Weight gain after menopause - is it (almost) inevitable?

I put on weight after stopping HRT. Been to a Menopause clinic and they put me on patches. Feel so much better, plus the weight is slowly coming off. Thank goodness.

Curlywhirly

No I didn't gain any weight, but my waist has got a little thicker over the years, other than that no major changes.

Nor did I gain weight. I think a balanced approach works well.

Diet and exercise.

I watch my calories quite carefully and eat plenty of veg, protein, carbs. We walk our dogs 4 times daily.

I have had nothing to eat today to try and get rid of the pound or two I still have extra after Christmas. I have drank cups of tea all day but it has been relatively easy not to eat.

MY GP told me that it is down to genetics a lot if you put on weight at menopaue. He also said there is not a lot you can do about it - great! Although my Mum didn't put on weight, I have unfortunately. I put on a stone during perimenopause and another stone after menopause. I am certainly trying to loose a stone, 2 stone may be a bridge too far and perimenopause was a whie ago fr me. Weight on the hips wasn't so bad but this awful apple shape now looks rotund and is unhelthy of course.

I gained weight over the pandemic, nothing to do with menopause as I have refused to have one.
OH and I used cooking to fill our time constructively and with delicious meals the feature of our days we inevitably gained weight.

I gained 3 stones! Honestly, I swear aliens have invaded my body and taken over! After the menopause I did go to a slimming club and managed to lose nearly 3 stones but I have put it all back on. Each day I try and eat 1200 calories or less and walk about 2 miles plus per day but nothing works. Fed up! I was considering trying that XLS medical tablets but knowing me I will put on even more weight! Grrrrrr!!!!

Despite my every endeavour, my weight started to creep up, no matter what I did. I was constantly calorie counting and controlling what I ate without any effect.

Just after the menopause, I was made redundant into early retirement. DH and I bought a large neglected house and garden. I was on my feet gardening, decorating and walking the local area to get to know it, for up to 8 hours a day, still monitoring everything I ate, and still the weight crept on until my weight was up 2 stone.

My weight stayed at that higher level for about 10 years, despite me even trying fad diets without effect. Then in 2014 Michael Mosely introduced the intermittent fasting 5:2 diet.
I went on it and in4 months I lost the whole 2 stone and in the 8 years since then my weight has stayed stable. I still do the one day a week fasting, it is so automatic, I never feel hungry on that day.

Coastpath with any diet, at any age, you put the weight on you need to lose because you have developed eating patterns that are conducive to weight gain. If you manage to lose that weight with a changed eating pattern, common sense should surely tell you that to are unlikely to keep that weight off if you return to the eating pattern that put the weight on in the first place. Once you get the eating pattern/stable weight balance right, you should be able to not need to be so alert to your weight all the time.

After the menopause I put on about three stone. Like halfpint1 I didn't want to live the rest of my life on that downward slope feeling. I went to Slimming World in 2019 and lost the three stone. Since then every single pound has crept back on.

This week I have decided to something about it. My plan is upping the exercise and swapping salads and veg for the fatty, sugary things I was eating. Fingers crossed it will work, but I reckon if it does I will have to make it a permanent lifestyle change as it seems at this stage in my life the weight will pile on if I don't pay constant attention to it.

There is certainly a shift on many areas around menapause non of which I liked or wanted to live on a downward slope with.
I found loads of interesting podcasts
and the last few years I have changed my eating and exercise habits to suit my lifestyle and feel better now.
Sugar is the no.1 enemy

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Before the menopause, I could control my weight very easily. Any Christmas gains were gone before the New Year

Now, I put on between two and four pounds every winter, usually very quickly over Christmas. I just don't seem to be able to either avoid it or shift it, until April or May when it suddenly drops off as quickly as it was put on.
It happens as if by magic, for no obvious reason whatsoever.

I'm just hoping that the magic continues!

It seems normal to me, most women I know are overweight and the weight has settled around the middle, me too.

From what I've read, although there may be medical reasons like a thyroid problem, it's down to a shift in hormones and drop in metabolic rate. Unfortunately, that means we need to eat less and increase exercise.

My GP has done all the tests and they are normal which I find very frustrating. The only way I manage my weight is eating on a 16/8 regime, I eat between 12 noon and 8 pm and I do some kind of exercise every day. I cycle and walk and I do gym and core work including several hours of high intensity exercise (as recommended by Michael Mosley). I'm still between a half stone and a stone heavier than I ought to be.

Having read a fair bit about epigenetic influences, I suspect I suffer from having the Irish famine in my background. There is a lot of interesting information out there about how the environmental conditions of our ancestors dictate the turning on and off of genes relating to diet and weight but that may be too much for some to take on board.

I have discovered lately that stopping eating any kind of sugar has balanced my blood sugar and I don't get rabidly hungry during the day.

Slimming World didn’t work for me either. The only way I can lose weight is to eat less and cut out bread and most other carbs.

It's not inevitable to gain weight after menopause. In fact it's easier to be lean when the levels of hormones (that ensure we have fat reserves in case of pregnancy) go down. It's other factors that do it.

Reported

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I've both gained and lost weight during and into menopause but all down to my absent appestat.
At 66 I am currently 8 stone lighter than I was at 46.

No I didn't gain any weight, but my waist has got a little thicker over the years, other than that no major changes.

I'm not made right

My thyroid has dictated my weight too. Throughout, from giving birth to the menopause and now to date I've never gained above half a stone.
Saying that, all thyroid tests have been normal after having had scans and fine-needle biopsies in the past. TFT's annually.

No I didn’t gain weight, in fact I lost it, due mainly to thyroid problems

Same here Kandisky can’t say I eat more than when I was younger. When I mentioned it to my GP she said it’s better than losing weight when you don’t want to, which I understand, but still unless I went on a strict diet, that’s how it is I guess!

I had an appointment with an Endocrinologist a few years ago ,Thyroid Problems, and she said to expect a weight gain of Half a stone as normal post menopause.Any thing more shouldn't be accepted as being Menopause gain.
She suggested Slimming World. I went and put ON weight!!! It definitely wasn't the result I was hoping for.