Hey ladies.....glad to join you. I am 47 and had my annual physical last month and got the word....perimenopause!! I started menopausal symtoms about 6 months ago with hot flashes....the real ones....the no doubt about it ones....the ones like my mother had at the dinner table that I thought she was faking!!! I have had a lot of weight gain and it has been a terrible battle trying to lose it. I get thrilled to get 3 pounds off and then all of a sudden I am 4 pounds up. It has been very frustrated but have just come to realize that I have to change my lifestyle all together because things will only get tougher as I get older.

I have recently purchased Turbo Fire and Brazillian Butt Lift (couldn't decide between the two). I am have to discipline myself to get out in my exercise room and work out. One of our daughter's recently got engaged and I need to get some of this weight off before the wedding.....thank goodness she hasn't set a date yet but it will be within the year!! Besides getting weight off for the wedding, I have to do something to rid myself of this strange grunting noice I make when I bend down now!!!!

I read a great motivational saying the other day....actually 2.

1) If you keep doing the same things you have always done, then you are going to get the same things that you have always gotten.

2) Suffer the pain of discipline now or the pain of regret later.

So here is my plan..........get disciplined and get that Brazilian Butt!!!

Hi
I just joined the group and would love to weigh in on menopause.
I just joined "myfitnesspal" a couple of days ago.
I have NOT found answers that help me to loose weight. However, I have been able to maintain.
The answer I do not want to hear is exercise. I can 'maintain' by not eating any pasta, white bread or sugar.
I know that sounds like everything. I have also found that if I do not eat any dairy products and avoid even the smallest amount of milk, I do not inflate. Apparently I may had a 'lactose intolerance' thing going on that I tried to ignore because of my love for milk.
I have switched over to only whole grain crackers and breads. I do enjoy rye and oat breads.
My husband has started walking the dog with me before we both leave for work....at 5am! This only earns me 44 calories, but it is a start....
It is kinda funny to be in this group wondering how I gained the weight and how I am going to take it back off.....because as a teenager I was so thin that I looked sickly. I was the last one to be "picked" for a team in gym class because I was so underweight!......2 children and 2 grandchildren later....I am here!:flowerforyou:

When I had my physical my doctor told me to be prepared for weight gain - that the average weight gain at this time of our lives (perimenapausal) is 25 pounds. 7 years ago I weighed 135 pounds and up until about a year ago I had gotten up to 155 and I will take full responsibility for that. Those 20 pounds came on gradually over a 6 year period. But in the past year I shot up another 20 and I am more active than I have ever been. My activity has not been exersize as far as aerobics and weight lifting but doing a lot of moving around....last summer my husband and I either rode bikes 5 miles or walked at a quick pace for 3 miles and I never lost a pound.

We are definitely not teenage girls anymore than can skip 2 meals and lose 5 pounds....our metabolism is coming to a halt which means we need to kick things up a few notches and challenge our bodies. At this point it is not just about the weight, it is about our overall and creating new habits that will combat other issues that we face as aging women.

I am very glad that I found this group and look forward to being an encourager and being encouraged!!:happy:

there are a few ways to help with menopause symptoms and weight gain. With the symptoms I drink ice water and go out side. I take a sweater on and off frenquently and have my home a little cooler. REcently I find that excersice really helps. So with drinking the water and the exercise I should be able to take care of the weight gain. Most of my weight gain since menopause has been in the chest went from a 36 double D to a 38 H. Makes me look even bigger. Hopefully I can lose most of that with the 54 pounds I've gained. No 53 since I started on my fitness pal. This is my third day and I've had so much encouragement I feel like I have a larger family. I got this web site from my doctor, she is so helpful...Thank you!!!

I'm 49 and started peri-menopause about 4 years ago. I've had so many different symptoms. Not too many hot flashes, but when I do get them I usually end up with a rash :blushing: I developed asthma and heart palpitations. I started gaining weight and over the past 4 years have gained about 40 lbs. I've never experienced such intense food cravings before. Now I am on my way to diabetes as I am insulin resistant. I was also having break outs, anxiety, muscle and breast soreness, sleep disturbances, issues with concentration, etc. I've done a lot of research on hormones and food and discovered that for me if I increase my progesterone through food I find that many of my symptoms have eased and if I stay away from sugar and limit my bad carbs, the food cravings are under control. I lost about 10 pounds before joining mfp (actually 15 but gained 5 back) so I know that by sticking to the right foods weight loss can be achieved. Patience. I also feel better. Now I need to work on the sleep issues. I average about 3 hours of sleep a night. The rest of my time in bed is spent tossing and turning. So I wake up tired every morning.

Summerlove, I'm not sure if you ever reach the end of menopause. If you haven't have your period in a year that is when you reach menopause. I know lots of women who still suffer hot flashes decades after having reached menopause. But everyone is different. Maybe a google search could help answer your question.

Nice to hear someone else isn't sleeping! My Perimenopause started over the past year or so. I wake up some nights all sweaty and hot, other nights I'm comfortably cool. My husband can't understand it since he is usually the one who's always hot. The weight gain started creeping up over the past 2 years after I stopped competing in triathlons. Ever since then, I've struggled to keep my weight at only a 10 lb gain. It's amazing that I can gain 3-5 lbs. over night, then lose it just as quickly. Is this normal??? The fatigue was the worst. I just couldn't get motivated to do anything.

So, being a healthcare professional, I started researching and going to seminars on women and menopause. I was a cardio queen, but now, the research says to balance out cardio with more strength training. More muscle means higher metabolism, which is the fight we are fighting, ladies! Lots of B vitamins are also recommended to aid metabolism since most of your B vitamins are catalysts for food digestion/metabolism. It's drinking water that I am having trouble with. At work, it's so hard since I can't keep a water bottle handy (no desktop when you're running around all day). When I remember the water, it seems to help. I agree with others that avoiding sugar and carbs helps, too. I've switched to drinking protein meal replacement shakes for breakfast, which seems to help.

I'm so glad I found this website, and the My Fitness Pal app! Tonight, I was so tired, but when I logged on, it told me I owed 45 min. of exercise today. I decided just to walk for 20 min. I ended up rollerblading for another 25 minutes! So exciting to see the numbers change! And to read all your amazing success stories. Thanks!!

Got measured yesterday. Overall, lost a little over 3 inches in 3 months with 2 lbs lost. If there is no weight loss on Monday, we are trying a new strategy: 1,000 calores on days I don't work out,, 1200 on days I do. Fingers crossed!