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[Plum]

I'm finding my weight going up since I started perimonopause, even though I'm eating the same amount as I did before. I've put on a stone in 6 months and I'm not happy! I've read exercise can help with mood swings (not sure if it's true) but with the tiredness and feeling rickety I'm not getting anything beyond "gentle" exercise.
Does the weight come off after menopause or keep going up? Anyone have strategies for dealing with this?!

[nearly50]

I think we have to eat less than we used to as we get older if we want to keep the weight down. It is probably a good time to really look at your diet and ditch the added sugar, as well as any cakes, biscuits, chocolate etc. Walking is maybe the best exercise if you're feeling tired. Not sure if you work or not, but maybe changing your routine to fit some walking in would help? Or maybe swimming?  I don't think the weight will just fall off again by itself, unfortunately.

Is there any medication you're on which has weight gain as a side effect?

[Hurdity]

Hi Plum

I agree - you need to eat less and exercise more to stay the same as metabolism slows as we head towards menopause and beyond. It comes as a shock to start putting on weight quite so quickly - I found anyway! I have had to work really hard ( and still do) to keep my weight down even though I am now in my 60's - by doing lots of exercise and drastically changing not only how much, but what I eat ie eliminating sugar - apart from fruit and of course the odd bit of 85%/90% dark chocolate  , reducing carbs, and increasing exercise - both walking, more aerobic cardio exercise, and strengthening core muscles ( pilates or body conditioning).

Have you had your thyroid tested - which might account for your fatigue, and are you getting plenty of vitamins in your diet as well as iron?

Hurdity x

[Butterfly22]

I think it is just something that we have to be more careful about th older we get.
Since turning 40 I can't eat the things I use to without feeling the weight goes on straight away.
I can't do much exercise but try to do a lot of walking, maybe try a Fitbit and setting goals for yourself xx

[Dana]

I agree with the others. Weight increase can happen more easily, but it's not inevitable. I made a lot of excuses about gaining weight, but it just came down to what I was eating. Of course exercise is important for overall health, and we all need to do it, but it's not as crucial to weight loss as food intake is. It's pretty much 80/20.

I lost weight using Weight Watchers last year, but my weight totally stalled after a while and I couldn't lose anything. That's because your body is very good at adapting to constant low calories. I am now doing the 5:2 plan and it works great because it totally shakes your body up so it never gets settled into a constant number of calories. Normally I have 500 calories 2 days a week, but I've just completed an almost zero calorie 36 hour fast and it's a lot easier than you think it will be. We all have a lot of misconceptions about eating and hunger. I've hardly felt hungry at all and hunger is very short term anyway. When it does affect you it usually only lasts about 20 minutes anyway before it disappears again.

Since I've started doing this I am really surprised at the number of people I talk to who are also doing it, and a lot of medical professionals are now recommending it.

[Butterfly22]

Oh this sounds interesting Dana do you have to do the 36 hour one with the 5.2 xx

[Dana]

No you don't, but it is something that some people do after they've been doing the 5:2 program for a while. My weight this morning was 1.5kg down on yesterday morning's weight, but of course I will gain some of that back over the next day or two with normal eating.

The basic idea though is that 2 days a week you eat 500 calories and the other days you eat normally. That's really as hard as it gets. 500 calories is actually a reasonable amount of food. The thing that most people seem to do is not have breakfast. The longer you wait to eat the less hungry you actually are.

It is important though to be aware of how much you should be eating on a non fast day. If you go to the official 5:2 website it will explain what your TDEE should be on non fast days.

https://thefastdiet.co.uk/

[Butterfly22]

Ah thanks I did try the 5.2 a while back will go to the site and have a look again xxx

[Plum]

Yes I am on citalopram, I hadn't considered that it might be something to do with my weight gain. I expect I will have to reduce my food intake and the 5:2 diet sounds a good idea. I've read in old books about how healthy fasting is, what do you do when a hunger pang hits?

[Butterfly22]

Well I no they say drink water but that doesn't always work for me xxx

[Dana]

what do you do when a hunger pang hits?

Oddly enough I don't get that hungry. The trick seems to be to delay eating as long as possible because once you start eating you will actually feel more hungry. Most people who post on the Facebook page I'm on don't start eating until the afternoon, or they skip eating altogether until dinner, basically because most of the time they just aren't that hungry. I have read about why this happens, and don't think anyone quite understands why yet, but there is now a train of thought that breakfast may not be "the most important meal of the day" especially if you are trying to reduce calories. It's even mentioned here in the FAQ section of the website.....

There have been different studies using different approaches. People who took part in Dr Krista Varady's studies of Alternate Day Fasting (ADF) had just one meal a day, at lunchtime. Those who took part in Dr Michelle Harvie's studies of the 2 Day Diet at several small meals a day. Michael prefers having two meals a day, breakfast and an evening meal. Mimi prefers several small meals. Which approach is better? The one you can stick to. Some people find, for example, that eating breakfast actually makes them feel hungrier later in the morning.

The other interesting thing is that hunger pangs are very temporary. If you wait for about 20-30 minutes those hunger pangs always disappear. At least they do for me. My theory is that our body acts a little bit like a spoiled child that stamps its foot and grumbles because it wants a new toy (food), but if you ignore it, the child will go away and use all the other toys (fat) it's already got.

Even when I did my 36 hour fast the other day, I thought I would be ravenous when I woke up the next morning, but I honestly could have skipped breakfast again if I really wanted to. However, as soon as I had breakfast I was then hungry a few hours later.

On a fast day I will go for a walk when I get up, then I'll have a big glass of water and a bit later I'll have a coffee with some skim milk (roughly 20 calories) and then I won't have anything else apart from water until around 2pm, although sometimes I will skip that too because I'm just not that hungry.