Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: ladylollipop on October 14, 2019, 03:10:36 PM
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Hello everybody, I am postmeno for more than 4 years now. At the beginning I had lost a lot of kilos due to symptoms like anxiety etc. Now I am on HRT for a year and take a very low dose of venlafaxine ( 37.5 mg) I don't eat a lot or more than I did before. Do you have any ideas what to do? Can you recommend something ? And does anybody know if this low dose of venlafaxine can also cause weight gain? Venlafaxine I have learnt should be a antidepressant without weight gain. Can the estrogen patch cause weight gain too?
Lady lollipop
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Have you put on actual weight?
My apron dropped so that I look fatter ::) but no weight gain. When I lay down at night my body is usually flat unless I have slow transit. By morning my body is flat.
I rarely weigh on scales but 'go' on my belt .
If it is weight gain then exercise, think what you are eating and how often.
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Haha CLKD - you and your funny apron! At least I know what you mean now - not sure anyone else will though ::)
Anyhoo ladylollipop - our metabolism slows as we age and I gather also around menopause whenever that it and also fat distribution changes from curvy to more up and down as we lose oestrogen and testosterone becomes a bit more dominant (even though that is also dropping!).
I have gained and lost weight on and off all the time throughout my life peri and post menopause, and on HRT. I have alos "heard" that Venlafaxene and similar can encourage weight gain - not sure if that's a myth though :-\
Whatever the reason I do know that I and many others need to eat less and exercise more just to stay the same weight post-menopause, and for me it is like fighting a losing battle at the moment because I have put on a few pounds but don't like being hungry - and eat all the right things and very little of the wrong things and do exercise classes.
Some progestogens tend to cause bloating and also some HRT at the beginning. They will almost certainly increase boob size but that's not necessarily an issue. For me it is round my middle especially that I've gained recently.
As CLKD says - what is your diet and exercise regime like?
Cutting too much added fat, sugar and refined cabrs ( or indeed many added carbs) from your diet will help enomrously - but I do that and still putting on at the moment! Smaller portions ( I need to do this!) and increasing exercise little by litte wherever you can should also help - body conditioning classes (to increase musce which burns more calories at rest than fat) and aerobic ones too.
Hurdity x
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Apron is a medical term so don't know why you don't understand :-\
Same as a double chin - the reason is loss of oestrogen.
People who exercise mix up muscle gain with weight gain ::).
When I put on weight in early 2000s, it took 17 months of walking daily with a neighbours' puppy to get down to my usual weight. I have never gained weight on anti-depressant medication :-\
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Yes exactly CLKD - re the muscle gain - you mean fat gain? It is OK to put on weight as a result of exercise if you are replacing fat with muscle and like I said that has a positive feedback effect to as more calories are then burned than the same mass of fat!
Re apron - I think the term is panniculus - it's just the apron word sounds funny and I've never heard of it except you using it and it always makes me think of walking about the kitchen with my pinny on!!! It also gives me the shivers the thought of a pile of fat slumping down just like that eek! Only jesting CLKD you know that by now :)
Hurdity x
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Thanks for your reply. Sorry but I don't know what that apron thing is. I mean I know what an apron is but that doesn't seem to be it. Must be an expression I have never learned ( I am German) so help me, please :) well I never had this kind of weight problems before . I was a size 10 for a long time. Now it is very often size 14 sometimes size 12. depends a bit. To be honest I don't do much sports a the moment but often I am too tired. I work full time as a headteacher. Try to eat sugar free which doesn't really work,too. Well must accept I am not 30 anymore :) and have to live with it.
Lady Lollipop x
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I reduced carbs esp. sugar and upped the exercise. Seemed to do the trick. Took a while though.
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I have been in my current HRT now for 7 months and I've put on 3/4 stone with no change at all to my routine. I'm fact I also gave up alcohol in that time too. I am so strict with what I eat -I cut out sugar ( well as much as isn't already hidden) and refined carbs two years ago and there are some days I just wonder what else I could cut. I know that there is a direct correlation between my weight gain and my HRT but it is what it is. I am going to have to change my exercise routine from pretty much nothing ( well dog walks) to some cardio. All my weight gain is round my middle and each night I am so bloated I look pregnant but it all goes down again by morning. I definitely have the start of an apron so I will just have to get moving a bit more and for me anyway, stop whinging. And I do whinge 😂.
