How have you managed to keep the weight off during and after menopause?

[irritablehead1]

I'm post menopausal. I exercise a lot. I try to be careful and eat really low carb (although i do slip, some days) but I can't seem to shift any weight!

Any thoughts?

Very interesting article! Thank you it’s those slip ups of the wrong foods that seem to impact me!

It's taken a while to figure out what works for me but I stopped having breakfast most days, usually have big salad with tofu / humous for lunch and sauerkraut or kimchi for the probiotics.

Then a load more veg with/as dinner, lentils etc, occasional meat. I eat more raw than I used to and way less pasta/rice - one once a week maybe.

And run (with frequent walking moments) 4 days a week for at least 7km.

When I do all this most of the time I can still have cheese frequently and wine/cocktails at the weekend.

I agree with PP that the more bread/similar carbs I eat, the more I can and want to and weight zooms on. I feel just as hungry at lunchtime if I have toast for breakfast as if I don't.

If I can adopt the "just for today" attitude- as in, just for today I'll wait til lunchtime and have salad- I can pass enough days to lose about 1lb in 1-2 weeks or stabilise when I'm at a healthy weight for me. I do love cheese, wine, gin, and pizza so am always putting a bit on then losing it again. The difference to when I was younger is having had to change my overall way of eating.

I weigh less at 57 than I did at 27...but I drink far less alcohol and consume less calories ( about 1400 a day) ....I don’t really excercise a part from dog walking

I eat about 50 % less. I eat better and move more.
I was always a size 8 but went up to a 12, now a 10.
I lost over a stone and I have stayed the same weight for 3 years.
I'm postmenopausal.

@Hydrangeatea

What does "a lot" of exercise mean? How much exercise does the average person on here get?

Four or five sessions of 30-40 minutes Bodypump, combat or something similar like bodybalance or yoga a week. Sometimes I include Grit.

Perhaps that’s not lot for others but it is for me 🙂.

@irritablehead1 all looking good so far, thank you!

Pre cancer I did kickboxing one hour a week, if I couldn't find a reason not to! Then I needed major surgery, with the subsequent recovery. It took several months for me to start any kind of exercise (also had 18 weeks of chemo and 15 sessions of radio). I had to rest when walking round the village to start with. Then I started with a cancer rehab PT on zoom, he was fab. Then I went back on the dojo mats and actually putting the effort in. A few months later, I upped my sessions to at least 2 a week, and also started couch 2 5k. Turns out I HATE jogging /shuffling /running, but LOVE kickboxing - who knew??? Also, I'm quite good at it - one more belt then its my blackbelt 😲. I cannot recommend training with the right instructors enough, we have a family friendly academy and you work to your ability. Fab for toning up and learning some defensive skills - sorry, I'll stop the hard-sell now! I hope you find something which works for you 😁

[quote Icantfindanewname]@irritablehead1 all looking good so far, thank you!

Pre cancer I did kickboxing one hour a week, if I couldn't find a reason not to! Then I needed major surgery, with the subsequent recovery. It took several months for me to start any kind of exercise (also had 18 weeks of chemo and 15 sessions of radio). I had to rest when walking round the village to start with. Then I started with a cancer rehab PT on zoom, he was fab. Then I went back on the dojo mats and actually putting the effort in. A few months later, I upped my sessions to at least 2 a week, and also started couch 2 5k. Turns out I HATE jogging /shuffling /running, but LOVE kickboxing - who knew??? Also, I'm quite good at it - one more belt then its my blackbelt 😲. I cannot recommend training with the right instructors enough, we have a family friendly academy and you work to your ability. Fab for toning up and learning some defensive skills - sorry, I'll stop the hard-sell now! I hope you find something which works for you 😁[/quote]
So great to hear this! I'm really pleased recovery has been so positive.

As it happens, I do boxing. Not kickboxing. But boxing. I've done it for a fair amount of years. I do that and weights, mixed in with some HITT. But I might actually try kickboxing...

If oestrogen has an anti-obesity effect then why do people report that the oral contraceptive pill, contraceptive injection or HRT makes them gain weight ?