Weight that WILL NOT come off

[samsmum2]

I'm so fed up.... Over the last year, I've put on a stone in weight and nothing I do seems to make a difference. I had a minor stroke and the consultant took me off my HRT as he said it was a stroke risk, (Femoston) so I assumed that was why I suddenly piled on the pounds. (Also was less active for a while) Anyway, I battled to get back on it, and the HRT clinic I went to managed to persuade the consultant that the research showed that stroke risk for use of oestrogen patches with separate progesterone tablets was minimal, so I went back on it, hoping for a change in the weight. Nada.... At this point I was eating healthily, v low carb, lots of fresh fruit & veg, not processed food etc, but nothing changed. I have recently taken up weight training and attend 4-5 classes a week. I've noticed a change in my muscle tone, but not lost a pound and I still carry a horrible flabby spare tyre around my middle, though my limbs & face are quite slim. I've also been super careful with my diet, under the guidance of the PT at the gym, so again v low carb, high protein, I've cut out most sugar (except for honey that I have on my yoghurt with nuts, seeds & berries for breakfast) and I still haven't lost a pound. I'm feeling so low about it with summer coming, and unable to get into half my wardrobe. I walk the dog daily for a good 5 miles. I'm aware of how much sugar there is in fruit so have been attempting to cut that back too, but life becomes a bit dull if you can't even have a piece of fruit after a meal, let alone a pudding. I only drink at weekends - generally a g&t & a glass of white wine, and if we go out and eat a 'normal' meal at a friend's house/pub, I'm up 2lb the next morning. Just bought some fat measuring scales which put my fat percentage (38%) in the obese range, although most people would say I'm not even overweight. 10st.11 & 5'6" tall. Now toying with the idea of coming back off HRT as can't work out if there's a link or not. Feeling so rubbish... any advice anyone?

I am almost teetotal, as it's the thing that makes the difference between losing weight and not. It's depressing as I used to stop eating chocolate and crisps and would drop a stone but now it's calorie counting, exercising regularly and not drinking, and it's still only a pound or two a month I lose.

I too would suggest intermittent fasting 16:8 so I eat between 12 and 8 fast 8-12. Only drink water, herbal tea, black tea, coffee lemon in water. I also limit carbs and eat protein and green veg.

You need to drop your calories so be aware of what you're consuming. Stop with UPF and eat real food. Increase your muscle mass, walk a lot and be consistent and patient.

It's really exceedingly hard to actually do.

You have my sympathy OP. It is so very hard, it will be especially hard for you as you are probably not even technically overweight (I’m not trying in any way to belittle how you feel, we all have our own range of personal tolerance!).
I put on a stone before HRT and a stone since starting. I’ve only managed to shift 4lb back off so far. It’s meno/peri that does it, huge hormonal change, just like when we gain curves in adolescence. I always imagine it as a huge evolutionary adaptation- nature suddenly makes us fat around the middle and unhappy about it. Then we will be unattractive to males, which works well as an evolutionary strategy as we enter infertility and have served our mating purposes already!
I think we just need to take a long-haul approach, being more active and eating less but super healthy. But it’s sooo much less to see any results, that I’m beginning to see why many don’t bother and just accept the new higher tide.

If you have the cash it' s worth looking at the Zoe program and signing up. It's personalised nutrition - you wear a blood glucose monitor for 2 weeks, have you poor ad blood analysed and it works out which foods are the right ones for you. It's not a diet and it's not about calories, and it's not about weight loss as such but many people do lose weight on it by eating what's right for their body.

Oh and maybe get your thyroid tested? Underactive means weight gain usually.

