Weight loss after menopause
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mikesmom1983 wrote: »I'm 58 and was convinced I couldn't lose weight. I am 5' 3-3/4', needed to lose at least 43 lbs. and came upon a "formula" that worked for me. I got a fitbit to motivate myself to move more, increased protein, decreased sugar (to stop cravings), replaced non and low fat foods with full fat (felt fuller longer), and increased water.
I have managed to lose 34 lbs. since September. My loss has been slow, but steady. I have noticed that I am sensitive to sodium so I make sure I don't have a high sodium meal the night before I weigh in.
I went from wearing size 14 jeans to size 8-10. This is the smallest I've been since I was in my 30's!
Be patient and good luck!
Well done!1 -
I'm 56 and 5'7. I lost 46 lbs between ages 51-56. Going from 183lbs to 137.
I started by eliminating gluten/processed foods (or almost anyway) and slowly over about 3 years lost 26lbs.
Then I stopped losing.
Almost 2 years ago I started MFP. And lost 20lbs more.
Talk about slow, but that's ok.
I consider myself lightly active, don't work out/run, etc.
Just stick to your daily calorie goal, log accurately (weigh/measure everything) and you will lose.1 -
mikesmom1983 wrote: »I'm 58 and was convinced I couldn't lose weight. I am 5' 3-3/4', needed to lose at least 43 lbs. and came upon a "formula" that worked for me. I got a fitbit to motivate myself to move more, increased protein, decreased sugar (to stop cravings), replaced non and low fat foods with full fat (felt fuller longer), and increased water.
I have managed to lose 34 lbs. since September. My loss has been slow, but steady. I have noticed that I am sensitive to sodium so I make sure I don't have a high sodium meal the night before I weigh in.
I went from wearing size 14 jeans to size 8-10. This is the smallest I've been since I was in my 30's!
Be patient and good luck!
Well done! I too have switched out low fat for full fat for satiety. This lowered my carbs. Maybe this helps with the hormonal issues?
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I'm post menopausal and lost 60 lbs in less than a year (I'm 54 this August). I cut calories to lose weight and did T25 and now run just about every day for fitness. I started to lift heavy but got lazy with that, I NEED to get back to that because I loved it. I don't think the loss was any slower for me than someone younger. Five days is not a long time and if you are working out your body is holding water to repair itself...give it a few more weeks. One other thing, I didn't cut out anything from my diet, I eat pizza, breads, candy, ice cream, I just eat less of it and keep it within my calorie allotment.
Love the flow chart by the way.0 -
mamapeach910 wrote: »mikesmom1983 wrote: »I'm 58 and was convinced I couldn't lose weight. I am 5' 3-3/4', needed to lose at least 43 lbs. and came upon a "formula" that worked for me. I got a fitbit to motivate myself to move more, increased protein, decreased sugar (to stop cravings), replaced non and low fat foods with full fat (felt fuller longer), and increased water.
I have managed to lose 34 lbs. since September. My loss has been slow, but steady. I have noticed that I am sensitive to sodium so I make sure I don't have a high sodium meal the night before I weigh in.
I went from wearing size 14 jeans to size 8-10. This is the smallest I've been since I was in my 30's!
Be patient and good luck!
Well done! I too have switched out low fat for full fat for satiety. This lowered my carbs. Maybe this helps with the hormonal issues?
This is what I've done the last while as well. It *does* seem to even out the hormones a bit for me. And if the scale creeps up on holiday or what not, lowering carbs a bit and eating a bit more fat makes it much easier to get it to tick back down.
And of course, staying at my goal weight helps with my hormones.0 -
Wow thanks for all the encouragement. I was just at a bookclub lunch meeting at my job earlier and all of us are post menopausal and heard similar tales (they're all nurses, I'm a social worker so they have a more medical/physiological take on this than I). They too have lost and maintained but like you've all said it takes longer and we all need fewer calories than previous to the 'change'. I just wanted to know it's possible. I went on a weight loss journey with my daughter 4 years ago - weight watchers and she lost 50 and I lost 20 within 6 months, the weight just melted off and I kept it off for 2 years after. I've never experienced dieting and working out and NOT having lost anything but it seems I need to give my body some time to adjust - I was so disappointed this morning -thought in a premenopausal head that I should have dropped a couple of pounds and would have 5 years ago - alas not so this time around but I'm encouraged as long as I know it can happen - Thanks again everyone!!!!0
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I went on a weight loss journey with my daughter 4 years ago - weight watchers and she lost 50 and I lost 20 within 6 months, the weight just melted off and I kept it off for 2 years after. I've never experienced dieting and working out and NOT having lost anything but it seems I need to give my body some time to adjust.
