Menopause And Weight Gain

cinblog1965 wrote: »

So I'm one of those annoying women that always thought she was fat, but damn it now I all of a sudden am. 30 pounds up from where I was 15 years ago. My energy level slowed down when I started menopause and even though bio-identical hormones, that miracle cure, has me feeling better and more energetic, the weight is just not coming off! I admit, I'm not killing myself like I used to with karate or running until I can't breathe, my joints can't take that anymore, but I'm doing pushups, PiYo which includes a lot of lunges and squats, and I walk a lot at my job. When I get rid of this darn sinus infection, I'm going to start HIIT training on my treadmill a day or two a week. I've recently started following the PiYO eating plan which is putting me at 1500 calories a day (at 52 and 5'3"). But I seem to keep gaining weight. I have a neverending appetite. I will admit I have a free day and I do drink wine of Fridays and Saturdays. What more can I do? After working all week I really look forward to sharing that bottle of wine with my husband.

Just very frustrated!

You are my twin

I was thin my whole life but gained about 10 pounds when I turned 50, making me average. I started to really watch portion sizes and cut down and cut back. There's no other way.

I'm also post menopausal 5'5" and 57 years old, and gained the less-than-lovely 30 pounds after I retired in 2014. Even though I had a desk job I was quite active with always taking the stairs, walking on breaks and lunch and fairly active on the weekends, so I was able to maintain until retirement. I had about 6 months of being lazy before I really woke up and got serious.

Enter MFP with the logging and accountability and I was able to turn that around. It's been a slow go, but I managed to lose most of that 30 in about a 2 year time frame. I wasn't in a big hurry or I could have done it faster, but I'm still enjoying life and having fun with it all. I still have about 5 more to go.

I have found that I just don't lose at 1500 calories a day, even with moderate exercise. I'm currently eating about 1300-1400 cals per day and exercising 5 days a week doing aquasize, walking, disc golf, or aerobics like dance or stationary bike.

Sadly, the metabolism does slow down after menopause. Some people will say that's not true, but it IS true for me and many other women my age, but it's not a life sentence. Just have to eat less (or different things) and move more.

I just completed in June a 60 day challenge through my gym and you are assigned a trainer and mine happened to also be the nutritionist. I am 50, post-menopause and was at 151 pounds in May. She taught me all about macros (carbs 30%, protein 40%, fat 30% ratio) which she adjusted on the myfitnesspal app and had me on a 1200 calorie a day diet plus I was working out 6-7 days a week for 60 minutes. I lost 17 pounds and 24% body fat. I too LOVE my wine but cut it out during the week and enjoyed two glasses each night on Friday's and Saturday's. It was hard but even after it was over, I have maintained these past 6 weeks (upped my calories to 1500 and enjoyed wine a few times a week as well) with learning how to eat better (higher protein is key). I am doing the challenge again starting tomorrow to lose 12 more pounds and hit my goal weight of 120 and get below 20% body fat. I have never felt better!

During menopause some of your weight gain may be hormonal water weight. It wasn't unusual for me to gain 5-7 lbs of water and keep it for a week or more. But, I just stuck with my goals and had faith that the weight would come off (despite drinking wine every day and not killing myself with exercise). Just be patient and stick to your plan and it will work.

If you haven't already you should also ask your doctor to check for thyroid problems which are much more common in/after menopause.

I was just doing some reading about menopause yesterday and highlighted several interesting studies. Most women gain 5-7lbs during menopause and our fat migrates to our bellies. We also lose muscle mass(not to mention bone density) which accounts for additional weight gain due to lower caloric needs. In fact, both men and women lose an average of 8-10% muscle mass every decade after the 30's. High Resistance Strength Training helps combat this by increasing and retaining muscle mass and bone density. The more muscle you can keep, the higher your TDEE will be. Also, Vitamin D supplements have been shown to help retain muscle mass on their own. We also need to increase our protein intake to ~1.5g/kg LBM.

Oh, also - both machine and free weights were shown to increase muscle mass and bone density in menopausal women, but free weights increased significantly more.

