Post-Menopausal Weight Gain — My 3 1/2 Year Journey To Feeling Better

THE BIG, LONG STORY

To begin, there are some things you should know. I’m currently 51 years old, and post-menopausal. I have zero food addictions or disorders — and I rarely “crave” food. The lack of issues I have with food is uncommon and makes it much easier for me to try a food plan that some people would label as restrictive, or to make changes in general. I eat very little sugar and although processed food has an insidious way of sneaking into the house, that’s not super difficult for me to cut out.

I have no health conditions, am not under doctor supervision and there is nothing in my family history to be super concerned with (high cholesterol and heart disease are two things to watch). I have had an annual exam since I was 32 years old, I get bloodwork, and have years that I can track. Prior to being 32, I went through infertility, pregnancies, a hysterectomy, etc.. so I have medical records and have tracked my health via my own notes and medical records since I was 17.

I’ve also had mammograms since I was 32. I did have a scare when a lump was found a decade ago, that we tested and tracked (which was terrifying), however, once we figured out what it was, it’s nothing to be concerned with. I consistently drink 1/2–1 gallon of water a day, I get out in the fresh air, and I take vitamins. I’m diligent about “preventative medicine” and feel that’s key to maintaining optimal health.

September 2018 just before I turned 48. “Beach Photo”

I’m not comparing myself to 10, 20, or 30+ years ago, and I don’t have any self-esteem issues surrounding my weight gain — although I do want to look and feel better. 3 1/2 years ago, in September 2018, 3-months before I turned 48, the above photo was taken. This photo is the timeline I’ve chosen, as within a few months after it was taken I noticed things started to change. It’s also a good representation of how I’ve looked most of my life. With the exception of pregnancies, surgeries, and a bout with a broken foot — in every one of those times, I gained weight and lost it. There was no real stress about it — it was a time when weight gain was natural and expected.

For most of my life, I’ve exercised several times a week and because of the work I’ve consistently put in with eating healthy food and getting exercise, I’ve stayed the same size, measurements, body fat, etc… Until I didn’t.

WHEN THINGS BEGAN TO CHANGE

About 6-months after this beach photo was taken, I didn’t look or feel the same although nothing about my life had changed and I couldn’t pinpoint why. I just felt “off” and had some inconsistent symptoms that were new to me such as difficulties with sleep, more headaches, and overall just not feeling as great or as energetic as I had my entire life. I’m in tune with my body, so I started to pay attention.

From the date of the beach photo, I gained 13 pounds in 9 months and then at the 22-month mark, I was up 25 pounds. When I gained 13 lbs in 9 months, I talked to my doctor at my annual exam and she decided it wasn’t a big deal as I was still at a healthy weight. After I gained 25 lbs, I talked to her again at my next annual exam — and we decided to take a deeper look at my blood levels. My normal annual blood levels are amazing, and again — other than my weight and how I was feeling, there wasn’t any other indication I had anything going on.

My photos January 2021 — Almost 2 1/2 years after the beach photo. 25 lb weight gain in 22 months

At this point, about 2/3 of my clothes didn’t fit, and I didn’t like the way I looked. It was more than that though — I didn’t like the way I felt. I wasn’t sleeping well, I was getting more headaches, I felt more tired, I was bloated and puffy, I had less energy, and my GI tract was always “off”. I was discouraged and confused and felt helpless. I was trying to fix how I felt with food and exercise plans, so I didn’t take the above photos until I hit almost 2 1/2 years in when I began to realize that my efforts were not working. Thankfully, my weight plateaued at about 25 lbs. give or take a couple, and has stayed there. At this date, it’s been 3 1/2 years since that “beach photo” and about 2 years and 9 months of trying to figure things out.

The bloodwork my doctor took to “dig deeper” was taken two months after the above photos, exactly 2 1/2 years from the beach photo. When the results came back, she was surprised. My hormones were POST-menopausal and I had just turned 50. I was still getting hot flashes, although less frequently and this information did help us to at least potentially determine part of why I was gaining weight. She mentioned that my hormones didn’t just drop, they tanked hard and fast and at an age younger than she would have guessed — which is part of why we hadn’t looked at them as a culprit. I was “young” to have these levels.