I was so disappointed this morning -thought in a premenopausal head that I should have dropped a couple of pounds and would have 5 years ago - alas not so this time around but I'm encouraged as long as I know it can happen.
A healthy, sustainable loss is .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight. So be patient!
Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. And what works for each of us changes over time. Learn to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging is simple, but it ain't easy. Logging works.0 -
Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. And what works for each of us changes over time. Learn to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging is simple, but it ain't easy. Logging works.[/quote]
I agree with this. I'm 52, 5'8" and eating 1800 calories a day (plus exercise calories, definitely) and I'm finally losing. It seemed to take forever to kick in. I do not have much to lose, about 8 pounds. I'm down 6 lbs. It's taken several months - so speed is not on my side, but I also don't want to cut my calories down too low. Slow & steady is okay with me. (And chocolate. Chocolate is very okay with me.)
I'm trying to do more with small weights and resistance bands, as well as Leslie Sansone cardio DVDs. Everything aches. I figure it's just the price of getting old. (sob).1 -
5 days is too soon to see a loss, especially if you have 20 lbs. or less to lose. The weight will come off more slowly after menopause, but you can lose; you just have to be stricter with tracking calories because metabolism does go down. I'm 56 and 5'1.5" -- double whammy, over 50 and short. My BMR as measured during a fitness assessment is only around 1100, which means that if I eat 1200 on a day when I'm not active, I'll actually gain weight. I thought that BMR assessment was too low, but now have a Fitbit HR, and it's right on target. On an average active day, I use around 1400 calories (this is also known as TDEE). I just came back from an overseas trip and there was one day that I spent 6 hours on the touring bus-- my calories used that day -- 900.1
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It is possible.
I am 61 now, but my weight loss journey started when I saw a Christmas photo of a short, fat, menopausal, grey haired woman and realized it was me!
That February I weighed myself- 130lb at 5'1, found a calorie counting site, started looking for an exercise I could tolerate- aqua fit, and dyed my hair strange colours.
I lost the weight at .5lb a week eating 1200 cal plus 50% exercise and haven't looked back. That was in 2008 (55yo) and have maintained with a slide of 5 lb ( 100-105) since then.
It took almost a year to do it, but in that time I realized the weight gain was more to do with lack of activity, I used to go out dancing a lot, than over eating, so calorie control wasn't a big challenge.
Experimenting with exercise was a challenge as i am a natural bookworm, but it made it more fun.
I have walked 10ks, learnt to swim, tried Pilates, belly dancing, Zumba, worked my way through body weight exercises using Nerdfitness, learnt how to use the machines at the gym ( not my fav), and taken a women on weights course to learn how to lift heavy (for me) safely. I can manage to dead lift half my weight at this point, the rest of my lifting is still hand weights, but as long as I am progressing I am happy. And so are my muscles.
Keep at a deficit, move more, and it will come off.
Cheers, h.4 -
As we get older, we have to move more, not less--and eat less, not more. Unfortunately. 61 here.
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vivmom2014 wrote: »Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. And what works for each of us changes over time. Learn to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging is simple, but it ain't easy. Logging works.
I agree with this. I'm 52, 5'8" and eating 1800 calories a day (plus exercise calories, definitely) and I'm finally losing. It seemed to take forever to kick in. I do not have much to lose, about 8 pounds. I'm down 6 lbs. It's taken several months - so speed is not on my side, but I also don't want to cut my calories down too low. Slow & steady is okay with me. (And chocolate. Chocolate is very okay with me.)
I'm trying to do more with small weights and resistance bands, as well as Leslie Sansone cardio DVDs. Everything aches. I figure it's just the price of getting old. (sob). [/quote]
I just finished doing a Leslie Sansone walking tape as well, I LOVE her!!0 -
Great advice, I'll start doing only weekly weigh-ins (and btw, I did see a 1.1 pound loss this morning)! Wheww!!0
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I love her too! (Leslie Sansone.) Some find her a little too chirpy, but I like it. It's somehow comforting. Plus - great workouts!0
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »mamapeach910 wrote: »mikesmom1983 wrote: »I'm 58 and was convinced I couldn't lose weight. I am 5' 3-3/4', needed to lose at least 43 lbs. and came upon a "formula" that worked for me. I got a fitbit to motivate myself to move more, increased protein, decreased sugar (to stop cravings), replaced non and low fat foods with full fat (felt fuller longer), and increased water.
