Why oh why am I gaining not losing?!

[Bluesheep8]

Average day looks like this:

Either a couple of bananas OR a smoothie made with frozen fruit, fat free yoghurt, banana and skimmed milk.

Lunch is turkey or tuna salad OR weightwatchers soup or homemade soup with 4 ryvitas and laughing cow light.

Dinner is something like homemade chilli made with lean mince and lentils with cauli rice or homemade spag bol made the same way with spiralised bns. A weighed portion (40g) of reduced fat cheese.
At least 3l of water, a 20 min fast walk at lunchtime and 20 mins at least on the treadmill most nights. Yet I'm GAINING weight! How? Why? Help!!!

Interested to hear people's experiences of this menopause/hormone (?) blood test though. Does it lead to treatment? If so, what? Tia

I had blood tests around the age of 49/50 for menopause and was started on HRT. Still on it 10 years later. Not sure if that messes up metabolic rate. I'm tested every 8 to 12 weeks for thyroid function and its slowly getting worse. GP won't give me treatment for that until its really bad though. I'm considering going private for it.

You don’t need blood tests for the menopause
It’s a symptom based diagnosis unless you are particularly young

Hmmm, no not particularly young. I'm 45. At a loss as to why gp has suggested this blood test then.

@Bluesheep8 peri menopause starts before menopause and, like puberty itself, happens over a number of years. If you are showing symptoms of peri then a simple blood test can check your hormone levels.

However, your lack of weight loss is more likely down to 1. eating more than you think/acknowledge/admit you are 2. you are less active now than you were last year/ 2 years ago/ 5 years ago 3. you aren't working as hard at your exercise as you think! It constantly shocks me just how hard I have to work to burn 100 calories. And how easy it is to eat them .

I used a PT two years ago (when I was 47) and he said the biggest problem ladies of a certain age have is that any excess weight heads to their midriff. He advised me to watch my carbs, particularly cereals, bread, pasta and rice. I was OK to have them but I had to earn them and should only eat them just before or after exercise. So I cut out my lunchtime sandwich, rarely have pasta or rice or potatoes in my evening meal, don't have toast for breakfast and lo and behold my stomach is shrinking! I'm not losing much weight (genuinely building muscle though) but there is definitely less flab there than there was.

That's interesting blobby thank you. Yes I am doing less exercise than I was a year ago but even then I was just walking but it was everyday. Carbs are something that I'm v conscious of. I rarely eat bread and more often than not will have cauli rice instead of rice and spiralised bns for spaghetti. I also limit potatoes and have extra veg/salad instead. I think that lack of exercise is the issue here. In terms of blood test for peri menopause, do they medically treat that then? Just wondering why they want to test it. But yes, the additional flab has appeared around my middle, almost overnight!

Weighed this morning and I've lost 1 pound! It's something, I suppose...

A pound loss is good. Any loss is good. Keep going. Picture a pound of cheese- and that much fat has GONE from your body!
Maybe starting the weight loss process is a bit like turning round a cruise liner.... slow to start but then it gets going, momentum builds and soon it's sailing at top speed into the sunset!!

Loving your descriptive analogy auntvanya that's a great way to look at it, thanks