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Nova
Member, MFP Moderator, Greeter, Premium Posts: 7,620 MFP Staff
Member, MFP Moderator, Greeter, Premium Posts: 7,620 MFP Staff
Replies
This is a brilliant, heartfelt thread, and should be stickied, but needs to be moved to general, if at all possible.
I support making this a "Most Helpful Post". It's excellent, and a perspective we don't often see. So honest, helpful!
Seconded. this is incredibly insightful and could be very helpful to many.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10812234/a-hospital-visit-couldn-t-explain-my-symptoms-but-i-can#latest. i have already recommended this thread to another poster who was recommending 900 cals per day.
Chiming in for the 7th vote on this post.
Ditto.
Same way it works in not-menopause, basically: Eat fewer calories than we burn.
The potential complication is that we may burn fewer than we once did: Loss of muscle mass (through non-use) contributes to that. The habit of reduced movement contributes to that (we're no longer building our nest, mostly: we're enjoying what we've built). For some of us, years of yo-yo dieting contribute to that (cumulative adaptive thermogenesis). For some of us, sub-ideal nutrition contributes to that. Many of us grew up in times and places where exercise, strength, sports, were not encouraged for everyday women.
Among women my age (now 65), I've often seen a pattern of too little protein, and/or too little healthy fat, maybe even too few veggies/fruits on top of that. Heck, I've lived that pattern, sometimes! Among my circle of acquaintences, the yo-yo pattern is often extreme dieting on low-protein/low-fat (lotta salads), with manic levels of cardio (no strength exercise). That's often been followed by regain on still-low protein, higher sat fats, plenty of foods that combine higher processed carbs with higher saturated fats, inadequate veggies/fruits.
Happily, we have near-total control over the things that matter: Gaining back some muscle mass (slow, but doable with persistence), and moving more. "Moving" is not just formal exercise, but our daily life habits as well.
Another thing that makes menopause different is that we're older, we've practiced patient persistence elsewhere in our lives (raising families, making a home, getting an education, building a career, etc.), and we know our own strengths/limitations quite well (plus how to exploit the strengths and skirt the limitations, to get important things done).
We have the skills, we have the control. Just gotta wanna. 🙂