Throw everything that worked for you in perimenopause at me. Im struggling.

[Miraclemuma03]

I am trying to have another baby, iv had 3 rounds of ivf and so far have had 1 miscarriage at 7 weeks and nothing since. Iv been trying to lose weight but nothing seems to be working and its becoming frustrating and getting me down. Iv put a hold on ivf for now to concentrate on weight loss. Im in perimenopaus and 40 and am 30kg over weight which came on suddenly after I had my last baby over 2yrs ago but it just wont come off. I walk, im reasonably active, I carry bags of animal feeds around everywhere. Im sick of looking at what I look like in the mirror, I started off at just under 60kg and its just piled on month after month since starting perimenopaus and having a baby. Would love to hear from other perimenoupasal woman who struggled with their weight and found a way to get it off. I am eating between 1200 and 1500 calories, mainly 1200 calories, I eat a variety of food, meat, veg, Greek yoghurt, salads, fruit. All the things. My next step is medical weight loss but im reluctant to start as I have no idea what it will do to my already lacking fertility.

While painting my bathroom (long story, paid a fortune for it to be refitted and had to do most of the finishing) I realised my local library did audiobooks you could download on an app for free.

I downloaded "Gut Reactions: The Science of Weight Gain and Loss". Which is worth a listen or read because what I took out of it might not be what you would.

Two main things I learned were just how bad sugar and sweeteners were for insulin resistance and health. I know it's obvious but I don't think I'd realised how bad. So I quit sweeteners and mostly cut out added sugar and refined carbs. I'm not religious about it but I'm much more strict than I was.

About half way through they started talking about the various theories on intermittent fasting and what came out strongly to me was the hormonal impacts particularly of a 24 hour fast. I decided to give one 24 hour fast a week a try and it has worked really well so far. The thing that helped in the book was them saying practically how you would do it, i.e. have dinner on Monday, then miss breakfast and lunch and have dinner on Tuesday. That felt doable when "24 hours" sounded scary.

So the next week I gave it a go. It wasn't all easy but it was doable and now I've been doing it for 9 weeks I think? Every fast is actually getting easier and I'm still losing 1-1.5lbs a week without counting calories. In fact what I've found is I've naturally started to shift to having longer "non eating times" overnight of at least 12 hours which I'd not before (I track all my food on an app without calorie counting it, I just take photos basically). Apart from that I really prioritise fibre and protein. So if I do have a snack it's often prunes (don't laugh, I love them) and nuts or dates and nuts. They're still high in sugar but come with loads of fibre so you can't eat bowls and bowls of them.

I did for a laugh try to get Gemini to look at a week and guess what calories I'm consuming. It reckons it's about 1800-2200 a day but who knows if it's accurate. And that's another question. Accuracy of calories and how your body uses calories is massively oversimplified but that's another thing. Basically though what I took from that is that whatever is working for me from the fasting is working because it's doing something over and above the calorie restriction effects. There is lots of research saying the opposite to that I admit but that said, most research tends to lump in all kinds of fasting methods including 16/8 and 5/2. The latter, I don't really see as fasting at all. (I tried 5/2 and it didn't work for me and I found it harder than fasting.)

Good luck with it all and your IVF journey.

I’ve always had to watch my weight and post menopause I found that none of what had worked before (calorie counting and exercise) was really making any difference. My weight was going up and up. I also researched the effects insulin resistance like @Lemonthyme but I decided to do the Fast800 for two weeks then the 5:2. I’ve never done whole day fasting but restricting eating to between 9am and 6.30pm, along with properly following the 5:2 principles, has really worked. 5:2 isn’t just eating whatever you want on the non 800 days. You still follow the principles of no empty carbs, mediterranean style cooking etc. We bought the Fast800 and Fast800 Easy Recipe books by Claire Bailey and Justine Pattinson. They are full of really tasty recipes to help adapt your method of cooking.

I lost 10kg in 3 months that I had found impossible to shift. I’m feeling so much better for it. I went through a very early menopause and sadly it ended our hopes of having more children. I really hope that everything works out for you.

Intermittent fasting, minimum of 16:8, also works for me if I want to shift weight. It's not that hard once you get used to it but it is easy to slip off the wagon when you're doing something outside your normal routine. I need to reset again after holiday as the weight is slowly creeping back on since I resumed grazing!

For me what I found helpful was getting my HbA1c checked (5.8% so not prediabetic but heading that way), iron and B12. The first was because it convinced me that despite me doing everything the NHS tells you to do in diet and exercise AND being tee total, I was still heading for diabetes so I needed to do something to address my growing insulin resistance and where I was headed and the one size fits all advice was now ineffective.

