IPA, antidepressants, menopause, and macros, oh my!

After lurking silently but diligently for a couple of months, I just wanted to poke my nose out to say you had me at IPA, antidepressants, early 50's menopause, body dys, autumn angst, dark chocolate, intermittent fasting & macro juggling. You are very much not alone. Cheers from afar.

CAUTION: Long post follows! You also had me at endurance, post menopause, injuries, depression, and alcohol. Some time ago I was an LSD (Long Slower Distance) cyclist. Spent many hours in the saddle of a bicycle and an active member of the Ultra Marathon Cycling community. Enter accidents, injuries, loss of spouse, depression, and alcohol. Bad mix. Gained 45-50 lbs and lost myself in the mix. With the help of a therapist who has worked hard with me to help put things in perspective and overcome my grief and depression I can now turn to my weight and fitness. My fitness tracker (Apple watch) along with MFP and food scale are now among my best friends. My fitness watch and MFP are my constant reminders and encouragers (sometimes nags) to do the right thing (record my food intake, get moving, get on the scale often). Takes a bit longer to weigh everything before I put it in my mouth, but it has opened eyes to exactly how much of what I eat and how it affects my weight. Currently I am currently eating a somewhat modified Mediterranean diet, though higher in lean protein. I’ve eliminated bread, pasta, white rice and potatoes from my eating plan for now (all high glycemic, short lived carbs) and instead am focusing on high density, low glycemic fruits and veggies, lean protein, and record accurately everything that goes into my mouth. I love that I can scan the UPC code of many of the ingredients or foods that I eat in MFP and get an accurate account of it. I’ve met with some success, down about 18 lbs, sleeping well and feeling better about myself both physically and mentally. I’m also working hard to eliminate alcohol from my life, however that’s a whole other conversation. I’ve love to be ‘friends” with some like minded folks and encourage and help celebrate your successes. BTW, I’m no spring chicken here, I’m 71 and understand how difficult it is to lose weight and get fit at an older age. We can do it, I really believe that.

As others have said, it would help if you explained what you mean by "macro diet". There are lots of things called that, with (usually) the shared feature that they suggest counting macronutrients (in grams or percents) rather than calories . . . but it's done within a context where there's some calorie goal (if using macro percents) or gram goals for each macro (which roughly equate to a calorie goal, since each macronutrient has a characteristic calorie level per gram).

The thing is, counting macros in either of those ways is equivalent to counting calories while paying attention to nutrient intake goals. 🤷‍♀️ That latter is closer to what I do, but the difference is trivial in practice.

As background, I'm close to your demographic: I'm 5'5", 66 y/o, female. I've been menopausal since about age 44 (induced early by chemotherapy for breast cancer, and I took anti-estrogen drugs for 7.5 years after that, which loosely creates a sort of hyper-menopausal state in some respects). If it matters, I've also been severely hypothyroid since about that same time (but properly medicated for it). Post-cancer, I became a short-endurance athlete (after previously having not been routinely active). I joined MFP at age 59, lost 50+ pounds in less than a year, and have been maintaining a weight in the healthy BMI range and the same jeans size for 6+ years since. I'm still active in my sport (rowing, on-water when I can, machine when I must), but no longer competing; and I'm active in other ways as well (mostly cycling). There have been various periods when I couldn't work out due to surgery, injuries, etc., but I've mostly been active since my late 40s.

FWIW, I also like IPA quite well, and want some chocolate in my life when possible, too.

Recent research is suggesting that metabolism is pretty steady from our 20s through around age 60 **, so I don't think you should consider yourself doomed by age. What does tend to happen is that the average woman's daily life gradually becomes subtly less active as we age, and if we don't train to retain it, we lose muscle mass. Those things reduce our routine calorie expenditure. The good news is that both are reversible, if we take the reins.

** https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34385400/

I get that you have a long athletic history that I don't, but it sounds like you've had more discontinuity in your athleticism in recent years than I have, so loss of lean mass could still be a factor. (I detrain faster now than I did when I was younger, during those periods when I'm not working out. So, for me, injuries and surgeries have a higher "cost" in loss of fitness than they might once have. YMMV.)

For me, what has mostly worked is not putting any foods I like off limits totally, but committing to manage them for overall balance in calories, nutrition, enjoyment, practicality, etc. (Some people will want or need to exclude certain foods that they can't moderate. Anything I can moderate, I kept eating/drinking during weight loss and maintenance, including IPA and chocolate. I admit, my alcohol consumption went down more during the loss phase than in maintenance, because I do prioritize nutrition, and I had fewer calories to work with, while losing.)

