Perimenopause weight gain

[Metcon010]

Apologies if this topic has been done to death. I'm 41 and in the past two years have put on about a stone - I'm small built to begin with so it's noticeable. My job is fairly sedentary so I have to make a conscious effort to get the arbitrary figure of 10k steps a day but I've managed it every day this week and do feel better for it and have found for me that all it takes is getting to work 15 mins early and going for a walk, and a walk at lunch time.

My question is does anybody have any tips to make small, easy changes that have made a difference?

I'd love to be the kind of person who counts calories but I'm not organised enough to do this or think about weighing what I eat before I eat it.

So far I have

• 10k steps minimum a day
• glass of water before each meal or when I'm hungry to check if I'm hungry or thirsty

I'd be really grateful for any other easy to fit into my life tips. Thank you :)

Don’t eat UPF’s
Stop drinking alcohol or at least cut back.
Don’t eat before 11am.
Eat more protein and less carbs
Try eating one or two meals a day, not three
No snacks in between meals
Increase your steps to minimum 15,000 a day
Exercise at least 3 times a week; run or lift weights; something that raises your heart rate.
Join Myfitness pal or some other app and track your calories; investigate how many calories you need a day and eat less.

I’ve done all the above and have lost more than a stone this year; I’m 58 and am nearly the same weight I used to be before children.

I should add you only need to be good 80% of the time!

I have read what you said, but to stand any chance of success my tip is to work out your TDEE, subtract 500, and find your magic weightloss kcal number. Then track calories religiously for one week, just to see how little you actually need to eat to lose weight.

I am not organised enough to track calories either, but I could probably force myself to do it for a week.

Once you see how little you need to eat (the bigger picture), you will have a much greater chance of success.

Try liquid berberine, it suppresses the appetite. Works a treat for me, stops the cravings.

Thank you for your replies. I don't drink alcohol but I am a sugar addict.

I do spinning 3 x a week and dip in and out of strength training, I'm not consistent with it but I know especially at this age I should be! Will give the 15000 steps a go this next week to see if it's achievable without much more effort.

I don't mind the feeling of being hungry but I'm really self conscious about my stomach rumbling especially at work. So although I don't feel the need to eat breakfast, I do just to keep the audible noise away.

I'll give the berberine a try, thank you!

Berberine didn’t work at all for me, I would have about 2-3 hours of reduced appetite and then be ravenous with low blood sugar.

my tip is eat real food, and get 30g fibre a day. It’s actually quite hard to get 30g in, but it makes a big difference to how hungry I am overall. I have been really focusing on increasing my gut biome by having ACV and kefir and lots of fibre. Unfortunately I just need a lot fewer calories that I used to but find it very hard to stick to 1400 a day.