Weight gain and the menopause. My story

Many people believe that weight gain and weight loss is all about calories and willpower. Me included.

In my 20s and 30s I had always maintained a healthy lean weight with regular exercise and a healthy diet, never needed to count calories. I hit my mid forties and I started to pile on weight,! within 4 months I had gained 1 stone, I felt tired, moody, low motivation and cravings especially in the evenings.

I tried increasing my workouts and cardio exercise… I felt at a loss, why was this not making any difference! For the first time in my life I had no willpower and found myself going against my lifestyle eating habits… eating crisps, starch carb foods, chocolate, eating bread. Biggest problem eating rubbish before bed. …. causing  weight gain, moodiness, frustration and no will power!

I found myself in a constant loop of battling against this, fighting to gain my will power, pushing myself in the gym, this would be a 3 week cycle. Bad diet and no exercise – gym and healthy diet – bad diet and no exercise – gym and exercise. Etc!

Eventually I started to link my problem to the pre menopause, there had to be a reason in my body change.

I did the usual went to the GP for advise.. umm not much help there!

I spent 4 years trying everything plant based and natural to get this under control, it was difficult to know if these were helping, because the hot flushes and night sweats would last about 6 weeks and wain for a few months. Over the 4 years my menopause symptoms increased causing vertigo, tooth pain, muscle aches, tiredness. I gained a total of 3 stone. I couldn’t function properly, was in pain most days, exhausted from sleep deprivation… enough was enough

I revisited the GP and insisted on blood tests for everything… surprise surprise.. completely menopausal. Discussed with the doctor HRT.

It took about 7 days for the HRT to kick in. Wow I was amazed, I was sleeping, able to function at work, not feeling dizzy and in less pain. My weight started to maintain. After 3 months I felt I had enough energy to rejoin a gym.. it felt amazing being able to workout again, my muscle were responding and I began to feel great. My body shape was toning. But I still wasn’t losing weight. I started to notice I was still in a 3 week cycle and my previous knowledge of eating habits just wasn’t working anymore and still had cravings. Researching more, I came across a hormone called Leptin!

Next blog all about Leptin.