Menopause

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ElsaJustElsa
ElsaJustElsa Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support
I’m 42 and was surgically forced into menopause. It’s been a roller coaster for 3yrs now. The main issues I’ve had is well everything! Lol. The mood swings and weight gain has been challenging. I’m at my heaviest ever, 164lbs and only 5’1”.
I have been pretty fit and active all my life. This has been very difficult for me and my husband. I don’t want menopause to define me.

Those going through menopause, how do you help maintain a healthy weight?

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  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    edited December 2019
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    I don't know. Now that I've leveled out some (save the occasional hot flash) I'm finding it actually easier to stay on plan. However I had some pretty bad PMS issues so ymmv.

    In general, I find it easier to stay on target for both calories and protein if I let non-added fats do what they may and bias my carbs toward fruit and veggies and less toward grain, because my ability to detect 'full' doesn't seem to recognize sugar but it does recognize protein and fat. I ration added fats (like butter) but not 'intrinsic' fats like the fat in smoked salmon or reasonably trimmed pork chops.

    also--eat breakfast! I tend to have a large breakfast and dinner and adjust lunch so the daily total approximates the targets.

    PS: since you were surgically forced into menopause I'm going to guess something happened that was life-threatening and required surgery, so congrats on staying alive!
  • MrsDiana0502
    MrsDiana0502 Posts: 3 Member
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    Menopause has really kicked my butt. I keep gaining and gaining. I am at my heaviest. December of last year I was 130 now I am 154. I work out ( not as hard as I use too because of arm surgery) I eat good most of the time. I think by body is just a different body. Menopause has given me this body to see what I can do with it. Like you ElsaJustElsa I do not want menopause to define me and would love to get to a healthy weight
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    I went through menopause naturally and it actually made weight loss easier. No longer having the hormones cycling ended the mood swings, cravings, and PMS bloating.

    OP, are you on HRT? If not, have you discussed it with your doctor? Perhaps leveling off the hormones now and gradually reducing them would help.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,656 Member
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    I went through menopause quickly at age 44, when it was induced by chemotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer. Because my cancer was an estrogen-fed type, I took anti-estrogen drugs for 7.5 years after that, which is effectively sort of a hyper-menopausal state in some respects. I can't say that I noticed any direct affect on weight or weight management: My weight stayed in the same general region for about 15 years after chemo started.

    I think it's common for us to get less active, and possibly to gradually lose muscle mass, as we age. I got much more active after chemo, recognizing that I needed to do so in order to regain strength and energy, and it's possible that that helped me (though it was easy to eat enough more to cancel out any caloric benefits of the exercise activity: It's only a few hundred calories daily, less than a skim latte and a plain bagel, probably.

    Getting close to 5 years ago, at age 59-60, I finally lost weight, from obese to a healthy weight, and am still at a healthy weight now. Just experimenting to figure out how many calories I needed to eat, given my activities, and what to eat to feel full and happy, worked very well.

    This is pretty much the eating approach I used, just with some false starts and mistakes left out :lol:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/

    Add some kind of exercise(s) you enjoy for fitness (ideally both strength and cardiovascular exercise), and you should be able to make some progress. I mostly row (on water when I can, machine when I must) and take spin classes a couple of times a week, adding other things more randomly for fun. I normally do something active most days of the week.

    Personally, I've found calorie counting pretty magical. It's routine enough now that it's mere minutes a day (maybe 10?) and I can stay at a healthy weight, after multiple decades of obesity.

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