Menopause weight…does it get any better?

[RipplePlease]

I’m 56 and have always been slim. Not any more!
Everything around my middle area, tummy, hips, bum has got bigger.
I weigh a stone more than I used to and I don’t feel like I’m eating any more than I used to.
I exercise 3 times a week, walk about 5 miles a day…
I’d love to find out if this “tyre” will disappear once I’m post-menopausal.
And when will that be?!

You need to change what you eat. As we get older, the body is less forgiving. Massively increase the amount of vegetables you eat in a day. If you really have to eat something between or after meals, it has to be raw vegetables, things like carrots, red pepper, cucumber, celery, fennel, …
Then the obvious, cut the sugary stuff, the biscuit with the cup of tea , .. Moving and exercising is great, but to go back to slim, it will be the movement of your arm towards your mouth that will matter the most.

Afraid it won’t disappear without effort - your body and metabolism have changed so you need to change what you eat and the type of exercise you do in order to shift it.

Post menopause it is more to do with what you are eating rather than calories.

I had to limit carbs and sugar to keep the weight off. I used to be able to eat crisps bread and pasta with no problem but not after menopause.

Alternatively, you can decide it just doesn't matter.

Of course it is important to eat healthily and to work out, but I think decades of monitoring everything that goes into your mouth in a constant battle with menopausal wweight gain is just joyless.

Enjoy life. Dress well. Feel confident. Focus on strength, agility, vitality and clothes that look great on you. How important will that slightly thicker wasit feel if you do?

Proper workouts are your friend, it’s not inevitable that you have to have that figure. And yes reduce carbs and junk

This happened to me as I had an early menopause and I felt awful about my weight. I can only tell you what worked for me and that was I cut out sugar reduced my carbs and stopped drinking alcohol, I upped my weight training, doing pilates and yoga and I tracked everything that went into my mouth until I fitted comfortably into my clothes again. I also stopped standing on the scales! I’m probably heavier now due to muscle gain but I’m much more toned.

This is what I'm going to do, thanks 🙏

Yep this is where I am. Life is too short to restrict what you eat for the point of a stone or so.

@Tonissister
Thank you. I love your post and would love to take this outlook on board but unfortunately I'm not there. I know it’s completely natural to gain weight at this stage in my life and on certain days I don’t give a monkey’s but on others I really do!
@Eviangeica
I started doing Pilates, Yoga and strength training a few months ago. My instructor has told me to throw my scales out of the window and concentrate on how I feel in my clothes.

Good advice from your instructor. You definitely don’t want to become obsessive about it.

As you’re doing - focus on weight training as we lose muscle mass as we get older. So building it back really helps.

Then sufficient protein and a healthy diet with lots of veg and fibre. It is hard.

I’ve had to accept a bit of weight has gone on but I am focusing on strength training. My menopause doctor has said it’s important not to be underweight or to restrict food as that can affect bone density.

Something I find comforting is that the average weight gain for women post-menopause is only 2.5lbs.

Which means it isn’t inevitable. Which means you can tackle it if you want to, in all the ways people have said. You don’t lose weight quickly post-menopause, and the way you’ve eaten and exercised all your life to maintain your weight will almost certainly need to be adapted, but there’s nothing fundamentally stopping you. It’s not inevitable.