To ask if you also find it really hard to lose weight in menopause, even if you're super careful?

[Hormonecure]

I really don't think I eat a lot. I'm super healthy, conscious, mostly veggie, low carbs, exercise 3/4 a week and yet, I can't shift the last 10 pounds I want to shift. I'm on HRT, post meno, and it's driving me nuts! It's so deflating.

I don't understand it.

What do you eat in a day? I can’t help but someone else might. What are your general activity levels like, apart from the exercise?

There are big changes to the way your body handles fat, muscle and exercise after the menopause. This personal trainers video is excellent in explaining it.

Yes. It’s like I now I live in someone else’s body.

Oh, thanks for that video, I'll have a look at that later.

Yes! Exactly! Whose body is this!

I eat - it varies, but as an example,

Breakfast - either a tiny bowl of overnight oats and chia seeds with some berries or a boiled egg on a rice cracker
Lunch - always home made soup - often, green soup with a dollop of cashew cream - and two rice crackers with hummous or sometimes homemade mackerel pate.
Snack afternoon - maybe an oat cracker or two
Supper - big on salads, protein and veg. Hardly ever have carbs in evenings.
Evening - a few squares of no-sugar, 100% chocolate and herbal tea.

I prob do eat a few more oat crackers in the day than I think.

I rarely drink.

I have a fitbit and do at least 10K steps a day. Plus 3 box n burn classes/weight classes a week. Plus started yoga.

I'm so boring and tired and make such an effort yet I'm still carrying extra weight!

Wow, that's impressive. So healthy! I'd be on my knees with hunger at that though. I honestly wouldn't know where to go from here but I suspect you'll get people saying you're not eating enough. What time do you eat your evening meal? I think if you had salmon and broccoli at 5pm and then nothing else afterwards, you'd start to lose it.

Can I make a suggestion? Try a week of cutting out the snacks, leaving 5 hours between the end of one meal and the start of the next and drink a lot of water, around 2 liters. In a way that you are going to the bathroom a lot. See if it helps. This is roughly what I have been doing and the weight is coming off.

When I was on HRT I weighed an extra 10 pounds and couldn't get it off whatever I did, when I came off HRT I lost that weight without even trying. It's maybe down to the HRT? You sound like you have a very healthy diet, considering how good HRT is for overall health benefits, protecting heart and bones etc maybe the 10 pounds is something to not worry about?

Do you mind me asking you your current BMI? I have a feeling you've always been very slim and healthy; now you're struggling to stay quite as slim but you still have a figure that most people (e.g. me) would be really jealous of!

I think it is far more difficult to loss/maintain weight once you get to your 40s - I noticed this almost the day I reached 40, god help me when I actually hit the menopause 😫.

@msvestibule - I don't know my BMi, actually, but I have always been slim, yes. And yes, I'm now struggling to hold onto that body.

I'm going to try the no snacks. I don't drink enough water. I need to drink more.

Unless you are eating in a calorie deficit, you can eat all the healthy, low carb food you want and still gain weight. Join MyFitnessPal (free), use their calculators to find out how many calories you should be eating to be in a deficit for your height/age/weight and exercise levels and log your food to track calories. I'm 5ft 1, 57, on hormone drugs (which make it difficult to lose weight), went through the menopause 7 years ago and sedentary. I'm pretty much at the bottom of the food chain ;) when it comes to weight loss (short, 'old', lazy) but I've still managed to lose almost 6-stone through being in a calorie deficit. Don't starve yourself, eat balanced meals with foods you like but stay in a calorie deficit and it will come off.

I agree with OldGrinch I’ve read HRT does mean you retain weight. You might be fighting a losing battle, so don’t be too hard on yourself.

I’ve alwasy been slim and an extra half stone really annoys me, I’m peri at the moment and weight is fine but fully expecting this to change when menopause finally comes.
I can eat less than I used to, so I watch portion size. I don’t think I could eat much less though and know there will be a time when I’ll have to accept an extra half a stone.

Same here. I complain fat sticks to my bones. When I lost it after a big push it came back as soon as normal, but careful, eating resumed.
However, when I got down to my ideal weight, which was still 7lbs more than the one in my 30s, it didn't look as good. My face collapsed, I looked haggard. The post menopausal loss of collagen showed up really badly. When I gained a few pounds, I looked 5-10 years younger.
So it's the old dilemma. Face or arse.

