If you are in your 40's, and/or perimenopausal, what has helped you lose weight?

[Lovehappychildren]

Hello!
As the title suggests, I am approaching mid 40's, pretty sure I am experiencing perimenopause, and very much struggling to lose weight. I also have pcos so feel like everything is going against me.
I am around 4 to 5 stone overweight. In my 30's, low carb worked for me, but it doesn't seem to now. I have switched up to a higher protein diet, lots of fruit and veg ( though I know many fruits are sugary ), and this week I have put on 1lb. Particularly annoying as I tried so hard.
Anyway, looking forward, I have the weekend to do some preparation ( I am very short on time during the week) so please hit me with suggestions. I really don't like eggs but could manage scrambled eggs maybe twice a week. I love Greek yoghurt and tend to eat jumbo oats for breakfast.
I have a food delivery tomorrow morning so I have today to plan my meals.
I also joined the gym and have had my induction and plan drawn up, with an emphasis on strength training.
Thank you all!

A desk job, so not loads. I do walk the dog for 30 min in the evening, and an hour at weekends.

Being stressed…the weight falls off.

Sorry if this is obvious, but portion control, using the small bowl and plate.
Maybe beans/chickpeas/ peas as your protein a few days a week. Up your steps.
Good luck.

Do you know your TDEE, and how many calories you actually consume? I'd spend a couple of weeks keeping a detailed record of calories, just you get an idea how far off you are. Sadly, as we get older we need fewer calories to maintain or lose weight.

Once you know, you can adopt strategies that make sense to you. For instance:

Intermittent fasting
Making all calories count, ie nutrition and taste
No mindless eating or snacking
Don't drink calories
Vegetable carbs instead of refined carbs
Fill you plate with vegetables and eat those first.
Use a smaller plate.
Use herbs and spices to make small amounts of food more interesting.
Chew slowly and focus on eating rather than watching TV or reading stuff online.
No food 3 hours before bedtime.

Personally I found exercise a powerful motivator that put me in a health focused frame of mind. Discovering Caroline Girvan and weight training with dumbbells was truly life-changing. Working out became part of my daily life. Have a look at her EPIC Heat programme. I started off with 3kg dumbbells, now using 10kg. (NB: I'm 70....... it's never too late!)

Low-ish carbs works for me although it's incredibly slow. I feel a lot healthier on it though so am getting rewards in other ways than weight loss.

I try to eat natural foods as much as possible and simply remove the refined carb element of a meal and replace it with lots of veg and some fat to ensure I'm full. Over time I am less hungry so have started intermittent fasting (ie skip breakfast) a few days per week which helps keep the calorie count low. I don't actually count calories or carbs but when I've checked I eat around 30-50g carbs and between 1300-1800 calories. No sweets, crisps or sugar apart from a few squares of 85% dark chocolate most days.

It has reduced my joint pain, improved energy levels, reduced bloat and increased my sex drive so I'm not complaining. The weight is coming off but very slowly but I am finding it easy so will keep on going.

Calorie counting and regular exercise. Facilitated by having oestrogen again. Also practising yoga totally changed my mindset.

I weigh myself daily. Log everything I eat. 5kgs down, 10 to go. I have finally come
To the conclusion that I know what works for me, and this is it. Intermittent fasting, low carb, all great and work for some people but constant vigilance is the only thing that's working for me.

Agree what everyone else has posted. We really need to massively cut down our portion size/snacking as we get older. I used My Fitness Pal and logged EVERYTHING honestly. It was a faff to begin with but made me identify where the excess calories were.
You need to let yourself get hungry and go to bed hungry when you start. You will get used to it and then your body will only tolerate small meals etc.
I weigh myself every morning without fail.
I cut out all bread and pasta and feel so much better for it.
Intermittent fasting worked well for me-I don't eat breakfast any more and just have two meals and a light snack in between.
Doesn't matter what 'diet plan' you follow-it's all about calories in vs calories out. Exercise is important but weight loss is 80% diet.

