Weight gain

I started beginners pilates which has made a difference, I haven't lost lots of weight - just feel more comfortable in existing clothes, but my family say I look different and I think my posture is better and I feel more confident

It's depressing isn't it? I put on weight after the menopause but managed to lose it by upping my exercise and eating less. I did find that the more active I became, the less tired I was so it is worth pushing on. I could afford to use a personal trainer once a week and I found it really helped to keep me motivated and she made our sessions fun. That was quite a long time ago but once I got to my target weight, I made sure I weighed myself regularly and took action to knock off any extra pounds before I put on too much. I now find the 5.2 diet was very effective and also limiting eating to an 8 hour window, which I am doing now as I need to lose a few pounds again. Good luck and please keep going, I promise you will feel so much better and it might help to keep you fitter too. Find some different friends, no-one needs to be told they are fat!

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.

Hormon3s very much affect weight.

I have a thyroid condition and that has a huge impact on metabolism.

Always worth getting your thyroid checked of you feel energy levels are off or weight isn't moving as it should

Everyone who consumes fewer calories than their body requires will burn fat and lose weight.
Fluid retention excluded.

Hypothyroidism slows your metabolism but if you eat less than your body needs and exercise more you will lose weight. You just don't have the energy to do so.

OP does mention tiring easily

I walk 8-10 miles a day, seems to keep the weight in check.

If your friends are saying 'God you are fat now, they are very rude, the people I know would not dream of saying that and I have put on some weight.
Eat sensibly, try to exercise and do try to stop worrying about it
If you are very tired see your GP and see if there is another reason for it.

It sounds to me there are two issues here:
1. Very rude people making such insensitive comments. The one thing that people who are overweight don't need telling is how overweight they are. Strangely enough, they already know.

2. I think you might need a health screen. As others have said, your tiredness rings alarm bells for things like Hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, etc.

I think that it is easy to keep saying less calories in, more exercise = weight loss. I have not found that and the body is far more sophisticated than that. Scientifically, the way the body burns different forms of food and lays down fat has more of an impact than just reducing calories.

You don't say what diet you are on, Nanna29 but I have found Slimming World very good although I don't have the weight losses that others do but it does gradually drop off.

Hi thanks for sharing your ideas yes im on a calorie counting diet so im eating less than I need. Have been doing it since May havent lost anything im very active I walk 6 to 7 miles a day but im not sleeping well due to hot flushes so could be why im tired. I've been to the doctors they took my blood pressure and gave me hrt. I've always been very slim so the fact im now a lot bigger is probably why people are commenting on it now. It is so right, I know im fat I dont need telling lol

Unfortunately it is the reduction in oestrogen.

There are various natural remedies people recommend for the hot flushes, which are uncomfortable. Do you have a local Holland and Barrett?

You might like this article.

www.healthywomen.org/content/article/estrogen-and-weight-gain-whats-connection

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.

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.

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

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 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!

HRT not HET!

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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