Short sharp fast weight loss ideas for peri menopause/menopause?

[regularbutpanickingabit]

I know this isn’t a great idea and I know that slow and steady weight loss is best but I’m desperate for a quick solution. Also embarrassed.

I have 8 weeks until I am a matron of honour at my sister’s wedding abroad. It’s somewhere very very hot. The dress has been bought. There’s a week of festivities, all requiring skimpy, elegant or pretty dresses. And swimwear.

I have steadily put on weight over the last 3 years and am now at my heaviest and the vast majority of it is on my stomach. I look like I am 6-7 months pregnant and I hate it. My neck is fat. My face looks bloated. I look a lot older than I am because of it. I am approaching a dangerously high BMI.

I am going through peri menopause. My usual lowish carb, drink more water, move more approach is just not working. I can’t do high impact gym glasses or go running because I’ve damaged my hip and had an ankle op a few months ago. Walking isn’t that easy for the same reason.

My head is not in the right place. My sleep is disordered. I am not eating huge amounts of crap but I’m not eating well. Alcohol only at weekends but I can’t not have a few drinks then.

I am thinking a quick fix diet to lose some weight fast will help everything. It will get me out of a rut, get me feeling positive again by seeing myself starting to look better and just kick start a healthier relationship with food and drink again.

I am dreading this wedding and I don’t want to feel like that. I don’t want my obesity to be forever immortalised in those pictures. I want to have a goood time celebrating my beautiful sister and not be worried about this. I won’t be slim but there’s a big difference between beaches whale and slim and I want to fall somewhere else than where I am. I know that’s vain.

i also know i won’t lose all the weight in that time but I am desperate to do something significant and fast.

Can anyone recommend a solution that has worked for them?

Thank you.

Fasting and 2 low carb meals a day.
Eat at 1pm and then usual dinner time. Nothing inbetween (science is something to do with the less you raise your insulin levels, the more weight you lose) Eat protein and lots of veg and enough to be filling.
Sort out your sleep as that's pretty important.

It’s not for everyone, but I did one meal a day and lots of exercise - swimming, lots of walking and gym. Swimming can be quite gentle if you cannot do high impact and lots of walking. It’s hardcore, but really works quickly. I had a couple of stones to lose and did it quickly and haven’t put it back on either.

Could you take up swimming daily? It would help tone you. Then maybe some light shapewear, but ultimately i think a lot of its metabolism and hormonal.

Also as for diets. I dont know how much difference they make, but my cousin swears by eating chicken and salad for every meal and nothing much inbetween, but its boring as hell.

Intermittent fasting. High protein low carb. No sugar. No booze. Swimming. Functional strength training - buy some dumbbells and find loads of YouTube workouts.

I think the alcohol needs to go or at least be limited to one drink a day on the weekend, and nothing during the week. Not only is it empty calories, but it is also hunger inducing and your will not feel like eating healthily after drinking.

Otherwise, maybe try 8/16 (eat for 8 hours a day), go swimming, do weights (this will keep your metabolism up), and just watch what you eat. Only eat things that your body needs in terms of fuel, drink water and no soft drinks/juice etc. As you get lighter, the pressure on your hips will lessen too and you will be able to do more and more.

Thanks. I haven’t tried fasting before. I’m ok with working out low carb meals, just need to actually do it. I think portion control is also part of the issue.

Not sure how I could do one meal a day, that’s part of the problem. No swimming pool within easy access here and I work full time so no time to go further afield. I am also so in happy with how I look that I would probably cry if I had to get in to a swimsuit in public.

Strict keto and lots of exercise, you’ll look very different in 8 weeks.

( wouldn’t do it for much longer, though)

Thanks. No pool close enough to make that work but I do have some hand weights I could try and find a YouTube class for. Chicken and salad every meal would bore me but I would prefer that to looking like this! It’s that discipline that’s missing and has changed with the hormone changes. I’m just always low level lethargic and sad about it. I’ve been bigger before but as soon as I start seeing a change through diet and exercise then it flips a switch and I want to do more. That’s just not happening at the moment.

