Weight gain

Another rotten thing with the menopause...or monsterpause as I call it!

I'm registered physically disabled with crippling Rheumatoid arthritis and a permanently damaged bad back, I can't exercise at all so the weight is piling on and I hate it! I'm only 5'1 and about 17 stone and I can't shift it at all no matter what boring diets I do or how much I don't eat for days at a time!

I wish I could lose the weight as easily as I lose my mind!

I gave up processed sugar back in December as it was keeping me awake at night and giving me numb hands in my sleep. I believed that menopause meant I wouldn't be able to lose weight (especially as I'd put on so much during lockdown). But the upshot is that I don't have sugar cravings anymore which you get with glucose spikes and dips. Plus I've lost about a stone since in that time without dieting which I simply don't believe in. I have berries and yogurt for breakfast and if I do need to eat something sugary (eg birthday cake) I follow The Glucose Goddess advice and have a tablespoon of vinegar in a glass of water which lowers the glucose spike.

I agree that to lose weight you need a large calorie deficit but there is lots of evidence to suggest that the menopause can cause weight gain due to hormones. However, we have to be mindful of what we eat and drink as we get older and it’s not impossible to lose weight if we try hard enough.

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Esspee

Weight gain is caused by eating more calories than you expend. If you start eating fewer calories than you expend you will loose weight. It is very simple.
Incidentally I say this as a size 10 who is now a size 16. I simply lack the willpower but at least I don't blame menopause.

This is the simple truth!

Most women need a lot less calories as they get older. Anything over 800 calories and I put weight on! Took me a long time to process that.

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Having struggled with my weight all my adult life I refused to take HRT as one of the side effects was weight gain (might be different now) I also have hypothyroidism and even though I take Thyroxine every day I still find it VERY difficult to lose weight even on a very low calorie diet. I would suggest getting your thyroid checked in the first instance.

Hi Nana I totally agree oestrogen is vitally 8mportant but if you still have a uterus you have to take progesterone along side it....Aly

Thank you AreWeThereYet

M0nica Glad it was helpful - I can't watch too much of her, she's a bit too strident for me but sometimes explains things well. I do IF as well - 16 hours fast and 8 hour eating window when I eat almost anything I like except anything with sugar.

There are two other YouTubers I watch who are excellent in explaining weightloss, diabetes, fatty liver and varies other problems - Dr Sten Ekberg and Dr Eric Berg. Neither are medical doctors, by the way. As far as I know medical doctors aren't taught nutrition other than government guidelines.

I also have the problem that I can only eat what I can afford. my work is also really physical think sweat pouring off you and walking miles every day. Im refusing cake and biscuits and upping my veg intake and I have bought a diet protein shake from holland and barret. Im going to check out the links people have shared ive also went from 5 6 to 5 4 my family are really supportive so thats great and ive just started hrt so I.ll see what happens. I work from 9.30 till 10 pm most days so sometimes I have to eat later thanks everyone

AreWeThereYet I googled Dr Ann Parham and discovered that she is recommending intermittent fasting, which was what finally worked for me.

The pieces of the jigsaw are fitting together.

dragonfly46

Interesting - I take tablets to totally reduce my oestrogen but have not gained weight.

I'm about to start medication to block oestrogen, as part of my cancer treatment, so I'm interested too.

I've never been overweight and my weight has never fluctuated significantly, despite having T2 diabetes since my mid 30s.

I've kept a close eye on my weight for 30 years and do something (eat less) whenever I've gained a kilo. I'm quite nervous about the effect hormone therapy might have on my weight and glucose levels.

Totally agree with M0nica. As little as 20 years ago (which was when I completed my degree in nutrition and dietetics) we knew very, very little about hormones and enzymes in the body or about how exercise affects the body. Things have changed a lot since then and we now know a lot more about how the hormones and enzymes work together in our body and how they are affected by food, alcohol and exercise.

There is a lady called Dy Ann Parham on YouTube who talks specifically about weight and people who are aging (mainly women). Do a search for her videos and listen to what she says is happening in your body when you eat.

For those not worried about YouTube links this is one of her videos about losing weight before, during and after menopause

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqDfUz1kAok

Interesting - I take tablets to totally reduce my oestrogen but have not gained weight.