Watch the quantities of mackerel pate, hummus etc. They can be high in calories and fat. They're lovely for flavour and not unhealthy as such but it's very easy to have too much.

My feeling is that you could do with more fibre. I'm not a believer in low carb - slow release unrefined carbs will help to keep your blood sugars stable and your metabolism ticking over. But no doubt someone else will be along with completely different advice, knowing this place.

My boss many years ago complained about maintaining her weight, she was very trim and in her late fifties. She reckoned she ate 30% less than when young. I was about thirty at the time, she was so right though.

You have a really great healthy regime, mines not as good as yours but like yourself I have always been slim so even a little extra weight feels like a lot. I eat the same stuff as when young just a lot less.

The big difference between us and I see you eat no sugar chocolate so guessing that’s less calorific than regular stuff is I have no desire to eat sweet stuff at all. That’s just me since being a child.

Cats I agree with you re carbs. I’ve found if you only have under a stone to lose, it’s best to have balanced diet and that includes slow release carbs. The OP is having oats in the morning so that’s great.

Helpful video

thanks all. I don't know about HRT and weight retention. I've looked into it, and I think the evidence is murky. I think hormone imbalance is a real issue, and I think I'm probably snacking too much. More than I realise, even if it's healthy. I need to keep a food diary.

It is so hard because I know I'll never have my pre menopause body. I had a baby, then went into early menopause (I'm only 46) so it's frustrating, but hey ho - at least I had a baby. Just got in under the radar with that one.

But I work so hard to look my best - that's what frustrates me the most. If I didn't care and did nothing, then fair enough.

I need to watch snacks, do myfitness pal and keep a careful eye. If that doesn't work, then I'll just have to accept where I'm at.

And I agree, haggard and thin is not a good look when you are collagen deficient. So, it might be that the goal isn't even a good one.

But my god, I hate my ass! It's big! I wish the ass v face issue was a little more balanced!

Your body fat moves around as you get older, that part you can't control. It's hormonal.
Not the same as saying your total mass must get bigger, but where your reserves are distributed on your body is likely to be a decision your body makes without you.

Do you like Chia seeds? I can't see any point in eating them, tbh! But if you like the taste, fair enough.

One great way to lose weight is to prevent your insulin levels dipping and falling throughout the day. Blood sugar levels aren’t so much the issue—your body keeps you steady but insulin is one of the hormones that triggers the storage of fat and you can lower it by removing snacks from your diet. Give yourself a couple of weeks of no snacks and see how you get on before you start making any more dramatic changes to your diet.

No I haven't found it difficult, but I never went onto HRT. I'm now 4 years since my last period so officially 3 years into my menopause. Exercise is very important, in my opinion, keep as fit and active as possible. Personally I don't follow any specific diet, just eat normal food in smaller quantities. I already had given up alcohol for the most part, and I don't eat takeaways and try and keep stuff like chocolate and crisps to a minimum.

Unfortunately middle age spread isn’t a myth and I’ve really struggled to accept that my waistline has increased. Like you I was pretty slim and actually still am but I’m carrying several extra pound than is my ideal, mainly around my middle.

I’m a careful-ish eater and do exercise within my limits but am having to accept my changing shape. I’m sticking with my HRT because hot flushes were so grim.

I do try to eat within a short window of the day if possible so probably 16/8 fasting which is also considered a good way to control weight.

Good luck!

Yes I lost a stone in 3 months in my late 20s without making a particular effort. I've been more careful about what I eat this time ( late 40's and went through menopause at 46) and the same weight loss but starting from a higher weight has taken 6 months.

I struggled with my weight once I began the menopause but when I started 5:2 diet about 5 years ago I managed to shift the last 10 lbs very quickly. I still fast one day a week but am now the same weight as pre menopause. But the older you get the less calories you need so it is tougher. Google TDEE to calculate your. I am only just over 5 foot so don't need many at all

I’ve done two weeks of strict dieting and lost 1 effing pound

I’ve spent the last two years eating exactly what I fancied. Cake, crisps, wine, chocolate and ice-cream. I gained maybe 4lb. Add that to the stone of baby weight and I decided to lose it.

So strict diet e.g.
Overnight oats with fat free yoghurt
Lunch is mackerel and bulgar wheat or homemade soup
Dinner is lots of veg and either fish or meat

Snacks are tomatoes, plums, apples or pears.