Menopause weight gain

I am short and always weighed around 8st whatever I did or ate. After the menopause my boobs turned into melons and I insidiously started to gain weight until I was around 10stone. About 3 years ago I was told I was pre diabetic which concentrated my mind dramatically. I cut down on carbohydrates and over a year lost a stone and a half, and have maintained it. Also try and walk more.

I would love to lose a stone and a half if I could. Like Gilly1952, it's the red wine which is responsible. Oh, and a love of cheese! Apart from that I eat a very healthy diet, lots of veg, meat is mostly chicken and we eat fish. But - genuine question...I wonder who came up with the BMI range, and on what basis and what evidence. Please let me know if anyone has an answer, I am curious.

I've just looked it up.

I took the decision not to go through the menopause but have gained weight so I believe it is nothing to do with lack of oestrogen but an age related slow down of metabolism.
(In my case having a new partner who is an even better cook than me doesn't help ?)

I've put on about a stone, but I can live with that. (Clothes sizing seems to have changed upward, thankfully. I'm a size 12, when I was sometimes a 14 before that stone became an almost permanent fixture.) What I find difficult is that my body seems to have changed shape. Even if I lose that stone (as I have, several times!) my waist fails to reappear. I guess I've become the apple shape which I've heard about.

Antonia, an economist came up with the BMI calculation. Its purpose was to measure the comparative well being of different countries based on calculating the BMI of a large sample of its inhabitants. It was not designed for nor ever meant to be used to calculate the obesity of individuals.

The BMI works much as all other averages work, about one third of all calculations are accurate, a third over estimate the obesity level (the classic highly muscled sports person). One third under estimate the level of obesity, that is, it says that someone is not obese when they are (I fall into that category.)

Which leaves the question, who was it who thought that this economic statistic could be adapted for calculating individual obesity levels. The man was Ancel Keys, who suggested and then sold the idea that the BMI was the ideal way to calculate obesity.

Over the years many people have expressed doubts about its reliability. One of the best articles on the subject is www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/bmi/bmi-flaws-history-other-ways-measure-body-weight/

Thank you MOnica. I find your posts thoughtful and informative.

Thank you.

Esspee I don't believe you can decide not to go through the menopause. Do you mean you started taking HRT so that you would be unaware of the menopause, ie symptoms when your ovaries stopping oestrogen production?

I've been vegetarian for years and 3 years ago I became vegan. I don't have a problem with my weight, eat what I want and exercise regularly. I would go as far as to say I have a better figure now than in my teens.
Never had hot flushes and I put that down to soya milk. There's a lot to be said for a plant based diet.

I was fortunate to have a symptomless menopause, weight gain apart. I have always been an omnivore.

I can't help feeling that if you are comfortable living with the size you are, then that is okay. If you are not, then reduce how much you eat until you are comfortable. Remember that a lot of people become less active as they get older, so need to eat less to maintain their energy levels. Also, some people are perfectly happy and comfortable being whatever others would call fat. Obese, on the other hand, is a more serious health issue.

I have been lucky throughout my life in my teens ... twenties I weight 7stone ish.

Overtime my weight has increased to 8st 3lb, I am now 61 years of age 5 ft 3 inches wearing a size 8. I put the control of my weight down to following a combination of 5.2 and British Heart Foundation diet guidelines.

I am never hungry and enjoy my food.

Perhaps I am just lucky.

I had weighed 10 3/4 stone since having huge twins and it crept up to just over 11 stone. At just 56 I think I am post-menopausal now (hard to tell after a hysterectomy at 49) and last year my weight went up to nearer 12 stone even though I didn't eat more and walk a lot; my bra size went from C/D cup to FF. I'm trying a Rosemary Conley diet and lost 3-4 lbs in week one, but barely a pound in week two. I'm quite disappointed, as I too hate being hungry and calorie-watching all the time. Will probably try the 5:2 again as it helped a few years ago.

I didn't have any symptoms with the menopause - my periods just gradually stopped and didn't put on any weight.
I think same as poster earlier - HRT is just more money for the drug companies. I am sick of people going on about the menopause So what?
I don't take any medication for anything and try not to eat sugar or processed food, don't drink or smoke and love the outdoors anyway so maybe I am fortunate?
We are being told ad infinitum how to be healthy and I think that's the way to go.
Ditch the car, get out there, leave out the cakes and booze, rise off your arses and get on with life!
I am keeping my fingers crossed for me and everyone else on here.

Finally what about all those blokes out there developing disgustingly huge guts? What do you think is that all about? Do they have a menopause with HRT?

My Menopause finished at 55. One of the worst experiences of my life, even though it is a natural process. Never had problem with weight gain before being perimenopausal, and remained size 10, 8 stone 8lb , 5'4 until aged 50 when my torso got larger with enormous boobs and I put on about 10 pounds. I now need size 12 tops although size 10 in skirts a trousers are still fine, as the clothing manufacturers have very kindly increased the waist size for a 10 over the last 20 years! It's like I've had a boob job but I hate it as it's matronly at my height, especially with the bloated belly. I have managed to tackle most of weight gain and some of the bloating by being careful about diet, (portion control) time restricted eating,(nothing after 7.pm) and reasonable amount of exercise. Larger boobs remain in situ however and I now hate wearing previously favourite Breton tops with their horizontal stripes.

I gained weight at around 49 even though my diet hadn't changed. I've always watched my weight very carefully. I thought the gain was down to laziness and greed. Now I'm not so sure.

I'm managing better now, but like a pp have much bigger boobs and a tendency to look like a barrel. Not a good look!

I can only manage to stay within an acceptable bmi range by regularly exercising and limiting calories to 1200 per day.

It's so much harder now.

Hi iv gained 5 stone since my menopause started 3yrs ago but i think some of that could be fluid/water though as i eat healthy and dont do takeaways or junk food but my weight is still rising, its baffled my doctor who says just keep doing what im doing so i dont know what to do to lose weight. Confused!?

Hi...I think I am a bit strange as I always struggled to lose weight. People told me to expect the worst during menopause. My mother had a particularly bad menopause so I was absolutely dreading it! When it came..I didn't even notice it! One month I had a period...the next I didn't...that continued for a few months and I thought "Is that it? am I on the change?" No hot flushes, no irrational behaviour. I was still overweight though so decided to enrol on Slimming World programme....I lost 3 stone in a year and have never felt better! My tummy is flat..without exercise....my energy levels are brilliant. My blood pressure plummeted, my cholesterol levels plummeted (even my gp was amazed) I am still looking to lose another 10bls to get to my ideal weight BUT am so amazed at how easy it was to lose the 3 stones in first place.

It REALLY is down to what you eat... NOT the Menopause

I did low carb diet last year but vegetarian version which was hard.I lost over a stone now back to correct weight and since then I’ve not put on weight even lost a few pounds.

I’m 51, 5’10” tall and have always been relatively slimmish, however just when 50 came around (with the menopause) I found my waistline was expanding and it became harder to lose weight by my usual methods. However, as a fan of Dr Michael Mosley, I found out about Time Restricted Eating and, to start with, have been fasting between 9pm and 9am each day. I have found that just eating a normal healthy diet (with the occasional treat or two), the weight is now coming off. Obviously exercise and just being sensible as regards my sweet tooth are essential elements I think, but just when I thought it was all downhill for me from now on, this TRE looks like a really good route to allowing my body to do its essential housekeeping processes over the fasting period (10-12 hours maybe), which it can’t do when it has to process calorific intake. I intend to tweak it to fast for 14 hours so my food consumption window is 10 hours in due course. I think it’s the way forward for me as I hate traditional ‘dieting’.