MY OWN SEARCH

I was wondering what the doctor meant when she said, “Your estrogen levels are too low, I think we’ll do more blood work.”
“What does that mean?” I consulted.
“I think you’re going through early menopause.” She explained.
“It can’t be. I’m only 36 years old!”

To cut a long story short, she was right, I was wrong. She was going through menopause and there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop her. Overnight, I suddenly felt like an old lady inside. I also felt very stupid because for years she had had an almost obsessive interest in women’s health issues, but she didn’t recognize the obvious in myself.

When I look back, all the signs were there. My had become irregular over the last year, she had gained many periods of weight even though she was still exercising. I felt tired, tearful, and seemed overheated, especially at night. However, the last thing on my mind was menopause. In fact, he had considered almost anything objective that! Polycystic ovaries, thyroid problems, depression, exhaustion, fibroids… anything but THAT!

I immediately had a new set of concerns. What about aging, does menopause cause wrinkles? What if I want another baby? Will my hair start to thin? Will it give me osteoporosis?

Worst of all was the outside signal. My waist getting thicker. He had always been reasonably slim, but he had gained about a stone in the last year and the waist definition he had before was completely gone. I used to look at myself in the mirror in puzzlement wondering how I could have changed shape. She now had a kind of “thick” waist, a kind of “straight-down” figure now where she was once an hourglass, with a rounded abdomen that was once flat.

Now he knew the answer and he was devastated. I felt that someone had cheated me with years of my life. Every time I looked in the mirror I imagined wrinkles and sagging skin and saw a middle-aged woman looking at me, not the thirty-something who had been there last week.

Of course, in reality, I can’t say that he really looked older at that stage. However, what I did worry about was weight gain and I set out to learn how to lose the menopausal weight.

I read and researched avidly and what I learned was depressing. I discovered that to avoid gaining weight, a woman would have to reduce her calorie intake by 10% and increase her exercise just before perimenopause. Well excuse me, but you don’t to know you’re going through perimenopause at the time, so how on earth do you know when to start cutting your calories?

The more I read, the more it bothered me. It’s almost like everything is stacked against us once we hit menopause!

So, I set out to learn as much as I could to give myself the best possible chance of losing my menopausal weight and getting back to the weight I was in when I was in my early thirties.

What struck me was that I couldn’t “fool around” anymore. Gone are the days when you could go on a near-starvation diet for a few weeks and lose a few pounds quickly (and then gain them back right away!). Now he had other things to think about. For example, I knew that not eating enough calcium could put me at risk for osteoporosis. I also knew that what I ate could contribute to or reduce those horrible hot flashes. I also found that certain foods improved the quality of my sleep and my mood.

Also, since I felt so tired, it wasn’t good to subsist on less than a thousand calories a day. I needed energy. I had a busy life. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a diet I liked that would show me how to lose menopausal weight.

MY DIET

I thought I understood the principles of healthy eating and could use my own motto to help me lose menopausal fat. I based my diet on a “heart healthy” plan I had discovered in a magazine. It worked, slowly but surely. However, what I found most difficult was not having a solid “structure” for the plan. Sure, he gave me guidelines, but he didn’t tell me what foods to eat. It was an uphill struggle (in fact, it was very difficult!) but I finally got there.

Right now, in my mid-40s, my weight still fluctuates and I have to be very careful about what I eat. My diet is healthy but I have occasional treats. A couple of weeks vacation when my guard is down and I can easily lay half a stone!

I tend to follow the principles of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, plenty of complex carbohydrates like brown rice and whole wheat bread, lean protein in moderation, and plenty of high-fiber foods. I also drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day. I avoid sugary foods as much as possible, I only drink a couple of units of alcohol a week. I limit my fat intake and never put salt in my food.