My doctor also encouraged me to visit a functional medicine doctor, who is amazing. She put me on testosterone and estrogen creams, and progesterone pills. Unfortunately, we don’t have health insurance, and paying $200 a month for prescriptions is out of our budget, so after 2 months I stopped. This is the only thing that I wasn’t able to follow through on to see if it would make a difference in how I feel.

WHAT I DID THE FIRST 3 YEARS AFTER THE BEACH PHOTO

Once I hit the 9-month mark and 13 lbs up, my goal was to choose a food plan and stay on each food plan for a minimum of 90-days. I feel like it takes time for your body to acclimate and really see results, so that has always been the benchmark to determine whether or not I’ll stay on it long-term. Since I left for college at 17, I have tried to eat a healthy and balanced diet. It’s been my opinion that diet is 80% of the battle and exercise is 20%. Also, my goal wasn’t to lose weight necessarily. I wanted to feel better first and second, to drop at least some of the weight.

Exercise has always been hugely important to me. From the 9-month mark to almost the 3-year mark of that photo, I tried different exercise programs also — in the hope something would kick my metabolism back into gear.

FOOD PLANS

Intermittent fasting is easy for me as I don’t wake up hungry. I did the 18/6 split during the #75 Hard Challenge, and although it was easy for me, it became more about what I ate during the 6 hours that could have potentially made more of an impact. I was eating healthy, I just wasn’t tracking it as well as I could have. Having said that, I don’t believe I would have seen a significant difference if I had tracked it better.

Brightline eating food plan has no carbs, 20 grams of veggies a day, and 4 ounces of meat at each meal (for women), with no snacks and 3 meals a day. It also has you eat fruit and only in the morning. When I started this I felt like I was eating a ton of food, although a lot of it was vegetables. I don’t mind weighing my food, and I’ve been conditioned to believe veggies are necessary, so I gave it a try. It’s restrictive although I was never hungry. On the contrary, I often couldn’t eat all my food. I did their jumpstart plan and really liked the support and then as a gift, my Mom got me the 3-month boot camp.

After 4 months on the plan with no changes, I stayed on the plan but added more fat — which was nearly Keto. After more time I ate fewer veggies because it was just so much food.

Keto. Every time I try this food plan, I get horrible, nearly debilitating keto flu. I’ve tried it 2 different times in the past 3 1/2 years. I’ve also found this to be a food plan that has more “dirty keto” and recipes that manipulate the diet plan than any other food plan I’ve seen. I researched deeper to stay true to keto, and diligently peed on the ketosis sticks, but really struggled.

I don’t like this plan possibly because I was rarely in ketosis and also (although I was trying) didn’t find a menu plan that made it easy. There is so much information, it’s actually detrimental (in my opinion). Keto flu and never feeling great are the reasons I eventually gave up — but I did really enjoy eating fat bombs. I still stayed on it for 3-months a pop because I really wanted it to work and to get past feeling like garbage.

Food tracking on an app is a practice I did for a couple of years when I did fitness competitions. I geek out on the “value of food”, so I think this process is actually fun. I used an app called NOOM and paid for it for 3 months, and then (after zero results) switched to myfitnesspal — which is the app I’ve used for most of my journey over the years. Although I like to track, and my diet was good, it didn’t give me any insight on what I could change.

I also tried two different MLM programs that were predominantly supplements added to a good food plan. They were both expensive, and I saw no results.

EXERCISE

I love to exercise, so this has traditionally been easy for me. I’m on a running team so I have a group of women to run with. There are interruptions to our groove — smoke in the summer from fires, and ice in the winter, however, we meet as long as conditions are safe and healthy.

Peggy my running partner on Sundays

In the past 3 1/2 years, we also experienced a pandemic and I had an issue with the nerves in my foot that involved cortisone shots, special insoles, and the possibility of needing to have the nerves removed in the future.

I did get a gym membership at the 3-year mark that is inexpensive — at a place that has a pool. I try to get there twice a week. We also have a treadmill and weights at our home. That worked great until August 2021 when my husband and I both came down with Covid, and — as many people experience — our motivation dropped after we recovered. This wasn’t the cause of my weight gain, as it happened almost exactly 3-years in, just a situation that didn’t help.

In the first 2 1/2 year period, on top of doing my own exercise and running, I signed up for 2 different exercise plans. Each was a 6–12 week plan, and yes — I followed them. They ranged in price, and it’s something I had never done prior to weight gain. The thought process was that I would stay on a schedule with accountability, so I couldn’t fudge the amount I was exercising.

