I don’t understand why I’ve put a stone on!

[Oldcrockpot]

Over the last 2-3 months I’ve gained a few pounds a week for no apparent reason and am a stone heavier! I can’t be pregnant as my periods have been heavy, very irregular and all over the place (this is not new, but they haven’t been as heavy as this since I had the coil about 18 months ago). No notable changes in routine or diet.

Any ideas? Has this happened to anyone and what was it? All my clothes are tight and I feel like a bloater!

(I am 39 and a healthy weight- but now getting to the top end of that! Have the coil and no new medication etc)

I don’t know about anyone else but I am 44 and have no womb now but I still have ovaries.

Absolutely not one blood test in the past 10 years shows up any hormonal issues, despite ending up needing a hysterectomy due to very very large fibroids and undergoing all manner of investigations, there is no hormonal issue ever identified. I must have grown the fibroids from somewhere though right? Too much oestrogen? Not on a test. Too little progesterone? Not on a test. PCOS? Not on any tests. We are misunderstood and under studied as women and often the tests show nothing, so nothing is ever done to help you.

You would think I might be peri now? Blood tests all normal.

I was too tired and stressed and overweight due to having a busy lifestyle, stressful job, kids, eating badly, not enough exercise, drinking too much. I addressed lots of those things and my life and health did improve. There has been no pill or patch that has helped me so far. Not having the womb helps but that isn’t my ovaries so they are still going. I am hoping when I do go into menopause I have set a good basis of a lifestyle to see me through with the help of HRT but I think women do leave it a little too late then find it all comes at once and it’s really hard to manage and unpick.

So if there is no drop in hormone level how are you suffering from a condition that is caused by a drop in hormone levels? And if hormones are normal then how would HRT help?

This happened to me last year - a random addition of 2kg. Sadly I've had to accept that, if I want to stay slim, I can't eat breakfast or drink wine. It sucks, but there you go.

Christ, you are vile.

Because it is true- the change in hormones affects your metabolism. I know there’s a certain group who don’t like to believe it but often being overweight isn’t about being greedy or lazy.

no One used those controversial words but you. And yes, often it is about eating too much and moving too little and I say that as a fat menopausal woman. Not everything is about our hormones and eating too much and moving too little doesn’t make us greedy or lazy. Keep the judgy words to yourself.

that is exactly what is insinuated though. And to suddenly start gaining weight around the time many women start peri menopause when nothing else has changed is very likely to do with hormones (or potentially other illnesses) otherwise that person would have gained weight before. Being overweight is often a result of very complex issues.

My question exactly. I have had all the symptoms of a hormonal disorder but no doctor can find the cause of a hormonal problem. So what are women going to be given to help them? Nothing most likely, many peri women go for tests, all come back fairly normal and not much can be done in terms of medical management, so you have to turn to lifestyle management, no one on this thread has given a clear example of what medical intervention helped them with peri menopause symptoms such as weight gain. I’m not on HRT as I don’t qualify for it at the moment and it wouldn’t help me, but it did help me to change my lifestyle

Maybe the question needs to be: what is solution or treatment that helps if you might be peri menopausal. I still don’t know what this might be despite all the threads about it. If I am gaining weight and might be peri and to go to the GP and the bloods don’t really show anything what happens next? What do you do? Do some GP’s give out oestrogen with normal bloods just on symptoms and some don’t?

I think this is really important- luckily, and I think this is as a result of weight loss joss jabs the medical profession (at least some of them) are moving away from the idea it can all be solved by eating less, run around more mantra so beloved of the diet and fitness industry.

I think looking at medications for those in perimenopause, might be the next big thing. If we can keep weight down and bone density up that’s surely got to be better news for an increasingly aging population that will be retiring a lot later

Which is it, hormones or complex issues. So what percentage of women do you think are like me, simply someone who ate too much and moved too little. As the way you’re posting you’d think I was a rarity and us women gaining weight is never down to us.

I can’t possibly know - you do realise life is complicated - hormones have a wide effect, they can also affect kow people deal with things like past trauma, adhd )esp undiagnosed) perimenopause sees a change in Esterogen which often affects sleep which in turn affects cortisol and energy levels. So both conplex and linked to hormones.

Keep up with the self flagation if that’s your thing, but don’t try and drag along everyone else.

Weight loss jabs will never be just as you’re menopausal. Well they might in 50 years. Right now they aren’t even really approved on the nhs, other than for over 40 bmi via weight loss clinics. Which have an eight month waiting list and you need to go do the tiers and try everything else first. Even then it’s not guaranteed.

so they will address the overweight first with health issues that’s the next be]ig thing.. Blood prssure, cholesterol, sleep apnea , athritis, joint issues, mobility issues etc. women gaining weight in meno is a long long way down the list, you will be decades waiting.

its as far away from the next big thing as it gets.

I’m just being honest, I’m not self flagulating. Taking personal responsibility and not saying it’s not my fault and I can’t help it is not self flagulation. But if it makes you feel better to feel the majority of women get fat for reasons outwith their control, then crack on with that though.

I will however be honest. And I will own it. Because that’s how you solve it.

Problem is as you can see from this thread there is also a mantra around saying it’s peri menopause but no real solutions offered with that either. I don’t think women know what to do with the label that is given to them of peri menopause, what does it really mean in terms of the next steps? We need to ask more questions not just accept a label and that we are doomed

The guidelines say that if you have symptoms you can be prescribed HRT over 45. No blood tests are required, it is symptom led.

Under 45 they will do several blood tests.

I think people are not reading the thread. There have already been links posted about how hormones impact weight. I explained the role of cortisol in weight gain. Yet people are still questioning despite having a total lack of knowledge. It is not every woman who gains weight, so those who don't are lucky. But it seems a lot of people who haven't gained in menopause think those of us who have are making it up.

The solution to weight gain for me was a strict 1000 calorie diet. Every day for a year, no exceptions. I was gaining weight when I was eating 1500 calories because my metabolism had changed.

I absolutely agree that there needs to be more help around perimenopause, I think there needs to be more education and research into what happens and how to improve symptoms.

Yes, I think some people think their genetics makes them morally superior. Yet if you tell the sane women you are eating 1000 calories a day they are horrified. I think that kind of education is really important- I would like menopause education rolled out across all work places.

Has anyone ever explained the impact of the change in hormones on your weight during perimenopause/menopause? There are many factors to look at here.

So what does “taking responsibility” look like to you? How have you changed your Wright gain position? What has worked?

I’m not over 45 and nor are many of the late 30’s early 40’s women who are hearing about this and attributing the changes to peri menopause. The OP is 39!!

I am not a believer that anyone is making it up. I did say that cortisol is a link but not been proven as a cause. High levels of cortisol found in women who are already overweight doesn’t mean it caused them to be overweight in the first place and studies have also shown very little data with regards to cortisol coming from nowhere to cause weight gain and women’s metabolisms dropping significantly over 40. The responsibility people are talking about is taking pre emptive action to improve your lifestyle before finding yourself deep into menopause and in more of a struggle to get things on track, or making changes for yourself when things do start to change for you, rather than just attributing it to menopause and giving up

I have to eat 1200 calories to lose weight now.Im 44.

Kindly, it’s your age.

I’m on mounjaro. I am dieting and I’m exercising. I did it. I can’t lie.i sat on the sofa and I ate, and I didn’t move. It was Covid, going home based, stopping smoking, lots of stuff. But me. I’m responsible it wasn’t outwith my control. I ate too much and I moved too little.

Peri can contribute to weight gain though tbf.

So if it’s purely down to eating too much and not exercising enough why do you need a drug?