to find menopausal weight management mentally exhausting and restrictive?

Then why are you here??

I’m 66, post menopause. I have lost 14.5 kg since the end of January eating meals from Lindsay Wilson’s “Filling Meals” book. It’s really simple, each meal is about 500 calories & very filling. I don’t get hungry, I don’t count calories but I do lose weight! He has a facebook page, Filling Meals with Lindsay. A fair few menopausal women who have previously had difficulty in losing weight but are seeing results following this way of eating and have posted about their experiences on there. It’s worth having a look!

I really don't think HRT is for everyone. I do have heart disease and so have persevered with it for seven years. The sequential was useful to some degree, but the continuous HRT has been an absolute night mare in every way. I have severe ADHD, and I think that the progesterone may have some sort of effect on dopamine. Not only did I gain an extra stone in the nine months I was on it, I felt bloated, in pain and like I was sitting in a black cave of depression. I already had two stone to lose, so this is disheartening.

I have been weaning of it for eight weeks and I feel a million percent better. I am losing weight as did my Mum when she came off of it. She has kept the weight off for the rest of her life. I was told by my practice nurse that HRT protects women from osteoporosis but no osteo arthritis and that is has a neutral effect heart disease. I'm not sure whether it is correct so will be having a bone density scan at some point this year.

I'm not saying you're being unreasonable to be asking. It's a known issue that affects lots of us. Some of us have posted about the role fat plays in creating oestrogen, so there's a scientific basis for it. But it's clear from your posts that you can't eat less than you already are, unless you're willing to take advice like eating on a 20-4 regimen, which maybe works for that poster, but won't work for the majority of us.

As far as I can see, you can
try eating differently
get WLI privately
try HRT
find a happy medium between controlling your weight and living your life

I know you already exercise, but how much general movement is built into your day? Interestingly, while we sometimes moan to each other, most of my friends also aren't dealing with significant menopausal weight, and I think it's in part because we're in London and, in addition to more formal exercise, we tend to walk a lot. When I was recovering from an injury, I did put on a couple kilos that went away when I started walking again but before I was allowed to go back to running or the gym. Yesterday I didn't exercise at all, but I did walk over 19,000 steps, which is pretty typical. I walked the dog, ran errands on foot, did another shorter dog walk, and we went out to dinner and walked home.

I'm honestly not trying to give you a hard time. I'm just a believer in the idea that if something isn't working, try something else.

@Astrabees Yes, I'm on HRT

Are any/all of you on HRT? I’m 70 this year and following a diagnosis of arthritis in one knee I decided it was vital I lose 3 stone. I’m very nearly there and aiming for just below top end healthy weight. I have been doing lots of exercise, including spin, yoga and weight training. I have 1000 calories a day and have cut out all UPF, alcohol and sugar not actually part of fruit etc.
I found an old diary from 2004 when I last had this amount to lose and much to my surprise I lost weight at exactly the same rate then, half a stone a month.
I have been on HRT for over 20 years, presently a Mirena coil and Estrogel. I wonder if this is what helps?
I’m concerned about maintenance too but I do know that if you have a big meal or it is Christmas anything you put on goes very quickly if you get back on diet calories for a few days.
I’m hoping my tastes in food have changed enough not to have problems. The benefits of weight loss for me have been sleeping all night, hardly any pain in my knee and looking a lot better in my clothes , now just reaching size 10. Nuts are out of the question for me, far too many calories.

You can buy a thyroid test kit in Boots for a tenner @DaffodilValley. It's one of those finger prick tests. If you got a concerning result with it, your GP might agree to FBC. (Assuming you can get through to the surgery at all, which many can't.)

Good for you…..?

Are you not struggling with weight gain, then?

Reprogram I also lost 2 stone at 45 I kept it off until 49 whren put one back on. Working hard to lose it again but the method I used at 45 isn’t working anymore. Need to go really hard core but sadly I love wine and cake.

Well op Was at a party last night about 15 women all peak meno age 49-58. Two were visibly slim I know they work bloody hard at it everyone else myself included larger then we were 3 years ago all around the middle.

