Is it possible to lose weight in perimenopause?

[Wanabe]

I hit early perimenopause at the end of my 30s. It took a while to figure out what was happening. I think I have HRT sorted now. I have put on about a stone a year however, and gone up from a size 8 to a 16 in about 4 years.
Everything I researched told me that slow and steady wins the race. Learned about blood sugar and fasting and gut microbiomes.
No fads. No crash diets. Just eat more vegetables and less processed food. Focus on eating well rather than trying to lose weight, and the weight loss will take care of itself.

I really have tried to stay positive. Have worked on being comfortable in my own skin. I have worked on reducing stress and upping connections with others.
But I'm struggling today. It's hot and sunny and I feel huge. My body shape is just so... middle-aged. I hate the way I am judged.

My inner feminist hates me for saying this. I've squashed this down. But fuck it. I just want to be slim again. I want to feel like me again. I want my flat tummy again. I want my breasts to not fall down to the sides. I want shapely legs, not fat ankles. I want my rings and bracelets to fit on my fingers and wrists again. I want to wear dresses and not have the pain of my thighs rubbing together. I don't want to "ummph" when I stand up or wobbly when I run.

I just want to be me again :(

Carbs are basically sugar though

When I did the biwi low carb boot camp years ago, we ditched the carbs. When re-introducing them it all tasted ridiculously sweet. Bread,potatoes, etc. really noticed the sweetness

I could lose weight in perimenopause- but now I'm officially menopausal (no HRT), I can't shift a damn pound.... My old strategies have no effect whatsoever- and I used to use them to lose a steady 2lbs a week.

OP- what do you attribute the weight gain to? Purely to peri? or HRT??

Oh i so feel your pain OP. It is horrible isn't it. This all started for me at 45; I'm 52 now. It's shit. Constantly trying to lose weight for health reasons (high cholesterol and BP) and do more exercise but working and family life (mum v. ill) just means I sit on my backside for most of the day. Constantly tired, no va-va-voom, but desperately trying to eat healthily. It's all so boring and depressing.

If anyone does have the answer please let me know!!!

Yep. Yep you can. As other PP's have said, needs an iron will. Am 53 and I've recently lost 17 lbs on basically keto. Am taking a month to reintroduce a few carbs and maintain before going full on again to get rid of another stone or so.

When I did the biwi low carb boot camp years ago, we ditched the carbs. When re-introducing them it all tasted ridiculously sweet. Bread,potatoes, etc. really noticed the sweetness

Simple carbs not complex?

Can I asked where your new weight is sitting?

Mine is visibly a band over my stomach, not the sides or my back. I look at it mesmerized. Never had anything like it before. I even google imaged searched to see if it was a rare tumour or alien implant.
I've also gained in my face and legs but the stomach is crazy. I have to lose it, it feels unhealthy.

@Febrier

I've always found it to be as simple as calories in, calories out,... I'm no expert

So what do you make of the work of experts such as Dr Satchin Panda, Dr Jason Fung and Dr Pradip Jamnadas who say otherwise?

On an academic level, I'm not qualified to comment on their work. I'm not going to be buying books or tea to lose weight, so am probably not their target market anyway. I'm just a lay person basing my opinion on my own body. I've tried my share of diets from F plan to low carb and they worked, but only in as far as I stayed within a limited amount of calories. I've been 8 sone 7-8 stone 10 for two years now which at 5' 4" I'm happy with, so nothing an expert (making lots of money) could argue could convince me that I was wrong, for me at least. If they help other people, that's great though. As far as intermittent fasting is concerned, I pretty much always did that as I've only ever eaten between noon and about 6pm. Even when I was fat.

@TunaFork I've definitely put weight on all over - ankles, wrists, arms, face... everywhere. But it's really going on around my middle too. It's just kind of doughy and hanging. Young women who are larger than me just seem to carry it better - their bodies don't sag.

Anyway, another good day so far. Circumstances didn't leave me with much option for breakfast, but I had buttered toast and declined cake and fruit juice. I have got home and eaten the last of the fish pie. That'll do me for today. However, it has been a sedentary day so far, only 7k steps so I'm going to head out and keep on my feet this afternoon. Got a walk booked in with a friend this evening. Just need to dodge the pub afterwards.

Yesterday finished well - 16k steps and no grazing or snacking after eating at 2pm.

This morning I'm feeling a bit weepy. I can't keep wearing my winter jumpers and cardigans in this weather. I've dug out summer clothes and half of them are too tight to wear. Another season, another spend on new clothes for no other reason than I've out grown what I own. I am ashamed of this level of consumption. I don't deserve no clothes that fit.
I am hungry, fat and fed up. I feel like I can't cry or complain because it's all of my own doing.

But I don't want to give in and eat these feelings. So I'm heading out for brunch, will eat something really tasty and stick to the plan of no sugar and no snacking until my second meal.

I lost about two stone during peri menopause, but that was due to having my heart completely broken.

I wouldn't recommend it.

Now I just accept I cannot have more than 1200 calories a day if I don't want to gain weight. It's shit but it's the choice you have to make.

It must be very hard being so young and going through this OP

I'm in that place too - 49 and v few meno symptoms but it must be on the way. I'm determined to shift a stone or so as if I don't do it now, meno will kill any opportunity. But it's hard. I think it's all about losing the refined sugars (shame as I love cake/bread etc).

I’m also finding it really motivating and have just booked tennis lessons I’d been putting off. Couch to 5k has definitely helped me, but I need to do the strength stuff. I just done find it as fun… maybe it’s time to get back to the gym for body pump- I loved that before the pandemic.

@Wanabe

Yesterday finished well - 16k steps and no grazing or snacking after eating at 2pm.

