Weight gain and body shape changes following peri / menopause

[Monr0e]

I'm feeling really very low right now. Over a period of around 12 months I gained around 2 stone in weight. This has coincided with my periods stopping and the start of peri menopause symptoms.

I have gone from a size 12 to a 14/16. But what is getting me down the most is the increase in my chest size. I was previously a 34DD, I am now a 36H. I despise them, none of my clothes fit, everything looks ridiculous on me and it is getting me really down.

On top of that, I seem to no longer be able to lose weight. I don't know what I'm looking for really, similar stories, advice on how to shift all this extra weight? Or do i just need to learn to accept my new body shape.

Sorry for the pity fest but I'm struggling today after turning down another invite to go out as I cannot find clothes I feel comfortable in and I just don't want to carry on feeling like this.

Hormones and weight are intricately linked - you have changes in your hormones and you will (most often) see changes in your weight.

I know the feeling of diets not working, and I will guess that you are trying to calorie control and it no longer works. I had the same experience.

What I discovered was that it mattered what those calories were made up of and when you ate them - because that is what impacts your hormones. The hormones are more than just the sex hormones by the way - it is insulin and cortisol too.

There are many female doctors onto this - here is one book here

I think understanding how food impacts your hormones just becomes absolutely vital as you enter the menopause, unfortunately.

Thank you for the book recommendation. I'm interested too. I have had some success with low carbing but nowhere near as easy as it has been in the past. BIWIs bootcamp threads are really helpful if you want to try that. They run for ten weeks usually but I think they're in the middle of one now.

My advice would be to really overhaul your diet.

Go low-ish carb, (50grams a day made up of whole grains, including brown rice, brown pasta, bread etc if you eat those), and increase the amount of fruit, veg, seeds, nuts, oily fish, full fat dairy, and cut out all processed and pre-packaged foods. Stick to 3 meals a day with no snacking.

I hear you, this happened to me after I gave up smoking around the same time as perimenopause. 36c to 40g In my case the weight piled on when I stopped the nicotine replacement patches so 3 months after stopping smoking.
12 years later I can tell you that after over a decade of frustration at the Humpty Dumpty shape and nothing really shifting it, I found out after my mother died and I started smoking again in autumn 2020 that that bloody weight just melted off. I did some research and apparently nicotine suppresses oestrogen and has some effect on cortisol as well which is also implicated in weight gain. My DC say I'm much nicer and chilled now I'm smoking again.
I can remember the distress when trying really hard to lose weight and the best I could manage was a pound a week on calorie control and exercise classes on top of my already active day so I'd aim to burn 3000 calories a day and eat below 2,000. If I lost a pound a week I was doing well.

I also discovered an under active thyroid, had a hell of a job getting that diagnosed, the NHS will tell you nothings wrong even when you're dragging yourself about in your knees. Had to go private for that but that did help although not with losing weight

@CrotchetyQuaver I'm not sure recommending smoking is a good solution

[quote hamstersarse]@CrotchetyQuaver I'm not sure recommending smoking is a good solution [/quote]
I'm not sure I recommended it?

If you've not been in this situation yourself where your body seems to take on a life if it's own and you have no control over what's happening, you have no idea of how distressing it is.

@CrotchetyQuaver Do you mind me asking how you got your thyroid issue addressed? Did the NHS accept the private diagnosis? I am subclinical but feel rubbish and the NHS are happy to leave me til my TSH is over 10!

Are you in HRT? Might help to replenish the dropped hormone levels.

I sympathise. I’ve always been slim but out on 2 stone in the years around the menopause.

I found 16:8 intermittent fasting / restricted eating window an easy way to drop a few pounds without even thinking about it but I know I need to do much more.

HRT, good foods, yoga / Pilates, and weights. I managed to change from an overweight “Humpty Dumpty” to a toned hourglass tho currently holding a little too much belly fat. It does need a lot of work but can be done. Peri boobs went from a 32B to a massive 36F, now more manageable 34DD.

I know you might not want to do this, but I'm sure posters could help if you told us what you eat in a normal week.

Sometimes, people say they aren't eating a lot, but what they are eating is all the wrong foods, or simply too much.

[quote hamstersarse]@CrotchetyQuaver I'm not sure recommending smoking is a good solution [/quote]
I don't think anyone would claim smoking was good for you, but it's demonised in an exaggerated way by comparison to other unhealthy lifestyle choices.

