to ask you for your weight loss success stories during peri-menopause?

[friedaklein]

I am 47 and peri-menopausal. Am 5"7 and used to be a size 10 without any effort, but in the last two years have gone up to a size 12. It's all gone to my waist; noticeable pot belly which seems impossible to shift.

Been trying to lose the weight through 5: 2 with no joy. Was pretty sedentary until recently, so have had to ease into exercise. I now swim thrice a week for 45 minutes and walk two days. Diet is pretty good even on non fasting days. No sugar, no alcohol except maybe once in two months, very limited carbs ( am Asian and veggie so v hard to cut out carbs entirely). Mostly veg, fruit, lentils, eggs.

And with all this deprivation I have managed to lose only 1 kg in 4 months. Seem to have lost maybe an inch or two but no weight. So fed up and unmotivated. Especially when meeting people I last saw 4 or 5 years ago, who make it a point to comment on the weight. Someone thought I was pregnant on the tube the other day!

Please help me keep going with your stories of weight loss during menopause. I am thinking I need to start weightlifting though I really really hate the gym.

Sorry no advice but I am the same, it's rubbish! Hopefully someone will come on with some tips that work!

Also, I have been advised not to take HRT because of a history of breast cancer in the family. Not keen on it either. Forgot to post my weight; it's 11 stone 9. Feel immensely heavy. When I was married, I weighed 7 stone 11 and ate triple what I do now. Is it just one of the shitty things about getting older?

Are you swimming at a good speed so that you are raising your heart rate? A shorter but more intense session might work as I swim flat out for 20 mins. If you have time try to do 10,000 steps a day. Hope you are able to find a solution

You just have to stick with it.

I lost a lot of weight. It took really logging everything I was eating (I though I was eating less/better) to crack it. And the. It was a case of sticking with it for several months. And I took up running hen I'd lost most of it and could see I needed to tone up.

Bottom line is that you need fewer calories through and beyond the menopause. So you need to make some longterm changes

I'm mid 40s and at the 40 yr check up (NHS) the nurse gave me a good tip. She said she just has a bit of fruit for her breakfast usually around 10-11 am and doing this keeps her weight in control. I started doing this also (usually an apple or handful of nuts) and having lunch and dinner as usual. I've lost half a stone doing this in the last couple of months. It is easy and feel I will be able to keep doing this and hopefully manage weight in the menopause.

For me it is just exercise and calories in vs calories out. I use my fit bit to log food and exercise. Lost two stone and have maintained it for two years whilst on hrt. I don't diet, but won't eat over the calories I've used. It becomes second nature to log it all and actually when you write down that you've eaten two twixs and see that you've done zero steps it does make you think twice about eating the third!!!!

I'm the same. Lost two stone 5 years ago through loads of exercise and logging my calories. For a while I could eat what I liked as I was exercising so much. Have put around a stone back on even though still doing the same level of activity (4 or 5 intense spin classes a week, sometimes a 40 minute swim). Have just found that I can't keep it off like I used to. Consoling myself with the fact that at least I'm the fittest I've ever been.

I’ve lost weight on the 5:2 diet. I didn’t start the diet to lose weight, but in solidarity with my husband who was advised that he was pre-diabetic. Over 5 months I’ve lost a stone and a half. I’m eating much better food - fewer processed foods, refined carbs, etc. I’m PM and have also noticed the symptoms lessening as my diet’s improved (though still get occasional crushing fatigue).
Although I say ‘diet’, it’s really a long-term change in eating patterns - we’re eating fewer carb-heavy or meat-based meals. We’ve changed our eating habits as a family - and we’re trying to live more sustainably too.
In that time, I’ve had occasional weeks where I’ve not fasted at all and not put the weight back on.