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For apron think belly ;-). The section that swells with pregnancy. When I stand and look down, I have a rounded shape where B4 it was flat. When I lay down, the area is flat ::)
How's the weather in Germany or are you living here?
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I have never heard of apron either,do you mean the part immediately under your ribs? and above the belly button,where i seem to have put it on recently ,or below the belly button? :-\
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Brace yourselves...
I don't know how to add a photo so here's a link :)
(It's not me by the way, but it could be ;D ;D ;D)
https://www.losebabyweight.com.au/the-overhang-understand-it-and-get-rid-of-it/ (https://www.losebabyweight.com.au/the-overhang-understand-it-and-get-rid-of-it/)
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Under the rib-cage is the abdomen. A large amount of muscle until oestrogen levels drop when it goes south >:( ::)
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Thanks for explaining „apron“ to me. ;) I do live in Germany and the weather was sunny until an hour ago. Now it is raining cats and dogs.
Lady Lollipop x
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ladylollipop - it's not a term that anyone uses commonly in UK - I've never heard it anywhere in my (fairly long!) life - except by CLKD on this forum, so if you start using it no-one will understand what you're talking about! I actually think it's a horrible word/term to use for that part of the body - and prefer to say I've put on weight around the middle and skin is a bit floppy!! (Soz CLKD!). Each to their own. ::). As for the babyweight - I just call that my baby skin - and that is the very lower bit way below the belly button. That's the only bit that stayed floppy post pregnancies - the bit above the belly button went back to normal! Now it doesn't hang down (absolute yuk!)but still is a bit sticky out - more than I would like anyway - so have to pull it in all the time so as to look flat!!
I reduced carbs esp. sugar and upped the exercise. Seemed to do the trick. Took a while though.
wuzzie I did this when I seemed to be losing no weight and it defo made a difference and I have stuck with it ( for 4 years) but now I am putting on weight again and it's really annoying. I barely eat bread, pasta, potatoes, pastry, cakes, biscuits, fried food, sugary food, no processed food, low fat yogurt, semi milk etc. I eat good portions though and don't go hungry but don;t think I overeat. Don't really know what else to do other than go on a proper diet but that is miserable and restricting in terms of people cooking for you or going out etc :(
Hurdity x
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Hello everybody, I am postmeno for more than 4 years now. At the beginning I had lost a lot of kilos due to symptoms like anxiety etc. Now I am on HRT for a year and take a very low dose of venlafaxine ( 37.5 mg) I don't eat a lot or more than I did before. Do you have any ideas what to do? Can you recommend something ? And does anybody know if this low dose of venlafaxine can also cause weight gain? Venlafaxine I have learnt should be a antidepressant without weight gain. Can the estrogen patch cause weight gain too?
Lady lollipop
Ladylollipop - I was put on seroxat for post natal depression. It's an older type of anti-d and I definitely gained weight with it. I wasn't using birth control at the time, no need as no libido, so it wasn't hormone based, other than my own hormones.
In terms of weight loss, whenever I feel the jeans getting a bit tight, I go on 5:2 for a couple of weeks, get the weight down and then make sure I walk around a lot when the weight is off. Diets are nonsense and just create a sense of craving from waking till bedtime. The weight always goes back on after a diet, they're just big business, money spinning crap. Cut down on all the things you know you shouldn't have, walk everywhere you can, carry shopping bags back from the shops, it hurts, but it helps, particularly with arm strengthening. Do your own cleaning, vigorously. I still do 5:2 once a week and it keeps things under control. Move around on your feet, or a bike. A lot.
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Also batch cook? So that you have foods in the freezer that de-frost quickly so that you don't snack ...... DH cooks lots of curries and meat/veg. mixes, freezers them in meal-sized packs ready to take out, by the time the rice/pasta or spuds are cooked, it's ready to eat.
