Menopause & Weight Loss?

TeresaWash
TeresaWash Posts: 283
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 50 years old and have been going through menopaus the last 2 or 3 years. 3 Years ago I had lap band surgery, I have learned to eat healthy and I go to the gym 5 times a week sometimes more. I have lost 160 pounds over 3 years. I don't starv. I eat heathy, get about 1400 calories a day and exercise regularly but the past 6 months no matter what I do I can not lose an ounce! I weighed 432 pounds when I started and I still weigh 272 so I should still be able to lose weight with the calories and exercise I am getting. I have been reading a little about Menopause and weight loss, but everything I read ends up some gimick trying to sell you something. Is it really so impossible for menopausal women to lose weight? Any thoughts? I think a trip to my doctor and nutritionist is in order, but just wondering what you guys think?

Thanks!

Replies

  • cherryblossomrose
    cherryblossomrose Posts: 41
    Hi

    Maybe try changing your exercise routine. Your body gets used to a particular regime. A change will alter your metabolism so that you burn fat more effectively.
  • zkj2jdbr99
    zkj2jdbr99 Posts: 1 Member
    I just read somewhere that when we plateaued we have to eat a little more. We have to constantly adjust the food and exercise accordingly to how much we loose. You may not be eating enough calories needed to sustain you at your current weight to exercise ratio. Your body tends to hold on to our fat as a defense mechanism for starvation. If we eat enough ( a little more than usual) more for your current weight loss to exercise ratio. (You’re doing the same amount and/or eating the same amount as when your weight was prior to you loosing) Because you weigh less, the demand for food increases. Otherwise if you’ve doing and eating the same amount, your body will hold on to the weight as protection. So eat a little more. I find that the free websites that gives me my daily calorie intake based on my weight height and goal weight helps. I hope this helps.
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 889 Member
    edited April 2024
    It’s a misconception you need to eat more (starvation mode), change your exercise up, and menopause preventing weight loss. All total myths, fortunately.

    Are you weighing all calories and logging it in your diary? Can you share your diary with us?
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,747 Member
    zkj2jdbr99 wrote: »
    I just read somewhere that when we plateaued we have to eat a little more. We have to constantly adjust the food and exercise accordingly to how much we loose. You may not be eating enough calories needed to sustain you at your current weight to exercise ratio. Your body tends to hold on to our fat as a defense mechanism for starvation. If we eat enough ( a little more than usual) more for your current weight loss to exercise ratio. (You’re doing the same amount and/or eating the same amount as when your weight was prior to you loosing) Because you weigh less, the demand for food increases. Otherwise if you’ve doing and eating the same amount, your body will hold on to the weight as protection. So eat a little more. I find that the free websites that gives me my daily calorie intake based on my weight height and goal weight helps. I hope this helps.

    What??? NO. Actually the opposite is true. And why resurrect a thread from 2013 just to post nonsense?

    @ddsb1111 is correct. The first two responses to the OP are myths.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,705 Member
    zkj2jdbr99 wrote: »
    I just read somewhere that when we plateaued we have to eat a little more. We have to constantly adjust the food and exercise accordingly to how much we loose. You may not be eating enough calories needed to sustain you at your current weight to exercise ratio. Your body tends to hold on to our fat as a defense mechanism for starvation. If we eat enough ( a little more than usual) more for your current weight loss to exercise ratio. (You’re doing the same amount and/or eating the same amount as when your weight was prior to you loosing) Because you weigh less, the demand for food increases. Otherwise if you’ve doing and eating the same amount, your body will hold on to the weight as protection. So eat a little more. I find that the free websites that gives me my daily calorie intake based on my weight height and goal weight helps. I hope this helps.

    1. Sadly, it's a zombie thread. High odds those people from 2013 aren't even checking in anymore.

    2. The bolded things are myths or misunderstandings. If that were true, no one would ever starve to death, or they'd be fat when they did. Sadly, very many people worldwide do die of starvation daily, and they're skeletally thin when that happens, with the exception of those who have distended bellies from protein deprivation (which is swelling/edema/water, not fat).

    Better (more science-based) overview of metabolic adaptation in the first few posts of this thread (the ones by the thread's OP):

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1

    Also, goal weight has nothing directly to do with estimating calorie goal. (It can affect nutritional requirements, kinda. How much in total we have to lose may affect how fast we can safely lose (can lose faster when more fat). But eating fewer calories than we burn is how we lose fat, no matter how much weight we plan to lose.)

    P.S. Just as bona fides: I weigh around 2/3 of what I used to, and have been at a healthy weight for around 8 years, after 30 years of overweight/obesity and just under a year of loss, while menopausal and severely hypothyroid besides. None of that bolded stuff ever happened to me.

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