This morning I'm feeling a bit weepy. I can't keep wearing my winter jumpers and cardigans in this weather. I've dug out summer clothes and half of them are too tight to wear. Another season, another spend on new clothes for no other reason than I've out grown what I own. I am ashamed of this level of consumption. I don't deserve no clothes that fit.
I am hungry, fat and fed up. I feel like I can't cry or complain because it's all of my own doing.

But I don't want to give in and eat these feelings. So I'm heading out for brunch, will eat something really tasty and stick to the plan of no sugar and no snacking until my second meal.

Well done on the steps and not snacking. Both will really help. And I know they are not easy.

Don't be too hard on yourself about the clothes Go for a few outfits that you can wear with different accessories to maximise their use. Wear clothes you can feel good about.

In the meantime, could you maybe add in some exercises to strengthen your core? It might help your posture and your confidence.

Good luck.

Today was tough, because I've been feeling down. Ate within a 7 hour window today and had a hearty, carbilicious curry for tea. Spent the afternoon gardening, so didn't quite hit my step target.

Can anyone recommend any good websites, insta etc. for weight loss inspiration? I am looking more for menopause / midlife Feel Good inspiration and stories rather than dietary advice.

Can't advise on Insta websites but I'm 56, menopausal for 4 years, take HRT, sleep well, eat well, have lots of energy to run and cycle, bmi of under 20, very happy. Gardening is great exercise so don't worry I'd you don't get the steps in. I've never eaten better or been in better shape in my life. I also found the love of my life and wouldn't have done had I not decided that life doesn't end at 50. Good luck OP!

The heartbreak diet @BrightonBunny is a terrible one. Two friends lost a huge amount of weight that way but we all felt conflicted by it.
The first impression is 'you look great' then 'sorry to hear that' then you realise it has a haunted, stressed hideousness under lying it.
One friend said the school run randoms, optimistically digging bigger and bigger holes got quite funny. ' I wish I looked like you' ' perhaps that's the answer! '

Im 50 and I had a bad first lockdown weight wise. I'm veggie and I found my diet was too carb heavy, I slowly removed the obvious carbs. I went from a tight size 12 to a small 10. Exercise made little difference, but it did keep me motivated.

7 hour eating window today. One salad, one turkey curry, 0 snacks. Day three of 0 junk or sugar.

20k steps courtesy of great weather.

Weight-lifting at the gym.

After yesterday which was a bit wobbly today was better.

Well, one week in and I am still going strong. The scales are down 4lb. I have been:

• hitting between 12k and 20k steps a day.
• been to the gym three times (mostly weightlifting, but a tiny bit of cardio machine).
• eating 0 junk sugar.
• eating within no more than 8 hours / 2 meals a day. I think at least once I did OMAD because it didn't feel like a chore.

I've eaten out a lot and there was one day I grazed a bit. I am still not doing much cardio at all. For the week ahead I'm going to aim at dancing for the duration of one song every day.

For me I did:-

Fast walking for about 10 minutes every morning 5 days a week.
Walking no lifts etc in office. Also at least 20-30 minute walk at lunch. As much walking as I could do after work.

Factor in coffees/teas/the odd snack and also if someone at work brought in grazing stuff like snack sausage rolls then I'd eat it.

Lunches were mostly vegetable soups with small slice plain bread and fruit or yogurt.

Dinners normal.

The walking especially fast really helped me and over 4 months I lost almost a stone.

@Wanabe well done, that self control and effort is paying off

Yes, perimenopause has been good to me in some ways. In my late 40s I lost 11Kg and went from the size 16 (14 on a good day) that I'd been post kids, down to a size 10. I'm now 50 and in the best shape of my life. It has made an amazing difference to my wellbeing. I've suffered with joint pain most of my adult life and it's so much better now than when I was larger, even though my weight loss is not that much compared to many people's amazing achievements on here. I love food, have always eaten like a horse, and have large sons who eat huge amounts so there is always lots of food in the house, so I realised that if things didn't change I'd just get bigger each year. Re perimenopause, I'm not sure exactly where I am as I had a Mirena for 10 years and hardly ever any periods, last one 18 months ago. 2 specialist docs assured me that my original Mirena would have had no hormones left in it by 10 years. I got that replaced. Been on HRT (just low dose oestrogen gel) 6 months now.

What helped:
-Did strict calorie counting only for a few weeks - this helped me get the measure of things, realised my portion sizes had been too large, & just how many calories were in a slice of bread.
-Low carb. Carbs are just the way plants store sugar. It mucks about with my blood sugar and makes me sleepy and I get foggy brain. Wholegrain Carbs aren't really much better than processed - your body still rapidly breaks it down into sugar.

• I eat lots of greens, berries etc, eggs, breakfast/lunch - usually have one or the other, not both - is eg skyr / unsweetened yoghurt with blueberries and a few crushed nuts. Lunch might be a poached egg on a bed of spinach which has been wilted with some butter on it, or a feta cheese salad. Dinner might be some nice meat and salad / greens but low carb, or a salad with some meat, eggs or cheese.

By the time I've munched my way through a large crisp, crunchy salad with some olive oil and vinegar on it, I don't usually feel very hungry. Salads really slow me down when I'm starving. But if I'm craving dessert I have yoghurt and blueberries. When I took my eye off the ball and went back on moderate amounts of carbs, the weight started to creep back on. Going back onto low carb helped me to lose 2kg in 2 weeks. I bought myself some nice clothes when at my ideal weight and was motivated to stay able to fit in them! Exercise - I do pilates 2x weekly which is really good for toning and joint protection. Brisk walk every day for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you can get a cheap exercise bike or rowing machine etc, I found it really helpful to just do 20 minutes when I got cravings. I hope some of these things which helped me work for others too. Sounds like you are off to a great start OP - looking forward to hearing about your progress.