I don't like the percentage method of setting macro goals, and think it can be especially misleading during calorie reduction. During loss, I kept protein in the range of 0.6-0.8g per day per pound of healthy goal weight; in maintenance it's a bit above 1g per pound of estimated lean body mass because I rounded to 100g (which I usually exceed, even as a vegetarian). This is an evidence-based source for protein estimates, from what's generally regarded as a neutral source:

https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

Unlike a lot of people, I also need to pay attention to a fat minimum, because I don't automatically get enough fats. I target 0.35-0.45g daily per pound of body weight, rounded to 50g for convenience.

Personally, I don't care where carbs fall - I just use those, and occasionally alcohol, to balance calories. Looking backwards, I got around 150 or so grams of carbs most of the time during weight loss, and 225+g most days in maintenance.

If a person finds that too-low carbs tank their energy, or too-high carbs spike their appetite, they may need to manage carbs explicitly. For sure, people who are insulin resistant or diabetic would want to do so.

I tweaked my eating gradually (when I first started logging) to get my macros where I wanted them (while eating foods I enjoy), and once that was in place, started working on dialing in eating patterns that gave me good nutrition in other respects (micronutrients, fiber, monounsaturated/polyunsaturated fats, some Omega-3s, food-sourced probiotics, and that sort of thing).

Not everything all at once, though: That would be overwhelming.

On the IPA and chocolate issue specifically: Some people do find it beneficial to either explicitly limit alcohol intake, or quit altogether. There are a threads here on MFP for support with that, such as:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10870495/less-alcohol-august-2022-one-day-at-a-time#latest
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10846412/sobriety-matters#latest

The latter one has been running for a long time, so if you open it for the first time you'll see very old posts. It's still active: The new posts are on the high-numbered pages, and you can skip there.

As an observation, I'd point out that there are finally starting to be some lower-alcohol, lower calorie IPAs that (IMO) have decent flavor. They're not the DIPAs/TIPAs/Imperials, but they may be helpful if you chose to moderate rather than eliminate. So far, of those, I prefer Shorts Lil Huma (95 calories/12oz), but there are others.

On the chocolate front, quite a few people around here say that they save some calories for daily chocolate, and many of those prefer individually-wrapped high-quality dark chocolate as easier to moderate, and more savorable. YMMV. One widely-available type I enjoy is Godiva truffle hearts, at 45 calories each.

You mention both "nutritionist" and "insurance", so I'm thinking you might be in the US. If so, what you'd want in most states is not a "nutritionist" (limited or no credentials required) but rather a "registered dietitian (RD)" (degreed professional).

That said, IMO most intelligent people who don't have any special health conditions can figure nutrition out reasonably well on their own. (BTW, the RDs generally use the same kind of calorie estimating formulas that the online calculators use, not something specially magic.)

To me, an important factor in confidently undertaking a DIY approach is realizing that if we're not already diagnosed as deficient in something(s), we can take our time and gradually work on improving different aspects of eating and nutrition - like calories first, satiation second, macros third, veggies/fruit for micros/fiber next . . . or some other order that makes more sense for an individual. Trying to do it all at once is potentially overwhelming. Working at it over time - using foods you personally enjoy - is much more manageable.

In a general sense, each of weight management, fitness, and nutrition are just about problem solving, persistently and patiently chipping away, gradually improving. Each of us has individual strengths, limitations, preferences, and challenges, so it's going to be a bit of a customization effort.

The good news, for most of us, is that by our 40s/50s or so, we know ourselves pretty well. We've also figured out how to work with our own strengths and inclinations, patiently and persistently over long time periods, to achieve other major life goals, such as getting an education, building a career, making a home, raising a family, and that sort of thing. Those same skills apply to weight management, fitness and nutrition.

In that sense you do have powers you might not have recognized. If you can find one thread to start pulling on in the (seemingly) overwhelming tangle of your health goals, and stick with it, I predict you'll amaze yourself with what you can accomplish over time. The effort needn't be continuously perfect, and an off day is more learning opportunity than "failure". The majority of our days determines the majority of our outcome. Better on average, over time, is enough. Two steps forward and one back is progress, if we stick with it.

I'm betting that if you find one set of habits you can begin changing - pick an easy thing to start, like eating more veggies or a daily walk, maybe - you'll feel a bit more empowered, and you can build on that. You can do this. You've done a lot in your life already, you have the skills you need.

And you're far from alone: There are lots of us on similar paths, maybe just different stages of the path. In particular, there are quite a few menopausal women here who've been quite successful, and they (among other people) will want to help you, if you can get engaged in the MFP Community, ask questions, read threads for ideas, contribute your own ideas, and so forth. It can work.

For sure, I'm cheering for you. You can do this.