Perimenopause
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djmom1984
Posts: 55 Member
Two years ago, I weighed 145. I exercised daily on a treadmill and worked full time. My periods were regular at 50.
Now, I weigh 174 and can't tread due to a very bad sprained ankle. I am retired, so spend more time gardening and sewing. My periods like to skip months at a time.
I can't get my weight to budge, so here I am again on MFP. Open to advice.
Now, I weigh 174 and can't tread due to a very bad sprained ankle. I am retired, so spend more time gardening and sewing. My periods like to skip months at a time.
I can't get my weight to budge, so here I am again on MFP. Open to advice.
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Replies
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Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.0 -
Hi there - I am in a similar age group - turning 52 in a couple of months. I am not quite in menopause yet, but irregular when previously I was so regular, you could set a calendar using my body. Over the last year I have lost over 50 pounds through a combination of better diet and exercise - slow but steady progress. Fortunately I don't have any physical limitations at this point. OP - how about trying some swimming for exercise? It is not my favorite, but I have heard it is a good burn and should be easy on the ankle.
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Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.
^^Yup, this. Has very little to do with menopause. I train better and harder now at almost 53 than I did in my 20s.0 -
I totally blame my hormones. And I find it a gazillion times harder to lose weight now in perimenopause than I did before. PMS type symptoms several times a month give willpower a whole new meaning. And OMG the water weigth fluctuations!! How do I even know whether I'm gaining or losing fat when my weight is bouncing up and down by 4-7 lbs per day!?
It's not impossible and sure, it still all comes down to calories, but for me it's a huge factor. I never had to work this hard at weight loss before.0 -
Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.
Yep... me too... 46 years old and I exercise (lift weights and cardio) often as I did nothing before...0 -
I so totally agree with this. i am 48 and am experiencing the beginning stages of menopause and it is driving me crazy! I have less energy, am tired all the time and the PMS symptoms are out of control. I find it hard not to give in but i need to lose this 30 pounds so I fight it!!! Weighing food and exercise has helped a lot. good luck to youNeed2Exerc1se wrote: »I totally blame my hormones. And I find it a gazillion times harder to lose weight now in perimenopause than I did before. PMS type symptoms several times a month give willpower a whole new meaning. And OMG the water weigth fluctuations!! How do I even know whether I'm gaining or losing fat when my weight is bouncing up and down by 4-7 lbs per day!?
It's not impossible and sure, it still all comes down to calories, but for me it's a huge factor. I never had to work this hard at weight loss before.0 -
Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.
QFT. Calorie deficit is the way to lose weight. Exercise is for fitness, so not being able to exercise isn't hurting weight loss.0 -
I was lucky, had a relatively easy time through perimenopause, and into my first 2.5 years of menopause. I began trying to lose weight during perimenopause. I believe what helped me the most was using a plant based rebalancing cream-it totally eliminated my night sweats, hot flashes, water weight gain. When I really got serious, a food scale was a huge eye opener. Good luck, it can be done.0
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I am 53 years-old and I am going through perimenopause. I thought the same thing that my weight wouldn't budge and my PMS symptoms are still out of control. I started out doing cardio, weights and eating at a deficit. It is important that you lift weights as we get older we lose muscle.
What has helped me, I plan and weigh all of my meals. I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. I have lost 45 lbs. since December 2014. It will work, if you work it.
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Hi there - I am in a similar age group - turning 52 in a couple of months. I am not quite in menopause yet, but irregular when previously I was so regular, you could set a calendar using my body. Over the last year I have lost over 50 pounds through a combination of better diet and exercise - slow but steady progress. Fortunately I don't have any physical limitations at this point. OP - how about trying some swimming for exercise? It is not my favorite, but I have heard it is a good burn and should be easy on the ankle.
Swimming is great exercise and what I do. The only issue I have with your statement is that some of the kicks are impossible to do with a sprained ankle. I sprained mine last December and had to cut out all flutter kicks for almost 2 months. Good thing my favorite stroke is the breast stroke and the frog kick did not hurt my ankle. I did tape it up each time I swam for more stability.
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I'm 48 ... and a recently surgery to remove a polyp which shows tendencies toward cancer (not cancer, not pre-cancer, just enough of a chance, I'm to be monitored and tested every 6 months) confirmed that I am solidly in the middle of perimenopause. There's a chance I may be done and dusted by 51.
For about a year, I've been half-heartedly trying to lose weight with no luck, and was blaming the perimenopause.
After the surgery, I decided to take this weight loss business seriously ... and I've lost 13 kg in 13 weeks. That is the fastest, most efficient weight loss I've experience since I was in my early 20s. And it all comes down to meticulously logging and determinedly eating less than I burn.0 -
I'm 51 and was obese last summer and fighting some really horrible peri symptoms. I also have bad arthritis and was very unwell.