I went into menopause at around 45. I kept my weight in a pretty good range till about 57. Then it became a real battle. I now eat 1200 cal plus my exercise calories (5'2"). I count and log every day. No "weekend off" as that had me gain ten pounds in a year.

cinblog1965 wrote: »

So I'm one of those annoying women that always thought she was fat, but damn it now I all of a sudden am. 30 pounds up from where I was 15 years ago. My energy level slowed down when I started menopause and even though bio-identical hormones, that miracle cure, has me feeling better and more energetic, the weight is just not coming off! I admit, I'm not killing myself like I used to with karate or running until I can't breathe, my joints can't take that anymore, but I'm doing pushups, PiYo which includes a lot of lunges and squats, and I walk a lot at my job. When I get rid of this darn sinus infection, I'm going to start HIIT training on my treadmill a day or two a week. I've recently started following the PiYO eating plan which is putting me at 1500 calories a day (at 52 and 5'3"). But I seem to keep gaining weight. I have a neverending appetite. I will admit I have a free day and I do drink wine of Fridays and Saturdays. What more can I do? After working all week I really look forward to sharing that bottle of wine with my husband.

cinblog1965 wrote: »

No I don't watch my calories on free days, that's probably a big issue. As far as measuring I measure by weight unless it's a sauce or liquid which I measure in cups. Truthfully, I don't measure lettuce, or a slice of bread, but I track it by brand. I'm just frustrated. Never would have believed it would be this difficult to lose.

That will do it!

That's how I gained my weight.

For 4 years, I ate well during the week, and lost weight during the week ... and then I'd let things go on the weekend, and would gain just a tiny bit more than I'd lost on the weekend.

In 4 years, I gained about 20 kg ... 5 kg/year ... 0.4 kg/month. Hardly even enough to notice, until suddenly one day ...

When I joined MFP, I stuck to my calorie limit absolutely without fail for 16 weeks. That made a big difference. At the age of 48, and well into perimenopause, I lost 1 kg/week.


Regarding exercise, I'm a long distance cyclist. That was one of my motivations for losing the weight. When I gained the weight, I couldn't cycle up hills anymore and that made me sad. When I lost weight, I was able to get right back into my long distance cycling.

53 here and I hear you! I've fluctuated and dieted before, but nothing extreme, and usually keeping the excess weight off for 5 or more years.

Menopause hit me hard. I used to lose weight on 1500 to 1600 calories ( I'm 162 cm) - nowadays I'm busting my kitten with a minimum 10-15 hours cardio a week( 4 of those hours swimming laps) strength training (newbie levels) 3 x a week and eating 1100 - 1250 calories (+170 for extra protein shake on strength days) and I'm losing about 2 -3 pounds a month. I'm starving most of the time, hunger cranky and have frequent intense hot flashes. 5 months in it is taking everything I have to keep going. (Yes I carefully measure my food, I drink only 1-2 alcoholic drinks a month, I don't crave sweets, I don't drink calories...)

I totally disagree with the person(s) above who said it is as hard for everyone and menopause makes no difference, and anyone can lose weight without exercise (and they use 'it worked for ME' as evidence). I believe that is total *kitten*. Yes CiCo is true for everyone but what that means for the individual is different. My experience tells me for ME the calories expended post menopause have plummeted to a pitiful rate - so somehow I'll have to adapt. Ymmv.

What I HOPE is that I'll find that something that works and is sustainable for me. Keto works for some. IF for others. Etc. I'm going to go on a diet break soon (1 week at 1400 calories I think is probably maintenance for me) and try a new approach like IF. I'll try the next approach for a few months and reevaluate with another break.

I guess I'm trying to say: I understand where you're coming from. Don't give up hope – but keep trying at different things to find something sustainable for you. Also don't believe people who say this is the one and only way to do it. What works for someone else may not work for you and vice versa.

you can friend me if you like. alot of my "friends" here on MFP are also in meno- or premenopause and we help each other. LCHF has been working very well for me post-meno. feel free to join us.
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