Thanks everyone... @pistachioicecream I hear you! Sounds so similar but must admit it's nice to know I'm not on my own with this. @lljkk I totally agree - it doesn't add up. Maybe the lack of carbs is the problem - Slimming World certainly worked for me in the past. But I don't think I'm overlooking calories, and with my exercise routine (45 mins weight training plus walking (prob 1.5 hours a day) I reckon I must be in calorie deficit at least some days. My typical day's food is: Plain yoghurt or plain Kefir with nuts, seeds, blueberries & honey for breakfast, cold meat, toms, cucumber, raw carrots, spoon of hummus and maybe a bit of mozzarella, or homemade veg soup, or cheese omelette for lunch, handful of almonds before (and often after) the gym, lean meat or fish and veg or salad for evening meal. Plus fruit. So probably eat too many nuts but understood they're a good source of protein. @SarahC50 what are ozempic boards? @WeAreTheHeroes I have taken measurements and only lost an inch in most areas, so better than nothing but still not great. @bellac11 My waist is 33" and you're right - I don't look especially overweight in clothes, it's just my horrible flabby midriff and the fact that my clothes don't fit. @JinglingSpringbells I had my thyroid tested last week - all normal. I have looked into signing up to the Zoe program but have spent so much money on bloody apps for hormonal weight gain, exercise, etc that I just can't afford any more! Including IF, which I didn't really do properly but from what PP have said here, it definitely looks worth trying. @Skybluepinky I'm not weighing & measuring foods, and I did track my food intake on My Fitness pal but think they vastly overestimate calories burned through exercise, so gave up. Sorry for the long response!

portion size matters. 1 kg of greek yogurt & nuts would make you fat... I don't know how large was portion size was on those.

I have found different people have different tolerances/sensitivities for the carbs in low carb food. Especially in food that’s good for snacks. I can only eat a small amount of nuts and cheese, yoghurt or processed meats like salami before it stalls weight loss for me. Though I know others have no issue with them.

When I get to that horrible weight loss plateau I always try to go back to the strict basics for a month and that normally resets me. So meat - steak, chicken, lamb (eggs) etc as my source of protein and only low carb vegetables pumpkin, spinach mushrooms, salad etc. - no peas, parsnips, sweet potatoes etc I try to avoid alcohol in that month and have something like a gin and soda water with lots of lemon if I have to have something.

It’s very hard.

I always assumed that your body begins to hold on to weight during this because as you get old and your appetite decreases you become frailer, and thus more vulnerable if you have an injury or illness. Having a little bit of weight to come and go on can really help you in old age.

Once you start weighing and measuring your food and drink intake and accurately logging the calories I think you'll see a difference. Never eat back exercise calories - the devices that tell you how many calories you've burned work on averages, probably based on what a 5'10" bloke burned in a study 30+ years ago. They're not accurate for you and are only a guide at most. Exercise should be part of your life and has great health benefits, but don't count it for weight loss.

I'm menopausal and can lose weight controlling calories and macros. It helps to up exercise as it's harder to eat crap when you're active. The biggest difference for me with the hormonal changes is I constantly feel tired, don't sleep well and as a result lack the motivation and willpower to actually make a concerted effort. Before this, I lost two stone pretty easily and was feeling great. Then the winter lockdown really got to me and things went downhill.

I'm trying now to do something about it, but it's hard. Not helped by the fact work has been very stressful for months, which has impacted sleep, etc further.

Definitely try intermittent fasting:
eat 2 meals in a day: perhaps 10/11ish and 6 ish. Giving 16 hours fast
dont snack between unless you really are very hungry - then have a small portion of nuts

with the yog/berries breakfast, be careful that it’s full fat, no added shite. And really, the berries do contain fructose so you’d be better with a boiled egg than with yog/berries.

menopause is a bastard. I went into it at 39 and didn’t realise until I had stacked weight on.I have lost some but I still have some to go.

I am having the same problem atm. (Inc the stroke risk thanks to chronic migraines. Where is the glamour?) I originally lost heaps doing very low carb diet and kept it off, then fell off the bandwagon spectacularly (reasons) and had a hard time getting back on. Now I am back on, bastard weight won’t shift. I can literally eat only two eggs a day (not recommended) and still not lose weight! Suspect it is because fat produced oestrogen and that is what my bloody body knows it’s craving. (They don’t let a bloke out of hospital until they’ve rebalanced his hormones after castrating him, do they? How the hell is menopause not the same thing?) Anyhow, I am now trying that villified/much touted miracle drug. Week two and so far so nothing.

@samsmum2 Your diet sounds perfect but you do need some carbs even if just a small portion of wholegrain rice, pasta, oats, or bread every day. NO carb is not healthy.

The only thing could be the quantity/portion size but as you are eating mainly fruit , veg and lean protein it seems unlikely. Maybe think about the amount as well as things like the cheese (very high in cals) .