Secondly the iron and B12 helped because it showed I was low in B12 so I started supplementing using a mouth spray as it's directly absorbed. It helps on energy to exercise which you need if you're going to be restricting intake in some way.

Thank you. So, so far the gist of it is maybe try fasting? Iv never done fasting and wouldnt even know where to start. Is there a program I can follow or something.

People accuse me of being evangelical because I eventually found something that worked for me and that's probably true but what I'd recommend is reading a book I "read" on my (free) library audiobook app called "gut reactions" by Simon Quellen Field. It's not a diet book but it talks about the various impacts of different macronutrients on the body and how your various hormones impact weight gain and weight loss.

From that I cut back massively on sugar and eradicated sweeteners and introduced a 1 x 24 hour fast per week by stopping eating after dinner on day 1 and eating from dinner on day 2. So only 2 meals skipped. I have no idea if whether I didn't cut out the added sugar whether it would be working as well as it is because that only preceded the fasting by c. 2 weeks so whether it's a combination of both or just the fasting.

I also prioritise fibre and protein in my meals and intake of both has increased, intake of carbs has reduced but not eliminated. I just don't tend to eat refined carbs anymore and if I do now I feel horrible. E.g. if I'm stuck with no alternative to sandwiches when visiting a client site.

I think though by reading the book I could also have come up with other things which also could have worked for me. For example, I do still sometimes snack a bit, not as much as I used to and it only tends to be fruit or dried fruit and nuts but there is some good evidence that not snacking is great for you. He also talks about other fasting methods.

I can't remember it all but what I did was write down each bit that felt like it had strong evidence and felt doable for me then implemented it and it just worked.

Read the Obesity code by Jason Fung - similar principles on fasting, and explains why the ‘eat less move more’ or calorie restriction doesn’t work inthe long term.

I signed up to a Programme called Tara Grimes. I have lost 10kg It’s definitely helping

Il have a look thank you

Maternal diet prior to conception and during pregnancy has a big impact on neurodevelopment and future health of the baby, so I wouldn’t go to extremes or follow doctors like Jason Fung who has been red flagged for lack of accuracy.

Think ahead about fertility and optimising the baby’s development. You don’t have to pick one or the other, you can build the best terrain and lose weight at the same time. I
Intermittent fasting might not be safe for fertility issues, especially long fasts. We don’t know for sure, so why risk it.
https://thedietologist.com.au/intermittent-fasting-fertility/

You don’t mention whole grains in the list of foods you eat. Look more at a Mediterranean style diet, don’t overdo the meats and fats.

Mounjaro got my 5 stone peri weight gain off. Im now size 10. How old are you? My sister had a baby at 50. She is totally knackered.

I’ve been combining 14 hour fasts with calorie counting. I need to increase the fasting times really to shift the last 10lbs but I’ve lost 3 stone

How do you track the 1200 calories you eat a day?

I did a little chatgpt and googling on fasting and fertility and it wasnt recommended. So have decided to stay away from that for right now and maybe something to look into once iv finished fertility treatment. When I had my last baby I followed a fertility Mediterranean diet but was not over weight or looking to lose weight. I think I still have the information somewhere saved on my phone.

I weigh my food and track with myfitnesspal

Im 40. Already have toddlers, and older children, I feel normal, pretty active. Just have the perimenopausal symptoms which can be a little difficult to navigate but manage. I am unable to go on any medical weight loss drugs as im in the middle of ivf treatment and weight loss drugs are not recommended so have to try to get off some weight naturally.

I tried intermittent fasting at the beginning of perimenopause and it worked well. However now it triggers insomnia and migraines - so I’ve put on a stone due to coping my way through the working week exhausted and snacking.

I just read your link and that pretty much the same information I was reading. Thank you for the link.

Oh thats a shame. They work so well. I was fat for 30 years and nothing worked.
I do count calories too. There are load
s of calorie trackers online.

Yeah. I'd definitely stop it if that was what I was getting. I have had on and off migraines for years and insomnia. I've found that both improved on giving up alcohol completely and thinking about it I'm not sure I've had a migraine either since I started IF. Sleep has continued to improve since starting IF but I don't know if it's linked. All very hard to tell when it's a sample size of one.

But I used to and probably still do have regular awful headaches / migraines which would start in my shoulder / neck and radiate up onto the right side of my head. I know when one hits it's 2.5 days of pain if the sumatriptan doesn't work and it's hit and miss. If I found IF was causing them, then I'd quit immediately.