Yeah, it's logging everything for me which has proved most successful. When people say "just eat until you are full", well, that's what got me to three stone overweight. That and pregnancy, hormones, insomnia, stress and depression anyway.

It's the tiredness and hormones that does me in. I just turn to food to keep me going, and it's the shit sugar filled processed stuff, not the good stuff that I reach for.

I still am pretty bad at tracking, so I do slimming world. Only need to keep track of 15 syns, not everything! Maybe when the kids are a bit older I can start tracking properly, but I'm not there yet.

Im 40 and what has worked for me is a PT, calorie counting and getting my steps in every (most) day. Shes completely changed my views on losing weight/healthy eating and im now not so focused on scale weight. Also realising im not gonna Drop half a stone every few weeks its a long process.

Low carb + always skip breakfast + limited alcohol + two 36-hour fasts a week.

Consistently losing 1 pound a week.

(Late 50s, 8 stone overweight at heaviest, yo-yo dieted for last 30 years, tried every diet going, post-menopausal).

In my experience better sleep helps facilitate weight loss - though it becomes a vicious circle. When I was obese I felt less comfortable in bed and didn't sleep as well. Then drank more coffee in the day to get through...

I did a course to reset my sleep patterns with Sleepstation (sometimes available through NHS), cut out caffeine completely for a few months (had headaches for a week too), went to see a nutritionist (just one visit but it gave me a plan and I made some changes to diet) changed my job and working patterns and took up yoga. Gradually reintroduced caffiene but I generally only have coffee before 12pm, and only two.

I've struggled to get to normal BMI but I'm only within a few pounds and am fit and healthy. I've not been anywhere near the 205 pounds I was in 2016 for some time. I tend to be in the 160s-170s.

Calorie counting. It fell off honestly. Myfitnesspal

Alcohol only at weekend and only two drinks.

1200 cals a day.

Exercise 4 times a week (spinning / gym etc)

Lost several kgs in 7 weeks and almost down to goal weight of 50kgs.

Best bit is, still having treats and eating nice things and the exercise has been good fun.

Giving up week drinking was hard at first but that's fine now.

What's worked for me is mostly fixing my eating.

3 normal meals a day, so poached eggs on toast, soup with beans or lentils for lunch and protein, 'brown' carb and veg for tea.

It's sustainable, I'm not hungry, and if I am I eat a banana or some plain nuts (not many though the calories are shocking).

I've cut out snacking due to not having sugar swings.

I've stopped drinking unless there's a good reason for it - so friends round or something.

I'm moving more, and feel better for it, joined a gym to do a weights class with some cardio, as I think that is good for my menopausal body. I'm walking more and with hills and at a pace.

All this has taken a year and I look much better. I could have done it quicker but I'm trying to do proper lifestyle change.

What’s worked for me has been accepting that I’m not going to get massive weekly losses any more, and to stop chasing them. Getting annoyed about not losing 3lbs a week was stopping me losing half a pound a week, and those half pounds do eventually add up.
I’ve also had to accept that a big weekend will result in a few pounds on and that few pounds on will take weeks to come off . It’s made me rethink my standards of what is and isn’t worth it. I no longer eat or drink anything to make anyone else happy- not out of politeness or obligation or because of x,y,z reason- only if I want it. Alcohol particularly, the way people force you to drink thousands of calories is ludicrous.
taking iron tablets has helped me get my fitness goals back on track and I am seeing great results from that in terms of body shape and muscle tone.
I don’t fast or starve myself or skip meals or cut out food groups any more. It’s not worth it. It makes me tired and miserable. I just eat less food and track everything and try to make better choices and accept that every choice has a consequence. It takes a lot of hard work to lose a tiny amount and if that’s what it takes then I have to decide if it’s worth it. There’s no point listening to everyone else and what worked for them because everybody’s life is different so it might not work for me.