You can work out how much protein you need in a day by multiplying your weight in pounds by 0.36.
most of us need around 40-50gms a day.

I read all the Podcasts on Zoe and it's interesting. They don't advise calorie counting, they do advise eating nuts! Last week's podcast was about nuts and weight.

It's worth giving intermittent fasting a go even starting slowly. eg last meal at 7pm breakfast at 8am - 13 hour window, and build to 14 hours if you can.

Going back to HRT, if you are using it on a combined continuous cycle (Utorgestan daily) it might be worth swapping to a cycle - 12 days of Utrogestan a month - to see if that changes anything. You'd get a bleed each month but it could be a useful experiment re. the weight.

I'd recommend Laura Briden's book "Hormone Repair Manual
Every Woman’s Guide to Healthy Hormones After 40."

There's some great advice about diet and supplements which are helping me.

Drop the handful of almonds before and after the gym - that will be a shedloads of calories - you could easily be absentmindedly chomping 300-500 calories without noticing. Honestly, you'd be better enjoying a kit kat or a couple jaffa cakes. Just because something is healthy doesn't mean it is going to help you lose weight.

Qualified scientists like Prof Tim Spector and Dr Sarah Berry working at London Uni , Kings College, are the 'real thing' and their podcasts are scientifically based. They do cover menopause specifically as well.

There are a lot of 'naturopathic drs' who have jumped on the meno bandwagon and a lot of it has no science behind it.

I think its foolhardy to want to lose weight and not track your intake, even if your method is not 'calorie counting' you still need to know what calories you are taking in

I have 10g of almonds every day. I weigh them out every day. They always come to 10 almonds. I would say a handful, assuming my size hands would be about 20 almonds,, thats about 130 cals. Almonds are very good for you but you still have to watch the amount. They are calorie dense.

HRT has made me pile on a stone.
It's so depressing.
I don't know what the answer is op.

I've been wondering about doing this.
I'm working full time though and get dizzy if I don't eat.

@samsmum2 Maybe you are just always eating that little bit too much? nd over estimating the effects of the exercise? (I was shocked at how few cals my 'energetic' 3 mile walk used!)

For instance, you are having seeds and nuts in your morning yoghurt. Both are quite high in cals so why not just have one of those?

You are also snacking on more nuts before and after the gym. Cut out the snacks? You don't need them in addition to 3 meals.

You mention you might have cold meat and salad for lunch and maybe some cheese (as well.) Again- doubling up - so why not one or the other?
Or why not leave the cheese out of the omelette- and put herbs in it or mushrooms?

The nuts 3 x a day, plus cheese, could be adding 500 cals to your intake which could be the difference between staying your weight and losing some.

It's just my opinion but I think you are eating more than you think especially by having nuts 3 times a day, adding cheese to a salad that already has meat (or other protein.)

@JinglingSpringbells most of the time I would absolutely agree with you but when most women only have access to their local GPS who are still not clued up about women's health it doesn't hurt to have a range of information at hand.

Would you be able to say what you're doing/ have learned from her book that helps?

I've looked at the book - contents etc- and it seems to state the obvious for at least half of it (basic biology etc) and the rest appears to be the same, stuff that can be found almost anywhere online- insulin resistance etc.

I suppose I feel sceptical of the title- hormones don't need to be 'repaired' - they are healthy anyway!

This (IMO) is better as it's written by qualified scientists- dieticians and doctors.

https://joinzoe.com/learn

If I were you I would forget about the scales for 6 months, focus on eating healthily, no snacks, no seconds, and just a couple of drinks and treats at the weekend and see if it settles.

But if you don’t want to do that the only answer is to calorie count. use a calculator and work out the deficit you need to loose weight and do that. You will be eating more than you think..

Having a little bit of weight to come and go on can really help you in old age.

I think there’s something in this. Perhaps nature tries to protect us.

Or perhaps earlier on in evolution we wouldn’t be given as many calories by the group because we weren’t carrying out hunting or child producing. So we had to cling on to every last calorie to survive.

@JinglingSpringbells it's one tool in my arsenal. It was a helpful reinforcement to enable me to adopt and stick to good habits as it's written in a very encouraging and understanding style.

They are, but Tim Spector is also now flogging a diet app..