Perimenopausal and always hungry - how can I lose weight?!

[Diamondglitter]

Hi all,

I honestly don't know where to start with trying to lose weight.

I'm now aged 50 and perimenopausal. I'm 5 feet 4 inches and up until I had my first child at 32, I was around 8.5 stone. I didn't exercise, I just don't think I ate that much, I didn't really feel hungry a lot of the time.

Then my weight fluctuated when I was pregnant and after I had dc. I'm now around 10.5 stone and I feel hungry all the time! 😫

I want to lose 1.5 stone but just don't know what to do. There are so many diets and plans out there - how do you choose what's best?

At the moment I would say my meals are pretty healthy, and reasonable portion sizes, but I snack too much on crisps and chocolate.

An example day would be:

Breakfast: porridge with water, with some Greek yoghurt and berries mixed in

Lunch: 2 eggs or 1 chicken breast, or 1 can of tuna, a couple of rice cakes and salad

Dinner: something like dal and rice/ chicken casserole/ vegetarian chilli/ fish and potato wedges (all home made) with vegetables

Snacks - usually in a day I would have something like a packet of jaffa cakes and half a large bar of Cadburys chocolate. Or half a family sized packet of crisps.

Drinks - 4 cups of tea and lots of water

At the weekend I usually have 3 - 4 glasses of wine

The thing is, I spend a lot of the day feeling hungry. I don't know why. I make sure I'm eating protein and drinking a lot of water. I know I am snacking way too much, and I probably need to totally cut out the snacks.

I try to exercise around 4 times a week - gym or yoga.

I don't know whether to try to find a weight loss diet to stick to, or just cut down my portion sizes and cut down/ reduce the snacks. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you!

I would forget diets and restricting food; instead concentrate on the type of food and exercise you are getting. Look up Dr Stacy T Sims - she gives loads of good advice for woman on both diet and fitness, especially aimed at Per Menopausal women - she also explains why fasting and starving yourself is the opposite of what you should be doing to get strong and lose weight.

I’m older than you and finally lost weight by cutting out snacks and anything made with flour. So, no bread , pasta, cakes. It stops the cravings. Look up Blue Line for more info.

Also, because of gut issues I don’t eat after 6pm. I’m not hungry in the morning so I have breakfast around 10. That’s a 16 hour fast without trying very hard.

I love food and have a big appetite!

Not the point but for adults it’s recommended to only eat 2-4 potions of rice a week as it contains arsenic so if you’re eating a lot of rice cakes and then more rice for dinner it might not be that great.
In terms of the snacking would it help to have just one snack day a week so for example every Saturday you’re allowed a treat?

I feel hungry all the time!

I was the same. Same size for years but then started to need between meals snacks and bigger clothes. It’s taken me over three years to start shrinking back again. The hunger has gone.

Apologies, it’s “bright line eating”, not blue line.

Thanks. I was unaware of this

It seems that white rice has a much lower arsenic content than brown and boiling white rice in an excess of water removes 74%.

Yes that’s correct. I’ve swapped my rice cakes for corn cakes just in case after learning about this.

I really wouldn’t skip breakfast. Just cut out the snacks. I’d probably increase the size of your meals so you don’t feel so hungry. If you can try that for a month or two then you can consider if your portion sizes are to big if your weight still doesn’t shift

So I lost 6kg earlier this year. Took me from the top of my bmi to a weight I was happy with.

The first couple of weeks were painful then it got easier.

I did not eat until 1pm. I would eat a home made soup or roasted veg with roast sweet potato.

A normal evening meal - fish, veg, rice.

No evening snacks.

I used Noom to track (it is paid for but it meant I had invested and I did it religiously for 5 months). I weighed daily as that works for me and I’m okay if it goes up instead of down as I know down is coming!

I drank black teas, two coffees with a dash of milk, camomile tea, rooibos tea, water only, boiled water with lemon. I cut out all other drinks for around three months. I now only have other drinks (especially diet drinks) once a week max.

Snacks - apple, carrot sticks, orange, pepper - on its own.

Dark chocolate - a square if I wanted something sweet. No crisps. Lots of frozen berries (strawberries are nice straight from
the freezer).

I have remained around my chosen weight since. I still weigh daily. I did an all inclusive holiday and gained 2kg but lost it within 2 weeks on my return. I drank alcohol and ate far more than normal for the week but still ate loads of salad and fruit yet little pudding.

low Dose mounjaro?

Awwwwww @Diamondglitter I could have written your post!
we’re the same age, height and weight!
i am
start to feel like I may be, not winning as such, but not losing the battle in the way I was.
when I first hit the peri hunger and gained weight I tried HRT and gained LOTS of weight! I then tried cutting carbs and eating lots of protein and I think this was my downfall. I never felt full so I grazed on snacks and craved carbs.

I realised I need carbs to feel full and protein doesn’t do this for me - don’t know why!
so - chunky granary seeded toast for breakfast with marmite, then again at mid morning if needed.

pre pack Spanish tortilla (the omelette type) are great to have in the fridge, echo hard boiled eggs, nice crackers and corn thins, houmous, cut carrot sticks ready to grab, have salsa as a dip- this helps with the crisp craving which I think might be salt?

I also buy the skinny crunch bars and have a couple a day, helps with sugar cravings.
soya milk in tea

i did try protein shakes but was starving an hour later, also gave me heinous farts.

You feel hungry because of the sugar crashes - I eat snacks but it would be a couple of Jaffa cakes and a small multipack sized crisps

Exercise and work more

I could have written this too - I was always naturally slim, eat fairly healthy but love snacks, and exercise a fair bit.

I have never had to worry about my weight until now. Now it seems I need a super strict diet before anything starts to shift. The metabolism definitely isn't working as it used to! For me the hunger and needing snacks is probably also due to low iron.

I would recommend intermittent fasting, it does work for me. I am not hungry or crave anything if I don't start eating. So starting eating as late in the day as possible (usually around 12) really helps.

I don't do it every day so I don't feel too deprived.

I’m the same. Recently I have been planning into my day a protein snack about an hour / 90 mins after my lunch. I have around 200 calories, protein plus fruit or cherry toms or something like that, aim for about 20-25g protein. Honestly this is an absolute game changer for me, I don’t even feel hungry when I eat it but I have been having it same time every day and then do not snack all afternoon or while I’m cooking dinner. I’m not really an evening snacker thankfully. I’m so thrilled it’s working and I tell literally everyone to try it!