Swimming is out but I will see what I can find for the weights. You are right about the booze and I’ve given up before which is why I’m upset with myself for not seeming to be able to do it this time.

Thank you. Sounds like all of you are recommending variation on that theme. I think I need to get organised with my shopping and fry again.

Can I ask one more thing? Would it be a very bad idea to go on a meal replacement system?

Fast 800/Blood Sugar Diet - Michael Moseley

800 calories of low carb food designed to give you the nutrients you need whilst kick starting weight loss. Lots of dietary research has gone into this. Once you've done the 800 cals a day phase you move onto the 5:2 diet of two days fasting and it's based on the Mediterranean diet of lots of veg, lean protein, small amounts of carbs.

It re-educates your eating habits and it does work. You'll get people responding saying 800 calories a day is starvation and it's not sustainable but it's not starvation and the 800 calories phase is not designed to be long term.

ITV Hub and BBC iPlayer might have some of the past TV programmes on them for you to watch. The books are widely available and easy to read.

I'm thinking of doing this as I'm doing and feeling the same as you OP. I weighed myself this morning and it's given me the kick I need. We're going to a wedding at the end of July and on holiday in September so I need to do something.

Weigh yourself and take your measurements. Take photos of you now and retake them and your measurements every couple of weeks. It gives you the incentive to carry on. Yes, factor in exercise, but most weight loss 80-90% is from consuming fewer calories than you expend. Walking is a fantastic free form of exercise. Get a cheap fitness watch to count your steps - every step every day helps.

Good luck. I'd be interested in being in a support group too as I really need to make changes.

Cambridge 1:1 diet. It's hard but manageable for eight weeks

Definitely low carb and not meal replacement. Check out the low carb boot camp threads on here for sone guidelines. As you’re already low ish carb it shouldn’t be too hard. I also don’t eat till lunch.

I can highly recommend following ' The Glucose Revolution' way of eating, half stone went over three weeks I'm now approaching a full stone.
Im 60, through the menopause, had the tummy thanks to two sections. love my food
I did cut out beer and as much carb as i could, but still did eat some

Every single menopausal woman I know who has successfully lost weight quickly has done it through keto/very low carb dieting. It is by far the best way short term.

I'd do a strict portion controlled keto diet combined with daily HIIT and yoga. In 8 weeks you will look like a different person.

If you can't stand keto just do 1200 cals a day with a couple of 600 cal days a week.

No, not necessarily as it makes it easy for some people. The issue can come when transitioning back to eating normal food. It's expensive too, compared to ordinary, simple foodstuffs. It's another thing Michael Moseley looked into! You might want to consider speaking to your GP - for some people with BMI at a certain level they can prescribe you weightloss plans, Slimming World membership, etc and there's an NHS weightloss app with a 12 week programme. DP has (annoyingly!) lost 2 stone over the last 10 or so weeks doing that to try to reduce his blood pressure and slightly raised cholesterol.

If you don't want to buy weights (though I would – way better investment fror long term weight loss than powdered meal replacements imo) you can use bottles of water or large cans of soup though ideally you'd be wanting to start with minimum 2-3kg in each hand and move up after a few weeks to 4-5kg.

Argos and supermarkets are good places to pick up handweights at a reasonable price.

Building muscle means your body will burn more calories even when resting, but consuming fewer calories than you expend is how you lose weight, however you choose to do it.

Shake That Weight. Not the most fun thing I've ever done but I lost a stone in a month. It works!

Thank you and I’m sorry you are feeling the same. I will go and have a hunt for more information and happy to be ina support group that holds me accountable. That might be the kick I need.

I don’t know anything about this. Have you done it? How long for? Thank you

So far a mix of fasting and low carb seems to be the most popular suggestion. I need to work on how to make the fasting bit work for me as I am not great at feeling hungry. It panics me.

Two fast days a week, two small meals on non fasting days, no alcohol. Roast a tray of vegetables every day and base your meals around them.