Weight loss after menopause

It is possible. Since I started logging on MFP, I have lost almost 54 lbs. I had lost 10 before I found MFP. It has taken me 3 1/2 years to do this, and 99% of my issues have been right between my ears!

I will be 65 in July, and I work with a nutritionist. There have been times when I hit a plateau, and we cut my intake by 100 calories a day. I cannot do it without exercise, and weight training is an integral part of it.

I am 31, 5'8" and (thanks to ovarian cancer) surgically post menopausal. Weight loss is harder now than it would have been 3 years ago. The pounds come off slower, but they do come off if you keep at it.

HI ladies- I am so glad that I found this thread. 3 years ago I was thrust into surgical menopause, I am 5'7 and WAS 164 lbs. It seems like almost overnight I started gaining weight and bellyfat, I consulted my doctor and was told hysterectomy does not cause weight gain. Fast forward 3 years, I look like I have a spare time around my midsection and weigh 189 lbs. I feel so disheartened and desperate to find the "old me" I wish I never would of had this surgery, unfortunately I had a 10cm growth on my R) ovary and it wasn't an option (it turned out benign). Nothing has changed in my life beside my hysterectomy. My question to all of you, what calorie parameters should I use? How many calories, protein, carbs? How do I figure all of this out? Thank you in advance for any information and guidance. P.S. If anyone is interested in being friends I would love that too!

MNNice68 wrote: »

HI ladies- I am so glad that I found this thread. 3 years ago I was thrust into surgical menopause, I am 5'7 and WAS 164 lbs. It seems like almost overnight I started gaining weight and bellyfat, I consulted my doctor and was told hysterectomy does not cause weight gain. Fast forward 3 years, I look like I have a spare time around my midsection and weigh 189 lbs. I feel so disheartened and desperate to find the "old me" I wish I never would of had this surgery, unfortunately I had a 10cm growth on my R) ovary and it wasn't an option (it turned out benign). Nothing has changed in my life beside my hysterectomy. My question to all of you, what calorie parameters should I use? How many calories, protein, carbs? How do I figure all of this out? Thank you in advance for any information and guidance. P.S. If anyone is interested in being friends I would love that too!

Go here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change-goals-guided or More > Goals in app.

Put in your stats.

normal daily activities refers to your job.

Ignore How many times a week do you plan on exercising? - that does not get included in the equation. Log your exercise separately.

Select Lose 1 pound per week.

I suggest using a weight trend app, such as Happy Scale for iphone or Libra for Android.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I'm 59, 5'5", SW 183, CW 144, GW 130 (ish, decide when I get closer). In a typical day I get 300-400 calories of exercise. Currently eating 1400 net (inching it up to slow the loss, wanting more like 0.5 pounds/week).

Quoting myself (bad form, I know) to give an update: That was September 2015. Now it's May, 2016, and I'm now 60 years old. Now, as then, I'm menopausal, and long-term hypothyroid (controlled with meds) as well.

I gradually increased my calorie goal from the 1400 (net) cited above as I got closer to goal . . . and adjusted my goal downward a couple of times, as I learned how I felt at the lowering weights.

For the last 3 months or so, I've been working on maintaining at 120 pounds, plus or minus 3. My net calorie goal is set at 1800, but I think my actual maintenance calories may be more like 2100-2200 net. I keep my daily eating down a bit, but allow for some higher days, and try to keep my weekly average calories per day in the range where I think maintenance is. Still getting 200-some to 500 or more calories of exercise many days of the week, and eating back the exercise calories, too.

I know I'm on the (very, very) lucky side as far as my calorie level, but am admitting it in public so that folks realize the "low calories in menopause" thing is not a universal. With accurate logging, you can work out the arithmetic, and figure out where you need to set your goal to gain, lose or maintain. The calculators are just an estimate, and could be off in either direction.