My MinL weighed everything she wanted to eat. Each evening she would weigh and put onto a plate into the fridge: once it was eaten the next day she knew that was it until she weighed again ready for the next day. She began to eat normally and kept the weight off for over 40 years.
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Great idea CLKD, the most dangerous time of day for me is when cooking supper, I could easily eat a family bag of Doritos or similar as I'm famished. Quick, nutritious meal planning is really helpful.
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I did the alternate day fasting ( more severe than the 5:2) for two weeks and it was TERRIBLE. Never again. I like the idea of the 5:2 but it is not suitable for all women - depending on your lifestyle and blood sugar control. I could barely function on 5-600 calories and definitely not when I do my exercse classes or other activities where I am active as I get very low blood sugar easily. I'd have to do nothing all day if I ate only that or be eating veg soup the whole time! If it works for you then brill.
The other alternative to the 5:2 if you can't do that, (which I would find easier in terms of blood sugar control, but lifestyle and classes etc mean it's not feasible, not every day, as often have to eat breakfast early) - is the 8 hour window - so you only eat within 8 hours per day. In fact I should try it again soon. This really limits what you can eat eg you only eat between 10 am and 6 pm.
All of these diets are easier if you live on your own and don't work or aren't very active or have amazing blood sugar control - but if you're being cooked for half the time it gets tricky and if going out etc etc!!!
Hurdity x
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That's the idea of 5:2 - it's 2 non consecutive days per week. Not alt days. On the days you fast, you don't do heavy exercise and if you have a social event then you just move it to another day. Even one day a week will lose weight, just more slowly. It's good for the body overall in terms of reducing likelihood of cancers, diabetes and other weight related illnesses and means you don't have to restrict on non fast days, enabling a more ‘normal' life.
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Hi KiltedCupid, I'm with you, first did the original 5:2 (600 calories 4 yrs ago for a few months before a holiday, lost 2 stone). Since January myself & OH have been doing the 5:2 (800 calories) our routine is a Sunday & Monday, find it easier doing consecutive days. My experience is that my blood sugars are much better, I don't get periods of getting sweaty, light headed needing something to eat even doing sternuous exercise on a fast day! I was 3lb away from losing 3 stone however GP changed my AD from Fluoxetine to Mirtazapine & wow did it give me the munchies, I've put 4lb on in 3 weeks, back on Fluoxetine again. I had felt really motivated and didn't have any real blips, now feeling disappointed but hopeful by the end of this week the munchies will be knocked on the head!! :beat: :gym: x
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Good luck Foxylady, that's a bundle of weight you've lost. You'll get those last few pounds nailed I'm sure. 5:2 is just a good thing to do all round although I imagine there are some meds that mess with appetite and and I know diabetics have to be watchful on 5:2, whilst others fund their blood sugar control is enhanced. All very personal and you just adapt as required.
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Bit off topic, I know and I'm sorry, but how do you all gain weight? I'm struggling to stop my weight loss and only have some fat left ( or is it fluid?) on my belly and love handles. Did you gain weight all over or only on your belly? Is it surely fat or/ and fluid retention maybe?
Also read that testosterone helps with weight loss but I don't know if anybody experienced it in true life.
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Alicess - you are a minority! Unlikely many ladies will have your problem during meno so you're really very lucky. Do you exercise a lot? If so, you may need to up your good fats eg nuts, avocado, oily fish as well as good carbs. Heavy exercisers need to eat, A LOT. I have a friend who runs marathons as a hobby and is stick thin, she's post meno, no hrt and eats like a horse, all the bad stuff too. It's really not that complicated unless you have an underlying illness/drugs which affect metabolism, in a normal person it's calories in versus calories out. So if you're a busy bee, eat more.
I've noticed fluid retention on the wrong hrt dose/balance, but once you get it stable, the water goes.