Esspee I profoundly disagree. Recent research has shown that the relationship between food, calorie values and how our metabolisms work is far more complex than you suggest and the simple equations of the past calories in + calories used + fat, no longer holds good. How our very different metabolisms handle food and deal with different forms of calories, plus the constituents of our biome means that our bodies handle food in different ways.

Recent research is also discovering genetic elements that affect how peoples bodies handle food and, while, it has long been recognised that there is a genetic component in extreme eating and weight problems like Praader-Willi syndrome, there are other genetic changes that affect how people metabolise their food.

I put on weight after the menopause, despite reducing how much I ate drasticaly, I also was retired early(redundancy) and bought a big old house to restore with a big overgrown garden, where iwould spend 4 or 5 hours a day clearing and digging, when not undertaking house restoration work.

Nothing stopped the weight gain, until I hit a plateau, where no matter how much I ate or didn't eat, my weight never varied, Then when I was about 70 Michael Mosely introduced the 5:2 diet. I followed it, but limited my calories on non diet days, as far as possible to an average of 1200 calories which obviously excluded, holidays, birthdays and special celebrations. I lost 2 stone in 4 months without any effort and eating more than I had eaten in years. Whether it was the diet, or just that my hormones had adjusted with age. I do not know. Again since then myweight has been stable regardless of days or weeks of indulgence or dietary austerty.

I have just clicked on the link in razzaatazz's post and totally agree with it, especially the link within the link to oestregon and weight gain.

Another cause of fat gain, if not weight gain, is that as we get older we shrink in height. The cartilege disks between our spinal bones shrink and become thinner and we can slowly lose as much as 2 inches in height by the time we are 80, if you have osteoporosis or a baxk injury that leads to a crushed vertibrae, it can be even more and requires even further weight loss to stay within approved parameters.

Thanks for your replys i will so some research on everything you have all recommended thanks!

I have a friend who is complaining of the same. She is very careful with what she eats, but drinks a lot of wine = a lot of calories!

Whatever your calorie intake if you are not losing weight it is far too high.
We all have a different metabolic rate, we each need a different intake to maintain our weight. If you are not losing then you need to eat less. It is surprisingly simple.
There are lots of ways to reduce your intake. 5:2, limiting hours of intake, slimming world, no carbs, just eat half, as long as you eat less than your body needs you WILL lose weight.
Another way to approach it is to greatly increase your energy requirement by upping exercise but not increasing your food intake.
I know how to do it. I just don’t feel motivated. If you are determined and understand what I have said you will lose weight.

HRT not HET!

I was told that if a person cuts calories for a long diet their metabolism slows and this can lead to weight gain on return to a normal diet. Hence yo-yo dieting.
I used the nhs app to work out my bmh and get a target. It said to eat 1500 calories a day to lose 8lbs. I used their calculator to work out my current calorie intake and was surprised to see it was 1500 calories. I have hypothyroidism, post menopausal, have 1 ovary and wouldn’t take HET because i used to have endometriosis.
Think I’ll just go with the flow!

I've gained and lost and regained and relost weight for fifty years. I continued the same pattern throughout menopause.

My issue is a combination of willpower - either iron or non-existent - with a dash of food as a coping mechanism thrown in.

I think Espee that Nana29 has been given HRT as she mentioned it in her previous post yesterday.

Nana29 Have you considered taking oestrogen to protect you from the health issues associated with the menopause? Not only can it reverse the hot flushes, brain fog, anxiety and depression but more importantly it will help prevent the more debilitating long term effects which usually show up after the age of 60 or more. I am referring to osteoporosis, incontinence, vaginal atrophy, arthritis, loss of libido, prolapse etc.
You can take oestrogen for the rest of your life, many of us do, giving you a much better quality of life in your latter years.
Your GP should be able to assess whether ìt could be of benefit to you.

limiting eating to an 8 hour window

We have started doing this too foxie48 - absolutely nothing except black coffee or water outside the 8 hour window and no snacking between meals. So fasting for 16 hours (8 of which we are asleep anyway). This is how most people used to eat anyway, breakfast then lunch then dinner (if you were lucky, of course) without all the snacks and late night eating.

I've put on weight slowly over the last ten years but during lock down suddenly started eating chocolates and my weight has jumped up. I never weigh, just go by the feel of my clothes, but as we were measured recently during the English Health Survey we decided to measure and I've already lost 2 inches off my waist and 1 inch off my hips.