I have lost 51lb and started to lift weights, after reading that this is a great thing for women my age to do. Do not give up. Make a plan. To me, losing weight this time was far harder than when I was young, however, I have done it through strict calorie control and good nutrition. It can be done and it's worth it. Good luck.
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I recommend getting a fitbit (I have the FItbit one on my belt at all times) or other fitness monitor, set your activity at sedentary in MFP and let your fitbit estimate your calorie burn. Eat fewer calories than you burn (use a scale and be honest with yourself) 250/day less will result in 0.5lb loss a week. It works no matter how old you are. You also realise how much extra moving you have to do to not be sedentary! Last week my fitbit estimated that I burned 3600 calories more than I ate that week and on the nail, I lost a lb. Hormones don't change that correlation (water weight can be frustrating but if you monitor over several weeks, you get to know what's going on there).0
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If you haven't already, join the menopause group! Lots of women there understand your frustrations.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/506-near-or-post-menopausal-group0 -
Yep, that's me0
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Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.
How well do folks lose DURING? Anyone successfully lose say, 20LBS DURING the transition? I often see these threads, and often wonder about the women MID MENOPAUSE trying to stave off the weight gain.
Successes out there? Folks at a healthy weight who are able to KEEP OFF the weight, and or lose, say, 10-20LBS DURING perimenopause?
thanks!0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.
How well do folks lose DURING? Anyone successfully lose say, 20LBS DURING the transition? I often see these threads, and often wonder about the women MID MENOPAUSE trying to stave off the weight gain.
Successes out there? Folks at a healthy weight who are able to KEEP OFF the weight, and or lose, say, 10-20LBS DURING perimenopause?
thanks!
I am mid-perimenopause right now. I've probably been perimenopausal for at least a year, more like 18 months, and they figure I've got at least 3 years to go.
Up till 3 months ago, I was gradually gaining weight and partially blaming it on the perimenopause. Then I decided to take action and really focus on eating fewer calories than I burn (CICO) ... and in the last 3 months, I've lost almost 14 kg.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Don't blame the hormones. It is just as easy to lose weight after menopause, it just tends to go slower. I am 5 years post menopause and this is the easiest time I have ever had losing.
Actual advice: get a food scale and start weighing all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter) and measuring liquids. Enter your stats into MFP and make sure you set it at sedentary. When your ankle heals, you will be able to add in calories from exercise. The program and calorie counting works, if you work it.
How well do folks lose DURING? Anyone successfully lose say, 20LBS DURING the transition? I often see these threads, and often wonder about the women MID MENOPAUSE trying to stave off the weight gain.
Successes out there? Folks at a healthy weight who are able to KEEP OFF the weight, and or lose, say, 10-20LBS DURING perimenopause?
thanks!
Hi - During, yes. I started losing weight while going through this transition. I am still going through it and and no where near out the other side yet. Horrible symptoms. "Menopause" , my doctor says, is when it's all over. I am still in the the eye of the storm. It was very hard work, and took me 10 months. I have posted these pics elsewhere, but just to show you:
August 2014 184 lbs
May 2015 141lb
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That last post was inspirational. I am 53. Went through menopause at 43. I have been both thin and overweight since. I gained a lot of weight over the winter and was pretty depressed. My friend told me about this app. Since I started. I have stuck to a 1200 calorie diet adjusted for exercise. After 2 weeks, 1200 calories became plenty for me. I log in every day. Since I have been feeling better, I walk a minimum of 4 miles a day. I hate exercise and weights, but the walking is great. Today is day 45. I don't have a scale but Im guessing I have lost 10-12 pounds. Problem with this age and my body type is that most of my weight is around my middle. I've been thinking of adding planks. Wish I had a workout buddy!0
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thewillamettemom wrote: »That last post was inspirational. I am 53. Went through menopause at 43. I have been both thin and overweight since. I gained a lot of weight over the winter and was pretty depressed. My friend told me about this app. Since I started. I have stuck to a 1200 calorie diet adjusted for exercise. After 2 weeks, 1200 calories became plenty for me. I log in every day. Since I have been feeling better, I walk a minimum of 4 miles a day. I hate exercise and weights, but the walking is great. Today is day 45. I don't have a scale but Im guessing I have lost 10-12 pounds. Problem with this age and my body type is that most of my weight is around my middle. I've been thinking of adding planks. Wish I had a workout buddy!
My doc told me that during this period, weight can be deposited on the stomach and tops of hips while the thighs can waste. I had the issues with stomach fat. Planks are great. So are sit ups if you can do those. I would like to recommend a book to you which will spur you on. Check it out on Amazon plus the reviews "Younger next Year for women". (Crowley and Lodge). It is aimed at women over 50. It completely changed what I believed I could do physically at this stage of life. Good luck
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