I haven't been at it long enough to offer much wisdom. What I have experience with is being post menopausal.

I do know that I will not be successful if I am hungry, so I do eat my calories and I use my treadmill 6 days a week. I accept my weight will be slow. At least I don't have to worry about whether I would date the person above or whether I can meet a bikini challenge!

bump to save

I'm 55 now. [Edit: and about 3 years or so post menopausal.] I started in January before I turned 50 in April at my top weight of 205 pounds (before menopause). Hypothyroid since age 19. Sit behind a desk at home all day. Mainly walking with some strength training now and then.

My last straws were being sick and tired of not being able to put my pants on while standing, starting to have difficulty with "short arms" in the bathroom, and getting out of breath while trying to walk fast or on a slight uphill grade.

I started with a mission statement to never give up. EVER. I started with some soul searching and making a list of what I would and would not do. I would walk. I would not join a gym. I would do exercise videos at home. I would ride my bike. I won't do any crazy diet. I would not do a high protein diet, a low carb diet, or take any "products". I would eat real food and make healthy lifestyle changes once and for all. I would do a diet I could sustain for the rest of my life so I don't have to "learn" anything new about how to eat and keep the weight off again. I know what healthy food is and I knew I was eating too much crap so I weaned myself off of all remaining junk food in the house and told myself when it is gone, it is gone.

I started drinking water. Started walking 30 minutes a day. I am too old for crazy exercise and don't want to get hurt. Got the Dr. Oz book: You on a Diet and followed his advice to the letter: get rid of all junk food, food containing sugar, food containing refined grains. Eat only whole grains, veggies, fruits, nuts, and fish and poultry. Cut way back on saturated fats. I lost 53 pounds eating like this in maybe 9 months. My weight loss for the big picture was 1.1 pounds a week over time. I journaled every thing I ate. I learned a lot about MY body and how MY BODY processes food and which foods cause ME to gain and which foods help ME to lose and how many calories I could eat to get away with. I also learned that hunger would not kill me. I hadn't been hungry in years. Now I felt hungry a lot and ti didn't kill me. I made sensible snacks of 3 figs, 6 Triscuits, or 12 almonds and it really did help. It took time for the snacks to register but when they did I was fine. I stopped eating mindlessly out of the bag or box.

I did some backsliding for 2 - 3 years and gained 20 pounds. I got serious again. I joined MFP, www.fatloser.com for motivational help and while I continued to lose slowly, I never gave up. I always look for new information for what will help me. My current diet is about 80% Vegan with ETL. I've learned a new healthier philosophy that works for me. My joint pain is gone, I am NEVER hungry and I get to eat unlimited delicious produce. I still fight with sugar and sweets, but I no longer stop at gas stations to get peanut butter cups when I buy gas, I never feel like eating a big meat dinner out because I feel so much better and more awake eating a plant strong diet. I find when I do have a piece of cake or cookies over the holidays i dont feel so good and the cravings come roaring back. Currently fighting off the last of the 8 pounds I gained over the holidays because I began eating "normally" again. I know what works for me and my hat is off to those who just eat smaller amounts of pizza and cookies, and hamburgers. That philosophy will only lead me down the garden path to 205 pounds again and a size 16. Currently I am a size 4. For the first time in my adult life I am below a size 12. I am at Jr. High size for me and I feel great! I don't want to be fat again. I was so self conscious and felt like I was hiding from life. Now I am in the front row for pictures. Let everyone else stand in the back row and hide!

Geez Susan! That's a success story if I ever heard/read one. Thanks for sharing.

I'm 51 and completely through menopause (I hope). I never really went through it, with the exception of a brief period of occasional night sweats.

I lost 72 pounds three years ago, put some back on when I stopped watching portion size and started indulging too often in bagged junk food and pasta. I had given up sugars probably five years before that, which is the only thing that stopped me from regressing really badly.

I'm now back to my low weight with probably 20 pounds left to lose, but so far I haven't noticed anything to make me think my ability to lose weight has diminished. I do not regularly eat pasta, breads, rice or grain. I eat mainly vegetables and fruits, almond milk, seafood, chicken, very similar to Susan above. My "splurge" is sushi and it's always with brown rice (which I love).

Come to think of it, in my younger days, I probably could have lost weight consistently while still eating the starchy carbs, so that may be one thing that has changed. I will eat some great bread or have a pasta dish when I go out to eat (at least once a week), but ordinarily if it's pasta, I'll split the dish in half and have the remainder for lunch the next day. If the portion is ridiculously small, I'll finish it though. Bread and olive oil though is usually something I'll eat until it's gone, so I know the next day any victory will have to be a NS one.

Just in reading these kinds of threads, participating in my age group threads, I'd have to say cutting out those starchy carbs, junk foods, and sugar, on a regular basis, is probably something that most women our age will benefit from weight-wise. I have upped my protein, and really, really try to be sure to make my calcium and iron requirements. I have no problem with Vitamin C and A though, given all the leafy greens and fruits I eat.

I'm not on a diet though; I have made this my permanent eating plan as of probably a year ago. Also, strength training is as high up there as eating properly. Cardio, for me, is secondary in importance, although I do it more.

There is something stressful about "going on a diet." It seems to be the number one thing on our mind when we do this. I opted to not do the diet and really look long and hard at the best lifestyle change eating plan I could do. I also opted to look at what I wanted to do for peace and happiness, so I found something I'm very good at (painting) and joined a studio, and made hiking a regular part of my life. Dieting is too stressful and consuming for me. I had to change my lifestyle, which meant changing my nutritional habits and doing things that were rewarding for me, personally (in addition to taking care of my beautiful wonderful teenager). It was actually a monumental self-improvement analysis I did, and for me, this has worked.

An interesting side note from my gyn:

I stopped having hot flashes and then they came back while losing weight again. I told my doc and she told me that the fat cells hold estrogen so when I lose weight (fat) the estrogen is released into my bloodstream creating a hot flash. I still get them off and on. Not a fan of HRT for health concern reasons.

Just call me the official thread ender!