Menopause weight gain

[wherestheweightlosspill]

Hi, I'm sure this has probably been asked hundreds of times but I'm really feeling down. I've gained about a stone in the last year, and I think 90% of it is on my tummy. I've been doing 5:2 for nearly 10 years but it just wasn't working. I do a youtube workout (20-30 mins) 6-7 times a week, eat pretty well and yet I look 5 months pregnant. I joined Team RH after Christmas and it literally isn't working at all, (and tbh I find their version of 'tough love' just rude and unhelpful, it's a bit like a cult, you're only allowed to say how great Team RH is and how shit everything else (My Fitness Pal, Slimming World etc) is. Given that most diets (Weightwatchers etc, Team RH etc) are all calorie counting, which appears not to be working for me, are there any other (maybe menopause specific) options?

Have a look at Stacey Sims' book Next Level - specifically about menopause and how our activity and dietary needs change.

I have gained half a stone. Cutting carbs means I can keep it to that. I eat very little processed food

Hiya. I too put weight on. When I really got to grips with the fact that I was in peri and it wasn't going to go 'back to normal', I just simply lopped off breakfast, and with it about 400 calories or whatever.

I now don't eat anything until 12 noon, when I have porridge, banana, yoghurt and nuts, and then I have an evening meal as usual and even pudding if I want. This is basically fasting 16 8. I get on really well with it.

It all hinges for me, on dropping that one meal. I did it because I read that peri women, our metabolism slows so we don't need the calories we used to.

That's my best advice to you x

Honestly your metabolism doesn't slow enough to make a significant difference. The key is not to keep doing the same things without changing them up - your body just adapts and they cease to make a difference. But it is a fact that if you consume fewer calories than you burn you will lose weight.

Weight loss is around 90% what you consume and 10% exercise. I would do an audit of what you're eating and drinking over a week. List absolutely everything. What is the exercise you're doing? Do you do strength training? If you eat more learn protein and do strength training consistently - you have to keep challenging yourself - you'll burn more calories. Look at a TDEE calculator to set calories and macros.

I am peri menopausal and lack of sleep has snapped my energy and drive so I've put on weight. I am now back where I was 5 years ago and determined to change things, but it is hard.

Thank you! That sounds totally doable. xxx

Thanks, I'll have a look x

Try a good magnesium supplement for sleeping - take at night, sleep is better after that. Also I take Menopace which has vitamin D in it, Menopace is really good.

After attributing everything to peri/menopause, I 'planked' (high, low, side) every day for a month, building up to a wobble-free 2 mins (low commitment) and ... hello abs, it's been a while
Now I run to burn fat and lift heavy stuff to build lovely calorie-hungry muscle. If I didn't I'd need wider doors and a bigger patio.

Thanks, but tbh sleeping isn't a problem at all. I take various supplements (my hair has gone to 💩too) it's just the belly :(

I can't run (dodgy knees) but for the last 1.5 years I've done either cardio or weights every day (or at least 6 out of 7 days) and seen no discernible difference on my stomach. I've got arm muscles I never had but the ab work is literally buried under the ever increasing fat!

Thanks, and I do get that, that's why I changed from 5:2 to Team RH. Part of Team RH is tracking everything and hitting macros so I know exactly what I've been eating for the last 3 weeks and it's lean protein, fibre, low ish carb, low fat so why I'm not seeing any effect is baffling and I get what you're saying about metabolism, but I'm not sure I'm even blaming that, as it's not all over weight gain, it's specifically my stomach. Maybe that's metabolism, maybe it's something else but if it isn't menopause (and I'm definitely not pregnant, even though I look it) I don't know what it can be. Exercise is alternating cardio (aerobic youtube videos) and weight training.
Sleep is the one thing that isn't causing any problems for me!

The Next Level book is really, really good. She explains why, through peri menopause and menopause all our old tricks for losing weight don’t work. If I needed to shed a few pounds for holiday I’d just cut out treats, eat a bit less and exercise more. That does not work anymore and she explains why!

The upshot is (if you’re active) - eating enough protein (don’t skip breakfast), lifting heavy weights, less cardio (sadly) and sprint interval training.
Obviously eat a healthy diet with minimal UPF. But restricting calories is not the way to go.