I hear you OP. I put on quite a bit of weight in my late 40s, even though my diet and exercise was the same as it'd been for years. I made the adjustment to smaller portions, no snacks etc, which worked OK. But now, every indulgence has a price tag, it's depressing. If I have a few slightly indulgent days, eg on holiday, I have to work for a month to get the belly fat off again.

A lot of people here are saying “get bloods done” and “get your thyroid tested”. How do you do that?

My GP surgery don’t just do blood tests because you ask for it, and even if they do them for some other reason they don’t treat or advise unless things are seriously abnormal. The last time I had blood tests done was nearly 10 years ago and it was when I was severely anaemic. I was given an iron supplement and the tests were never repeated. I have no idea if the iron worked to this day.

Are you all suggesting that we can afford private blood tests? Because I definitely can’t afford that.

Speaking only for myself, although my experience has been different, of course I believe the people who are talking about their own experience. My only point was that there's a lot of accepted doctrine these days about insulin resistance, not snacking between meals, fasting, one meal a day, etc. And that if you're following those rules very strictly - to the point where some posters sound like its taking over their lives - and it's still not giving you your desired result, it might not be a bad idea to try another method and see what happens.

Adding, that my other point, just in case anyone hasn't done this, was that it's not a bad idea to make sure your thyroid function is optimal, since periods of hormonal flux are a very common time for thyroid issues to crop up.

I can't believe how many women on here are just not believing the many, many other women who are all saying that during menopause their body changed and they could no longer maintain their weight. It's wound me up and I'm not even one of the posters not being believed. "Simply eat less/move more"! Very condescending and complete lack of listening and consideration that perhaps things are different for people other than you.

This thread has really scare me. I have lost 2st aged 46-47 and really hope I cam keep it off and stay this weight as I get older.

For some people, it does seem to.

After menopause, fat cells are the body's primary source of oestrogen, which is one of the reasons your body wants so badly to hold onto some fat to replace the diminished supply. For some people, I suspect myself included, replacing the oestrogen by other methods, reduces the body's need to create that source of oestrogen. But as a lot of us are saying, everyone's different.

You do seem very determinedly one note on this, though, OP. I feel like there's a degree of possibly unhealthy obsession on your part, so I'll leave you to it.

I am just about managing to maintain my weight but only by being very restrictive. I’ve cut out sugar and refined carbs, I fast 20/4 and eat one meal a day and then once a week I do a 48 hour fast so only eat for six days a week. When I was younger my weight would have dropped rapidly doing this but now it’s static.

I was on HRT and managed to lose weight on it. I gained some back when I stopped it (breast scan scare, horrible, put me off). And the regain was quite rapid. So I think there is something in the theory that the body is reluctant to give up fat, and lays down more as oestrogen is present in fat. If you are supplementing with HRT your body has a ready supply of oestrogen. It also improves sleep - insomnia, fatigue and stress are often culprits when it comes to weight gain and insulin resistance. Midriff fat is terribly hard to budge whatever though.

HRT made me hungry. First I bloated, then I developed a sweet tooth after a lifetime of being a person who liked wine and cheese. I had to stop taking it, even if it did help with sleep and brain fog. I am starting to lose some weight now, slowly. I did a brief course of WLI which seemed to switch of the “eat eat eat” signal.

I agree with the posters about where fat goes changing. Suddenly I had this swimming ring developing around my hips and stomach. I’ve been lean most of my adult life and suddenly I’m pudgy

Please start reading about HRT. Start with the Balance Menopause website & podcasts. In fact, just listen to the very first one from about 7-8 years ago.

Everything starts to go wrong once we lose Oestrogen. It's protective & anti inflammatory. We have receptors all over the body, in our muscles (particularly heart), joints, brain etc etc.

There is no risk being on transdermal, body-identical HRT. The risk is NOT being on it.

Is there a reason you're not on HRT, as it protects against both heart disease and diabetes - as well as osteoporosis and dementia etc etc.

In fact, the evidence now shows that HRT is more effective than stains or blood pressure drugs at preventing heart disease and cardiac events.

Mine is 26.2, did manage to hit 24.9 for about 5 minutes last year by basically not eating anything but salad for a month.

If you can just get yourself on mounjaro. It’ll take the stress off it

Just checked my BMI which is 24.3 which is at the top range of healthy according to the NHS app. Seems much higher than a lot of other posters on here though.