Perimenopausal and Weight Gain/Loss

Exactly this for me too! Irregular periods, some night symptoms err all rather annoying. Last year my weight shot up 6kg in a very short period of time for no apparent reason. Had my thyroid checked but all ok so what to do? Suffered from really bad leg cramps that had my waking up screaming.

Started MFP in September in around 1600 a day and lost 20 pounds xmas but then stalled. Trying to doing weight training 2-3 times a week and slowly losing inches but the scales are hovering around 100-102 kg and wont budge! did the whole TDEE thing and upped to 1700 . slowly, very slowly starting to lose again! it is hard but i am convinced it is possible. i slip up frequently and drink too much wine which doesnt help!

Good luck with it all but be careful not to go too low on cals because if you stall you have nowhere to go! Look at weight training as well as cardio. Friend me if you like but be aware that I am trying to eat at a higher cal level and don't exercise as much as I should!

I would just like to say that Scorpio T is one of my role models!

I log my weight most days in my food notes section but only publish losses. It is taking a long time but I do feel so much better. I am very lucky in having some motivating friends on here that don't criticise me too much when I fall but pick me up and help me to get on with it...... this is the longest I have ever stuck with diet wise and I know it will take ages but I am determined to get there. Exercising does help with the menopausal symptoms, I just wish the scales would move! Oh well.... good luck everyone

I would just like to say that Scorpio T is one of my role models!

THANKS BABE!:flowerforyou: :blushing:

I just found your post when searching "perimenopause." I'm 49, having similar problems as you and suspect that's what it is as well. I've never had such a hard time shaping up, especially with all the exercise I'm doing and how well I generally eat. My periods are still more or less on time but I think that's because I take birth control pills, which have a regulating effect. I'm going to stop them after my current batch is finished to see if my periods get more wacky, and I'm hoping it also helps with my stubborn weight loss (or lack thereof) problem. I joined MFP only a week ago I'd like to add you as a friend if that's okay. Since we're in the same perimenopause boat, maybe we can help each other out. :-)

Welcome, sister. The more the merrier :drinker:

52, been suffering through this perimenopausal BS for three years or so and counting.

The horrible news first: the weight gain, alas, is NOT water retention. It's all too real, I'm afraid. Basically it's to do with the body cutting down on estrogen production and, to make up for that, it tries to store the remaining estrogen in a nice, safe place. Yes, you've guessed it! That would be fat on the hips and stomach. Gee, thanks!

Basically that's why it's so dang hard to lose weight all of a sudden--the body fights to hang on to every available fat cell. Plus, the lower estrogen levels also allow all kinds of preexisting nastinesses to crawl out from under their rocks. For instance, a surprisingly high number of women will become hypothyroid or (in my case) discover that they've been hypothyroid for decades. Estrogen will mask a multitude of symptoms. Once it's gone, you're on your own. :grumble:

Unfortunately, knowing all this doesn't help. Much. For me it's particularly bitter, because just before all this rubbish started I'd lost 70-odd lbs and for the first time in my life really was where I wanted to be weight wise. About a year later the creeping menopausal gain started, and I've been fighting it ever since. With exercise and a predominantly clean diet I've managed not to balloon out of all proportion, but it's a constant battle (made worse now because, thanks to a serious foot injury, I can no longer run the way I used to).

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that it's supposed to get easier again once you tumble out the other end... which, according to my family practitioner, may well be another ten years in the future :noway:

Me too. But actually, there is only one year that is called 'menopause'. That is the 12 months after your last period. There are usually no symptoms during that year or after. All the ugly symptoms are during the perimenopause years. They come in stages, just to make things more fun.

I'm 45 and can't wait for this to end. I've had 6 years so far of insane and whacked out periods. The hot flashes come and go, I'll get several for a few weeks and then none for a while. The bladder issues are a huge cosmic joke. The forgetfulness and irritability and irrational thinking is awful. But the weight gain was way out of control. I gained 30 pounds in 6 years. Being on here has actually been amazingly helpful.

I just can't wait for this to be over. I wish my ovaries had an off-switch.

You are sort of right but then again, sort of not. You can declare that you are in Menopause once you have had a full year of no periods or if you didn't get periods like me due to surgery, your doctor does blood work that lets you know that your ovaries are no longer producing eggs. So you are right in that regard. However, as to the hot flashes stopping once you are past menopause, someone forgot to tell my body. I am well over a year past mine and I am still getting hot flashes and night sweats. The upside is that I hear that the average for this 5 years and I am holding my body to that. It will be 5 years in November.

Back to the original poster, I have been in my weight loss journey during both perimenopause and menopause so it can be done. It is slow going but it is happening. I count calories and do a lot of walking with a couple of classes of Pilates a week. Good luck!

Me too. But actually, there is only one year that is called 'menopause'. That is the 12 months after your last period. There are usually no symptoms during that year or after. All the ugly symptoms are during the perimenopause years. They come in stages, just to make things more fun.