She doesn’t recommend fasting or exercising fasted as that spikes cortisol which leads to belly fat.

Interesting, thank you. I've been having 3 meals a day on Team RH, which I haven't done for a long time (usually 2) which consist of mostly protein and fibre but I have been doing more cardio than weights probably, that's easily changed. Is sprint interval training (not quite sure what that is) not cardio?

Honestly all any kind of eating plan or diet does is mean you are getting fewer calories than you burn. You can dress it up however you like, but if you consume less than you expend you will lose weight.

OP - on what level of activity have your calories and macros been set? Also the body is very, very good at hanging on to water, fat, etc so it can take a few weeks to see a difference on the scales. Did you take measurements of you upper arms, bust, waist, hips, thigh before you started? Try taking them again now. Unfortunately you can't diet away a tummy, but exercising using weights - there are lots of non-ab specific exercises that are beneficial for core and tummy - will help tighten up the muscles and flatten things out. E.g. chest press, front raises, bus drivers, front squats, etc. and a variety of different ab exercises changed every week will help.

I'm menopausal but from hormone therapy (breast cancer treatment) and it sucks. I have to low carb and exercise daily to keep the weight off; long gone are the days when I could lose 3kg in a week!

I run daily, do two spin classes a week and do weight training 4 x a week. Bloody ridiculous but I pile on weight if I don't. I've always had the metabolism of a sloth BYW 😣

Yes the book comes at it from a different angle. So not about a diet or calorie restriction. She advocates eating more. It is aimed at active women but there’s some good info about hormones in there.

She doesn’t recommend hours of low- medium intensity cardio (I ignore this as I like to run!).

She describes sprint training as high intensity short bursts of hard exercise followed by short recoveries. It’s 10-30 second sprint style efforts so running or in a bike or rowing machine.

The high intensity training is cardio but it may not raise cortisol levels as much as say a long run, due to its shorter duration. After menopause, our estrogen levels decline and this was the hormone that would previously counter cortisol levels raised as a result of a long cardio workout. As a previous poster pointed out, our cortisol levels become higher on approach to menopause and if you have belly that, this might be a sign of what’s happening.

It’s thought that women do not need as much cardio as men either to get the same result and that’s why resting between workouts becomes as important as exercise itself.

Also check out Melissa Neill on You Tube - she has a similar message to Stacy Sims but is British and explains everything really well re menopause fat gain as an exerciser. She is lovely.

Do you also have any thyroid issues in your family at all? If so, that might be worth checking out as well via blood test. Hypothyroidism can cause weight gain.

Keto and running is the only thing that works for me.

I set it at moderate activity and that I would do 12,500 steps a day (which is normal/easy for me) and I've been averaging about 15,000. I did take measurements and literally nothing has changed. I always believed that if I just stuck to a diet/had a calorie deficit, however that was achieved, I would lose weight, and I always have, but not this time. It's very weird, which is why I can only assume it's menopause related. I've been doing a 20 or 30 min workout every day (or at least 6 days a week) for about 1.5 years now including things like chest presses, front raises etc (I do different workouts everyday from youtube, the likes of Mr&MrsMuscle) and I can totally see a difference in my arms, my bum, even my legs (though I do less with my legs as I have very bad knees) but my tummy has just exploded in the last 6 months

Thank you, this is really helpful, I'll check Mellisa Neill out. No Thyroid issues that I'm aware of. I started HRT a few months ago thinking that might help, and it has, with the hot flushes etc but not with the weight :(

I do have a bike so I could certainly give that a try. Thank you! x

When you think about calorie deficit - you need to remember that you will need a few hundred calories less now you are menopausal ( roughly 200 )

And it's also a time when women lose muscle and muscle uses more calories to survive - so make sure you weight train or you will need even fewer calories ( roughly another 200)

I remember the numbers from when I was digging into this and everything was about 200

I attribute my lack of a tummy to two things:

• intermittent fasting, low carb diet with lots of protein and vegetables, very little alcohol,
• Bowflex 3-minute plank plus 10 minutes abs work every single day.

Plus keeping an eye on calories and working out (weights and HIIT) most days.

I cut my bread to one slice a day. This helps too.