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KiltedCupid, I know it's no easy for most women to loose weight and I think it must be hard to constantly thinking of what you eat. But I've lost so much weight after HRTl that I look anorectic .And no matter what I eat or how much it just doesn't stick. I don't exercise a lot either. I think it must be low estrogen. So hoping if I manage to get my estrogen up weight will follow but not only on the belly. I need some fat everywhere.
Again, sorry ladies, I do understand weight gain is difficult. In retrospect I shouldn't have posted this question on this tread. Bit thoughtless.
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Oh, don't worry about it Alicess, we all have our issues and that's what the forum is for. If you'd posted on a separate thread you might not have any replies! I lost a lot of weight during peri when I first started on elleste duet. I think it was the androgenic effect of the norethisterone but could also have been adding oestrogen to my fluctuations. I don't know, but I felt like I was on overdrive, boundless energy and difficult sleep. It all stopped when I moved to gel so it could have been badly absorbed E meaning I had less or lack of androgen in the prog or possibly that the move from peri to post made a significant difference. I think that's the problem with this stage of our lives, it's ever changing and you may find that adequate hormones or a shift in your own hormones will make a difference.
Have you had your thyroid checked recently?
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Also read that testosterone helps with weight loss but I don't know if anybody experienced it in true life.
I was actually wondering the reverse - whether the T has caused weight gain, although I've been taking it for 4.5 years, and my recent weight gain is just this year (I am the weight now that I usually am in January straight after Xmas when I'm always at my heaviest ;D. I did change to Testim 18 months ago so the effects could be cumulative and perhpas my levels are a bit higher - who know? maybe just an age thing slowing down metabolism.
Alicess I would defo be getting blood tests to check out any reason for weight loss as this is unusual at menopause if not obvious explanation.
Hurdity x
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In relation to myself my weight gain has been gradual over the last 3.5 years. A combination of factors, new job, studying, and going through numerous investigations, treatments to get diagnosis for all my symptoms. The caffeine and chocolate hits were my way of coping with how I was feeling, insomnia being the biggest issue. So I don't think it's HRT related for me or specifically peri just me as an individual needing a crutch!! x
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My weight gain has been since starting HRT, although first 5 years I always managed to shed the pounds being strict on carbs and portion size, but over last 5 years its just been creeping up and its not moving, I will lose around 2lbs a week if I walk loads every day, but OA in my knee's and hips kicks in, so then resting for days and weight back on, in fact the vid posted could be me.. I see the letter 'W' below my tummy ??? and when I wear jeans I have a fat roll above my waist band :'( must make a note to try harder :) xx
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Hurdity, I was wondering the same about the testosterone. I started on Androfeme two weeks ago. And I've put on about 4 lbs since. At first I assumed I'd eaten too much and not exercised enough, which could be the case. But I feel kind of bloated round my middle. Could the T possibly have had that effect so quickly?!!! I think I'm going to stop using it to see if my weight drops back down. Then maybe get back on it later if it doesn't. Sx
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Weighing out portions will definitely help. We are just so used to seeing big portions on the TV, in restaurants etc.. It's so easy to overestimate what you think a portion size will be. Eg if you weigh out the recommended amount of cereal, you'd think "huh?" Surely not, that doesn't look like much? So a little extra goes in. Same with things like pasta. I always end up cooking enough rice to feed the whole street!
This is from someone like Alice, who struggles to keep the weight on!! I was brought up by a proper calorie counter, who watches in horror while I have full fat mayo, cheese, and butter. ;D
I also put weight on within the first month of taking HRT, and I loved it, although it didn't love me sadly. Back to normal now!
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I lost weight naturally at the beginning of Peri (have mostly been a size 8 in adulthood) but the last few years (been post @ 5 years) I have struggled with weight gain, I play 18 holes golf 3-4 times a week and all that walking doesn't help my weight gain. I'm now wearing mostly size 12s so back to slimming world again. Now for the honesty, I know why I have gained, but why have I been craving sweet and savoury unhealthy food? The naughtier the better for my taste buds since Xmas, I joked I had worms as I have been hungry constantly but seriously had no willpower. I was dreading going back to SW as I don't want to stop my binging but for so many reasons I have to and this is my first week back x