I'm 45 and can't wait for this to end. I've had 6 years so far of insane and whacked out periods. The hot flashes come and go, I'll get several for a few weeks and then none for a while. The bladder issues are a huge cosmic joke. The forgetfulness and irritability and irrational thinking is awful. But the weight gain was way out of control. I gained 30 pounds in 6 years. Being on here has actually been amazingly helpful.

I just can't wait for this to be over. I wish my ovaries had an off-switch.

You give me hope! I am 51, and have been peri for a couple of years now. However, if menopause is the 12 months, I will reach that mark in October. Maybe then I can sleep without burning up. It would be nice if I could lose some weight a little easier too.

I know people who have hysterectomies suffer for years with menopausal symptoms. I find that embarrassment or upset will trigger a hot flash.

NJL13500, I really hope that it is something simple for you. 43 is young for perimenopause, but everyone is different. Good luck!

I'm 42 and also in perimenopause. I started my period pretty late (15) and it is typical to start menopause early in that case.

I haven't really noticed an affect on my weight - but that may be because I started this weight loss journey about the same time I started seeing the symptoms of perimenopause so I have no baseline to compare to...

OP - I would suggest you drink lots of water every day - the warmer the weather, the more you should drink. Staying appropriately hydrated will help the weight fluctuations caused by water retention. Also, stay active - that helps the symptoms according to my mom, an RN.

NJL13500, I really hope that it is something simple for you. 43 is young for perimenopause, but everyone is different. Good luck!

43 is actually pretty normal. The majority of women begin perimenopause anywhere between 45 and 55, but the 'normal' range goes from 35-65.

And why doesn't anyone teach us about all of this? We are prepped and prepped and have every tiny detail explained to us about starting our first periods. But the only info we get about ending them, are the jokes on sit coms. Most of us end up floundering through the experience for a few years before finally figuring out what is going on. My own mom had barely even heard of it when she started at age 38, and only knew that it was something that happens to women in their 60s (even though we later found out that her mother was also in her late 30s when she started. She finally went to the doctor thinking she had cancer or something. Why aren't we taught about this part of our lives?

NJL13500, I really hope that it is something simple for you. 43 is young for perimenopause, but everyone is different. Good luck!

43 is actually pretty normal. The majority of women begin perimenopause anywhere between 45 and 55, but the 'normal' range goes from 35-65.

And why doesn't anyone teach us about all of this? We are prepped and prepped and have every tiny detail explained to us about starting our first periods. But the only info we get about ending them, are the jokes on sit coms. Most of us end up floundering through the experience for a few years before finally figuring out what is going on. My own mom had barely even heard of it when she started at age 38, and only knew that it was something that happens to women in their 60s (even though we later found out that her mother was also in her late 30s when she started. She finally went to the doctor thinking she had cancer or something. Why aren't we taught about this part of our lives?

You are right on with this. A lot of women have no idea that perimenopause can actually start in a woman's mid to late 30's, and that full menopause is normal anytime after 40.

*waves hello* Newbie here and just figured out how to search. I entered perimenopause at 39 and at 45 am dealing with the whole gamut of issues. Ob/gyn put me on Yaz to try to regulate my out-of-control periods, and when at age 44 I started getting menstrual migraines like clockwork during the "dummy pill" days, I am now taking it continually.

This does not thrill me, but I cannot function when I'm blacking out and vomiting, so what do you do? I have to work and cannot stay home in bed one week each month.

I just had my thyroid checked, and it is normal, so I'm hoping the Eat More To Weigh Less approach will work for me since I have gained 25 pounds since beginning this lovely change of life and would love to fit back into my clothes again.

Hi, I am in the same boat. I am 48 and had my first hot flash at age 43. I was sitting at a local craft show and after getting home, thought I had gotten a sunburn, turns out it was my first hot flash. I get them facially. They feel just like a sunburn.

I don't get night sweats, but I do get hot at night. It's hard because my son Charlie has autism and can't stand to hear night breathing and snoring, so I have to keep the door shut to the bedroom and my husband is a furnace at night. So I don't sleep well.

I am STILL getting zits, which bugs me. I had my last period in the middle of May and started having period symptoms in mid-June, but it hasn't kicked over so far. I have had fluid retention and cramps, so I take a midol and that helps. I eat watermelon sometimes, too. It's a natural diuretic.

I was on hormone therapy for it back when I was 44, but I won't take it anymore. It made me sort of insane.
:noway: :noway: :bigsmile::noway: :noway: Not good.

I don't know when I am going to go into full menopause. My mom had a hysterectomy, so I have no idea when she would have hit it and my sisters have each already gone through the gate. One is 52 and the other is 56. It's a waiting game, I guess. I'd just like to know when I could take the period gear out of my purse.

I feel for you. I can't take HRT because my mom had breast cancer and I had tumors removed myself (pre-cancerous). My ob/gyn has me on continual Yaz to deal with my crazy periods and the migraines I started getting. I've gained 25 pounds in the last 5 years and cannot get it to budge, even though I was not overweight before and have always exercised regularly. I am trying the TDEE - 20% approach and hope to start seeing some results since nothing I was doing was working.