@ClariceQuiff You are joking, surely?

[quote CherryBlossomCheer]@CrotchetyQuaver Do you mind me asking how you got your thyroid issue addressed? Did the NHS accept the private diagnosis? I am subclinical but feel rubbish and the NHS are happy to leave me til my TSH is over 10![/quote]
Two excellent websites are thyroid uk
Thyroid patient advocacy

I went and saw a private doctor (GP type) on TUKs list and he did tests and diagnosed hypothyroidism (hallelujah) he prescribed natural dedicated thyroid which helped a bit but I wasn't fully better. Eventually having kept on reading and studying I decided to go it alone and having read Paul Robinsons thyroid books I decided to go it alone and order T3 off the internet.

When I see the doctors now at hospital or GPs, I do tell them im hypothyroid but refuse monitoring. Not going back there again and as they follow the one size fits all British thyroid association guidelines they're only going to tell me there's nothing wrong with me. Now I'm ok thyroid wise again, I have my articulacy back and can think quickly again so it's ok. The hospital doctors tend to be quite interested actually, they're not just being polite. I'm still very angry about how I was treated by NHS over this so am happy to be quite blunt, especially with the GP who told me it was all on my head at which point I terminated the appointment. I could rant on for hours but the NHS is very much not your friend in this.

Didn't mean to post and run, I just want to say a massive thank you for all your responses. I'll have a proper read and get back when I have a bit more time later. Also with a lot more questions for you all!

Thank you again, I have ordered the hook so will start with reading that

I am on HRT, it has certainly helped with the night sweats, which apart from the weight gain has been my biggest symptom, but that is all.

My diet is quite frankly rubbish at the minute. When I've noticed no benefit from trying g to be healthy and reduce my calories intake, I've gone the other way and thought sod it and just eating whatever I want. But I actually feel now I don't know what a healthy meal plan for me would look like. But if I knew what I should be eating then I definitely feel ready to start making changes.

@Scottishflower65 I'd love to hear more about how you've managed it and what your diet looks like if you don't mind sharing.

The info about thyroid investigations is interesting. My mum , aunt and grandmother all have hypothyroidism, maybe this is something I should look into?

Thank you again everyone, im not feeling as hopeless as I did this morning.

@Monr0e I've sent you a PM

Many thanks @CrotchetyQuaver that’s really helpful and I’ll look into it further. The NHS really does have a poor approach to thyroid issues.

I'm the same with the weight gain. I also have an under active thyroid & being medicated but still put over a stone on. I've got so down about it I joined weight watchers 2 days ago to address the problem...haven't done that since I lost my pregnancy weight, fingers crossed it works

Since I have become peri menopausal I am beginning to wonder if I starved to death would I still have a pot belly and back fat? I used to be effortlessly slim. Bloody shit isn't it? I did lose weight with Keto but looked older because all the weight fell off my face and chest, fat or haggard, Hobson choice isn't it?

I am in the same boat. After 9 years of peri and menopause I have kind of given in and try to embrace it. Nothing works for me. I changed my ( already pretty healthy) diet and eat lower carbon. My partner has lost loads of weight eating the same way as me!

I look like a barrel.

From looking around and reading lots of other threads it would appear a low carb / keto type diet is recommended the most. So cutting out my favourite fall back foods 😭
But I'd like to no longer look like a potato with giant boobs so I'm determined to give it a go

Although I have no clue how to follow this kind of diet so I'll be spending this weekend doing a bit if research and writing a shopping list.

And thank you @JinglingHellsBells for the messages and advice

I was just thinking yesterday how horridly large my breasts have become recently (I'm 58 and gaining weight) and it's so discouraging to look like a blowsy, stodgy lump.

[quote CherryBlossomCheer]@CrotchetyQuaver Do you mind me asking how you got your thyroid issue addressed? Did the NHS accept the private diagnosis? I am subclinical but feel rubbish and the NHS are happy to leave me til my TSH is over 10![/quote]
Find a sympathetic GP.
I was sub clinical and my GP put me on thyroxine to prevent me going hypothyroid.

Can I jump onboard and ask what you advise for those of us with big appetites ?
I see women older than me existing on virtually nothing, missing meals, but I can’t do that. I’ve tried only snacking on fruit, but it made me feel like I was going to vomit if I ate another piece.
Any advice welcomed.