Doubts about weight loss during peri menopause

It might be a touch more challenging but I lost a whole bunch of weight during peri menopause. It's all calories in/calories out. It's really not that big of a deal (imho).

Lost 90, post menopause.

It’s simply calories in/calories out, and for me, a healthy dose of exercise.

I’ve learned there’s a choir of “you can’t”, where as “you can” is a solo act.

I lost 35 lbs. when I was that age. Unfortunately, I went back to old eating habits and gained it back, and then some. I lost and regained 20 or so lbs. a couple of times over the next few years. When I was in my mid-50s, post-menopause, I lost 55 lbs. That time I continued to log my food and exercise, was more careful with my diet and increased my daily activity so have managed to keep it off for the past several years.

It's not age that's the problem with middle-aged women, or hormones, it's lack of activity and bad eating habits. Occasionally it's illness or certain medications that make it more difficult. A lot of middle age women have low thyroid and need medication, but once that is taken care of there is no reason you can't lose weight. With some auto-immune diseases it can be hard to exercise regularly or have a lot of energy, but losing weight can still be done.

There are lots of reasons why it's hard: Perimenopause, menopause, insulin resistance, health conditions that limit movement, health conditions like hypothyroidism among others that depress metabolism, bad genetics, poor parental influence, hating all exercise, hating all vegetables, family members who sabotage, critical or envious "friends", multi-level marketers pestering us to adopt their shakes and "coaching", muscle loss with aging, history of yo-yo dieting, too many treats in the break room at work, not knowing how to cook, not knowing how to exercise, . . . on and on and on.

Each of us chooses her focus. We can focus on why it's hard, or we can focus on how we can get around any *real* obstacles, and do it anyway. One of those is productive.

I can't speak to perimenopause. I didn't really have one: Chemotherapy put me in menopause pretty close to instantly at age 44, then I had to take anti-estrogen drugs for 7.5 years (creating a kind of hyper-menopause) to combat the fairly advanced stage cancer itself. Got diagnosed as hypothyroid after cancer treatment, also with arthritis, torn meniscus, other stuff too numerous to mention. Got really active athletically, stayed obese for another dozen years: Must have a slow metabolism, right?

Nah. Got serious at age 59, lost 50+ pounds in just less than a year (calorie counting), have stayed at a healthy weight for 5+ years since, now age 65.

Is it hard? Not as hard as I expected, for me. Made me kinda kick myself I hadn't done it many years before, because life is so much better as a healthy-weight, active woman. Easy every moment? What worthwhile thing is? Doable, for sure.

We only have so much emotional energy, as a currency to spend. Focus on why it's hard, maybe give up . . . or focus on how to do it, and commit to that. Those are the choices, pretty much.

If you look at some of the long-running threads over in the "Success Stories" area, you'll find many women who've lost weight, increased fitness, and more, either peri-menopausally, or post-menopause. It isn't doom, for sure.

I lost 90 lbs when I was 44-45. It wasn't any harder than I recall it being the only other time I lost weight (and kept it off for some time), in my early 30s. I'm losing again now (some lbs I regained during covid plus I want to get to a lower weight), and so far the weight loss part seems same as it was (I'm 51). I have been going up and down some, but that's because I haven't really been that committed and blow it off for a week or so when things come up. Not sure what that is, and am working on it, but the weight seems to come off just as it always has when I do what I did in 2014-15.

I'm 51 and in the throes of perimenopause. About 7 years ago, I lost nearly 80 pounds using MFP! Sadly, through my own lack of discipline, I gained nearly 40 of that back. I'm back down 20 pounds since September 2020. It's slow going but that's because I'm choosing that journey. The hormone fluctuations during this period in my life do seem to show up more drastically (5lbs water weight on the scale when my period would normally appear when it used to be significantly less). Other than that, I'm relying on the science of CICO (mostly managed by eating less with a little exercise thrown in) and trusting that it works at any time in one's life.

I lost half my body weight at age 60. It was no harder than when I lost weight in my 20’s. I believed the myth for years and didn’t try. Everyone is different, but there are a lot of people, women and men, who have lost weight over 40 here. This is one myth that I wish I never heard. So much wasted time for me.

I lost all my weight (about 30 lbs) during perimenopause. And at almost 52, I'm still (STILL!) stuck in peri.

I've mentioned this before in several threads so you may have already read it ... but ... my theory based on my myself & my perimenopausal friends is that we all eat more than what we think (pre-covid, a ton of eating out & lots of wine) and move less than we used to. None of us walk our kids to school anymore, chase after toddlers, play ball after school, etc etc. Instead of splashing at the pool with the kids, we sit & eat. Almost all of us have desk jobs.

I lost weight consistently once I honestly & accurately tracked my food AND my movement.

That being said, it wasn't easy (is it ever lol) & the monthly weight fluctuations can be crazy. I still use a daily weight tracker that helps keep me on track by smoothing out the crazies.

Eight years ago I was on a walker for a couple of weeks and then on a cane because of an illness that counts severe joint swelling and pain as the main symptom. It wasn’t the first time I’d had it, so there’s residual damage to this day.

The weight certainly didn’t help, either.

You either have to decide, I’m beating this joint pain, or it’s beating me. You can basically choose to be vibrant and active and stay young, or become your (mine, anyway) mother.

When it became too painful to stand up in the morning, I started stretching. It was simple and short at first, maybe ten minutes, but I loved it so much and it was clearly making a difference that it started running 30-40 minutes. It wasn’t so boring because I did long holds on the floor for the second half, and that became pet-pet time for our collection of dachshunds at the time. (Having a few between your legs puts that much more oomph into a wide legged forward fold.)

After a stretch, I could bound down the stairs, no pain.

It was shortly after I began stretching that I really took yoga seriously, and began going two or three times a week. Now I do a vinyasa or Universal style flow class every day. I can sincerely say, nothing will keep you young like yoga, and you can start at any age and any “athletic ability” (believe me, I have zero zip nada of that).

Don’t give in to your joints. Overcome them.