Perimenopause- weight gain/cannot lose weight?

[TurquoiseDress]

I put this message in a weight loss topic earlier but actually think it should go here as menopause specific…my original post was on a thread about weight loss & short people…

…I’m 46 years old, 161cm/5ft 3 and currently weigh 66kg…back in Feb I’d had an awful flu like illness, unwell for over a week took me a good few weeks to feel back to normal

When I was unwell, I ate v little over that week and spent most of the time lying down/sleeping…I did lose some weight but only a kilo or two, never went any lower than 65kg…back to eating normally again for the past 4 months or so & stuck at 66kg

Since Easter I’ve upped my exercise- doing a sport 2/3 times a week including gym trips/classes and generally MOVING MORE, the nicer weather has helped…

But one thing worries me- every past summer I have lost a few kg and got down to 62/63kg after losing my ‘winter coat’…but not this time 🤔

I am now starting to wonder…is this perimenopause?

Don’t have any other objective symptoms and I take the combined pill so have a ‘period’ during the pill free week

I’m going to book with the GP soon to request some blood tests, just want to rule out anything else going on eg thyroid issue, but deep down I think that my metabolism has simply slowed down…has anyone else found this?

Weight did start to pile on in peri, I massively reduced calories and got rid of it, thankfully, but have to be very careful about what I eat. before I was treated for hypothyroidism in my 30’s the weight increased, despite massively reducing calories.

Work out your Tdee and reduce the maintenance calories by 20% for weight loss calorie target.

https://tdeecalculator.net

Thank you for the link…yikes this is all so depressing, I’ve been eating pretty healthy over the past 3/4 months, lots of salads & veggies eg steamed broccoli with EV olive oil…and I’ve been exercising/moving so much more compared with the winter months

Just thought I would’ve lost a few kgs after all the above efforts…my BMI has me in the overweight category….hmm right back to the drawing board about what to do about all of this

Also added pressure on myself as we’re going on holiday in just over a month, lots of lovely dresses in my wardrobe which I want to wear but they don’t quite fit like they used to