@AnnPT77 I don't think self-quotes are bad form at all and am interested in another update from you.

kshama2001 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I'm 59, 5'5", SW 183, CW 144, GW 130 (ish, decide when I get closer). In a typical day I get 300-400 calories of exercise. Currently eating 1400 net (inching it up to slow the loss, wanting more like 0.5 pounds/week).

Quoting myself (bad form, I know) to give an update: That was September 2015. Now it's May, 2016, and I'm now 60 years old. Now, as then, I'm menopausal, and long-term hypothyroid (controlled with meds) as well.

I gradually increased my calorie goal from the 1400 (net) cited above as I got closer to goal . . . and adjusted my goal downward a couple of times, as I learned how I felt at the lowering weights.

For the last 3 months or so, I've been working on maintaining at 120 pounds, plus or minus 3. My net calorie goal is set at 1800, but I think my actual maintenance calories may be more like 2100-2200 net. I keep my daily eating down a bit, but allow for some higher days, and try to keep my weekly average calories per day in the range where I think maintenance is. Still getting 200-some to 500 or more calories of exercise many days of the week, and eating back the exercise calories, too.

I know I'm on the (very, very) lucky side as far as my calorie level, but am admitting it in public so that folks realize the "low calories in menopause" thing is not a universal. With accurate logging, you can work out the arithmetic, and figure out where you need to set your goal to gain, lose or maintain. The calculators are just an estimate, and could be off in either direction.

@AnnPT77 I don't think self-quotes are bad form at all and am interested in another update from you.

Wow, that was a looonnnng time ago: 2016!

Not going to give a full play by play. I'm now 67, of course still menopausal, still at a healthy weight, still in the same jeans size (have been the whole time). All the health stuff - blood pressure, lipids, etc. - has remained really good the whole time without meds needed for that stuff.

My weight gradually crept up over about 4 years (the jeans were getting snug). I didn't have the spirit for much of a deficit, decided to slowly creep weight back down, half a pound or less a week. One bright spot (?) of pandemic lockdown was less restaurant eating, which made the creep-down easier.

I kept working out, bought a stationary bike to replace the pandemic-canceled spin classes in Winter (alternated that 6 days most weeks with rowing machine that's been in my Winter life for almost 20 years). Couldn't row boats - my active joy - for a while because boathouse in public park was closed, so walked and biked more on the paved trail system in non-Winter until I could row again.

If I stop being active, after a few days I feel miserable: Moody, stiff, joints ache more, etc. That gets me going again. It helps that I've been active for 20 years (during the first dozen of which I stayed overweight/obese, BTW).

Looking backward and using math, I ran about a 100 to 150-calorie average daily deficit for over a year, lost something around 10-15 pounds pretty painlessly. Along the way, I decided to increase goal weight to 125 pounds. I got there, mid 2021.

Right now, I've crept back up (predictably) to 130 plus or minus a couple of pounds, mostly from struggling to regain self-management skills in the face of more social/restaurant eating.

Still figuring maintenance calories are somewhere in lower 2000s (with the exercise). My routine plan is still to eat 1850 + exercise most days, which is a tiny deficit, and indulge more than that goal occasionally. Close enough.

Personalization of tactics is key, IMO. We all have different preferences, strengths, challenges.

The results of figuring it out are so, so, worth it - my body feels better, I'm physically more functional, my mood is better . . . than when I was in my mid-40s. I want to keep it that way as long as possible.

@kshama2001 Thank you, I’ve been catching up on that thread and my mind is blown. So much I didn’t know. Tbh I’m now a little terrified but at least I’m more informed.

kshama2001 wrote: »

ddsb1111 wrote: »

@kshama2001 Thank you, I’ve been catching up on that thread and my mind is blown. So much I didn’t know. Tbh I’m now a little terrified but at least I’m more informed.

Well, bear in mind that thread is self selecting towards horror stories. Some women sail through menopause. All I remember my sister mentioning was night sweats, and Gabapentin helped her with that. (Be advised it can increase appetite though.)

I think it's a general truth that most of us feel our own problems more deeply than we feel what we hear from others, so menopause symptoms can be something of a shock. (It's also had a history as a thing we weren't supposed to talk about, but now the genuine problems are sort of becoming amplified as a marketing hook in some places.)