I have managed to lose 34 lbs. since September. My loss has been slow, but steady. I have noticed that I am sensitive to sodium so I make sure I don't have a high sodium meal the night before I weigh in.
I went from wearing size 14 jeans to size 8-10. This is the smallest I've been since I was in my 30's!
Be patient and good luck!
Well done! I too have switched out low fat for full fat for satiety. This lowered my carbs. Maybe this helps with the hormonal issues?
This is what I've done the last while as well. It *does* seem to even out the hormones a bit for me. And if the scale creeps up on holiday or what not, lowering carbs a bit and eating a bit more fat makes it much easier to get it to tick back down.
And of course, staying at my goal weight helps with my hormones.
I will have to look in to full fat! Thanks for the tip.
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Well here's a three month update, I'm down 16 pounds, wow!!! It's coming off faster than it did four years ago when I was premenopausal so so much for that myth. I contribute a great deal of success to MFP and my new Fit bit which I started using two months ago, it really helps you keep control over your total calories in vs out!! I've lost over 10 pounds since I started using it 8 weeks ago (4.4 pound weight loss this past week - woo hoo!!)1
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Hello! I need some help. I just started tracking and working out regularly at age 57 after a year's hiatus and not having weighed in for 8 months. I had quite a shock that I had put on 11 pounds. So I started to work out almost every day alternating cardio and resistance exercises and staying under my calorie quota and was much surprised that after 5 days I haven't even lost .1 pounds. I knew it would be slower after menopause, I just didn't think it would be impossible, any thoughts? Suggestions?
Five days is just not enough time to judge. Your weight can fluctuate a few to several pounds in a week just due to water retention or irregularity. I think it's good to weigh in every week so you keep an eye on it but give it a month before you get concerned. Next week you may be down 4 or 5 pounds.0 -
I started @ age 60 in March 2012. Lost over 160# and have been maintaining for almost 2 years now.
There are a lot of factors that enter into what works and what does not. You have to experiment to find what works for you. I have been doing this the whole time with my doc's supervision and guidance.
To lose, you have to eat less calories than you burn. To maintain, I have to watch my weight and adjust calorie intake accordingly. More calories if I begin to lose again(which does not happen very often), and less if I begin to gain. I give myself a 5# cushion. I did not exercise at all until I had lost almost 100#, when I just started walking more. I joined a gym in January 2015. I have to admit, that working out I have found that I am a lot hungrier than I was when I didn't work out. I am eating between 1600-1800 calories/day to maintain. When I was losing, it I consistently ate over 1200/day I began to gain.
It is totally doable for most people with no health issues, but it is really an individual process. We really are all different, and have to find out what works for each of us.
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Perhaps the effect of menopause is another thing that differs person to person. Here's another data point suggesting that menopause is not a deal-breaker for weight loss.
I've been fat most of my adult life, for the last couple decades usually just somewhere on the wrong side of the obese BMI line. I'm now 59. A dozen years ago (already firmly post-menopausal), I got much more active, which did nothing for me in terms of weight loss, but may've left me with a little more than average muscle for my age.
This past April (i.e., 2015), I started calorie restriction, basically maintaining my activity level. I lost at a pretty steady 2 pounds per week until July, when I plateaued, so joined MFP. Since then (i.e., since tightening up calorie counting), I've been losing at close to the 2 pounds a week level, and am now trying to slow it down because I'm getting closer to goal. I sure do not seem to be having trouble losing post-menopausally!
I'm 59, 5'5", SW 183, CW 144, GW 130 (ish, decide when I get closer). In a typical day I get 300-400 calories of exercise. Currently eating 1400 net (inching it up to slow the loss, wanting more like 0.5 pounds/week).
I started menopause at 45 when I went into chemotherapy for breast cancer. The chemo slammed on the brakes suddenly - I'd had regular periods immediately before - and I also went on estrogen agonist drugs that mop up the spare estrogen your adrenals & fat cells manufacture. A hard stop, totally skipped peri-anything AFAIK! Oh, and I'm hypothyroid, besides.
So, if menopause is making it harder for some (which I'm willing to believe; we're all different), it's seemingly not a universal.0
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