Separately, I completed the #75 Hard challenge as a way to dig deeper in several areas. I also hired an exercise physiologist who went over any emotional issues I have with diet and exercise (I didn’t really have any come up, but I loved the process), he tracked my food plan — which at the time was just eating a healthy diet — and he gave me an exercise plan. My husband also came up with a plan for me that I followed perfectly.

Just as with the food plans — regardless of how much I worked out, nothing changed with my weight.

GETTING REALLY DISCOURAGED

For over 2 1/2 years, I had been taking time and effort trying to make a difference with food plans, as well as exercise plans designed to increase metabolism and lose weight, and NOTHING WORKED. I cut out alcohol completely for the majority of this time and greatly reduced sugar and processed foods.

I was sick of seeing women’s after photos in every single food and exercise plan and not making any progress that I was burning myself out. I would hear that I wasn’t lifting heavy enough (which might have some truth) and that I was reacting to food — even though I never had before. It felt like excuses and finger-pointing and I was exhausted trying to improve how I felt and looked.

Back to eating “normally”…

A little after the 2 1/2 year mark, I wondered what would happen if I lived my life normally. Just go back to taking supplements, exercising, and eating a healthy diet, so I did, and here’s what happened. Nothing changed. Even though I drank alcohol occasionally, and ate what I wanted, nothing changed at all. The good news is that my weight wasn’t going up. The bad news was nothing seemed to move the needle down or help my sleep, mood, and energy. Although I was discouraged, taking a break after getting sick was helpful emotionally. It allowed me to regroup and move forward when the time came.

ALCOHOL, SUGAR, AND PROCESSED FOOD

Let’s have a slight side conversation about these 3 things. I didn’t drink much as a teenager and in college and then I didn’t drink at all for about 18 years. When I decided to drink alcohol, except for one time when I got drunk with my best friend and threw up, and a couple of times I was further than “tipsy”, I like to drink just until I feel my shoulders relax and I have a slight buzz. The moment that happens it feels so good and that is what I love that alcohol delivers.

If I’m super honest, I know it’s wasted calories, and I don’t feel great after the relaxation wears off. Alcohol disrupts my sleep (something I’m already struggling with the past couple of years), I sometimes get headaches, and I feel “gross” the next day. Not hungover, not bad, just BLAH. It’s interesting that I must somehow believe that the occasional relaxed feeling alcohol gives me is worth all the negative side effects. If it wasn’t, I’d give it up without hesitation.

The love/hate battle with alcohol

Sugar isn’t something I feel drawn to, however first — it’s in almost everything and second — it’s nice to “treat yourself”. Why do we feel that a bad day or a great day, or a weekend or holiday, or because it’s after dinner is an excuse to treat yourself and that treat should involve sugar? If it’s not around I rarely miss it, but when it’s there, I will sometimes eat it, and that’s something that is easy to eliminate. It’s also considered a “gateway drug” because it feels good when it’s consumed, and — unless you’ve been hiding under a rock — has tons of awful side effects.

Processed food is something that’s easy and that’s why I let it come into the house time and time again. It’s easy to be lazier, find a work-around, eat something similar that takes less time and it tastes good — which is part of the problem.

These are three areas I have found that sneak in and contribute to sabotaging a healthy way of life.

What’s Next?

Since I didn’t notice my weight gain until about 9-months after the “beach photo” was taken, I have spent about 2-years and 9-months trying to get myself feeling better and to lose the weight, without success. Taking a few months off has been very helpful. Over time I have gotten a few items of clothing that fit my “new” body, and I realized that although I don’t love the way I look, it hasn’t impacted my self-esteem or sex drive. I’ve also considered not being concerned about my weight, and just deciding that this is my new normal. The issue with that is I don’t feel like myself and I want that to change.

After a few months of not worrying, my husband discovered the Carnivore Diet, which we have just started (Feb 27, 2022). It’s good timing as I’m no longer feeling burned out trying to determine how to feel better. It also gave me the opportunity to be introspective, and create this post to go through the entire process, so it almost feels like starting over. My husband and I both made a list of symptoms we’d like to change, and are focused on that first. One thing this process has taught me is that my struggle is more about how I feel off and the weight gain is secondary. I’m taking great notes to share our first 30-days with you!

I’m excited about the science behind the Carnivore Diet, and look forward to sharing all about it!

What has worked for you?