On top of that, I'd observe that for any human challenge, a small minority will be inclined to self-dramatize or catastrophize. I'm not intending to diss women who have severe symptoms at menopause, because I know that that's a very real phenomenon. But for any human challenge, there will be people who self-dramatize or catastrophize, and we're maybe more likely to hear from them on threads. For the reader, it can be hard to sort which is which.

claireychn074 wrote: »

I’m the drama queen! It’s me! 😀

My mum just had the flushes and odd night sweats, and i strongly suspect my symptoms’ severity is due to peri on top of fibroids. One of my colleagues just stopped periods one day and…that was it.

We’re all reaching out to get support so it is self selecting I’m afraid. The ones who sail through it won’t have the stories to share.don’t be terrified- there are soooooo many resources out there now to help everyone!

I'm sure you are at least partially kidding, but am going to respond as if you were 100% serious: if anything, you are UNDER-dramatizing. It IS a BIG deal if you have concerns about leaving the house and simply living your life.

We may not notice our periods getting heavier from month to month, and it's not until a doctor FINALLY takes us seriously, or we realize that a normal period is 35-40 ml of blood / 70-80 ml of fluid - I could lose that in a sneeze on a heavy day - that we realize just how bad things have become. Since fibroid-related heavy bleeding normally increases over a period of years, we get used to it.

Thank you for your support @kshama2001 and @AnnPT77 🥰 I was partly jesting and partly serious. The jest as I was trying not to terrify other posters, and the serious because i still sometimes doubt if I have an issue or if I’m just being a wuss. Let me just clarify that I DON’T think any woman who is struggling with periods is a wuss, but GPs in the UK receive v little training on any stage of the female hormone journey. That means I’ve been medically gaslighted - sometimes unintentionally I am sure - over the years. And of course it then becomes easy to believe the docs and think I am just being “over sensitive” (that was a phrase used).

I have now been listened to and I am being helped, so there is defo light at the end of the tunnel 😀

Such an old thread, funny to read my old replies. My own update is that I'm 60 now and STILL have heat flashes, though less severe for sure.

We rescued a Siberian Husky puppy at the end of June, huuuuuuuge life change for us (first time dog owners, always had cats, but the comparison of cats v. dogs is laughable) and we walked her over 100 miles in July. I dropped enough weight to fit into some super-tight shorts I sewed earlier this year, so happy about that. Weight loss definitely happens in menopause/later years... whether that's good news or bad is up to each individual.

I think it's good news. (Why would it be bad? Because some people rely on excuses. Not being argumentative, just reporting what I've experienced on these forums and in real life.)

Thank you for your advice and links etc. No ovaries, have discussed situation with doctor who perfomed the surgery and several NP's in the last couple of years, I feel like it all falls on deaf ears, they offer a anti-depressant and tell me exercise more, eat less. There is more to it than that. I wish I could find a NP or doctor who listens to their patients and not the tests which have come back "falls within the normal range".

MNNice68 wrote: »

Thank you for your advice and links etc. No ovaries, have discussed situation with doctor who perfomed the surgery and several NP's in the last couple of years, I feel like it all falls on deaf ears, they offer a anti-depressant and tell me exercise more, eat less. There is more to it than that. I wish I could find a NP or doctor who listens to their patients and not the tests which have come back "falls within the normal range".

What all was tested? Specifically wondering if your estrogen was tested?

kshama2001 wrote: »

Neither of us had had a Working Dog breed before. So much work! So worth it, but he had behavior problems until we figured out he needed to be worked and worked.



Your n=1 indicates that a large part of the problem with weight gain for women "of a certain age" is decreased activity.

Yep, most likely. I've been losing just fine. Posting mostly snarky and otherwise unrelated comments in 'Lets do this' and have lost about 2-2.5kg since starting exactly a month ago. Which to be honest is a bit too fast for my liking. Conclusion? More food, and especially more snacks!