47 years old... am I "there" already? (Perimenopause)

[HermitGirl]

Am I "there" already? I'm not at all fond of the idea of taking any kind of hormone replacement, but am just starting BlackCohosh and DongQuai (inexpensive WholeFoods versions) , as well as daily : a good multi vitamin, 2 omega-3 (one flax in a.m, a fish oil inp.m. ), calcium, glucosamine/chondroiton, and highpotency B. and trying to eat at least one serving of soy a day... averaging one serving every other day, and getting lots of nature hikes... that's what I'm doing. I'm very healthy , just overweight, by about ... realistically I guess, 45 pounds. I would love to be my thin 20-mid30's weight ( 60 pounds lighter), back when I was race-fit rider, but I know that's not going to happen. I just don't want to get hung up about weight and fixate about these things, but I tell ya, I've been emotionally contemplating losing weight now, for about 7 years or more, but it just keeps gaining slowly , to say the least, maintaining is really difficult at this time , so losing feels impossible ! I know I have one more line of artillery left for this (outside of a diet, and I wont go on a diet)... and that's cycling. Can cycling be that much better than hiking and hour w/ a 15-30 minute jog?

I'm fairly athletic, not riding presently, but planning on it. I have been hiking 5 times a week for about an hour, for several years now, and have since last January started to include about 15-40 minutes jogging to the hikes. In my opinion , I say right now I'm exercizing a lot . I eat really healthy food, even if too much (some sweets, but not overboard). I went off of caffein last summer, and have been a moderate decaff drinker since (still trying to reduce that too). I am a housewife, with a little part-time job on the side which is next to nothing....so it's not a hectic schedule. No kids. So, barring anything, I guess this is a classic case of perimenopause??

I am coping through long hikes with dog in the backcountry , feel tired from the workout, but it's all I can do I feel, to stay in control and not get depressed. I want to start riding, but not until the hiking and now jogging feels a little more doable. Hike, hike , hike, (now adding jogging). With my apetite raging, food as my only real sedative other than the exercize, since I don't drink or smoke or anything. Still, I can get very moody, on top of my already spit-fire temper. I can't really put my finger on This All started , but it seems emotional environment was getting difficult around turning 40, (pretty much when I stopped riding regularly too)... and that's also when I started to really gain weight as well.

Wasn't until last summer I started these durn hot flashes at the most inoppurtune time ! I thought it was the weight and the heat, but now it's 35 degrees out, and I love to just go sit out on the porch and feel that heat just dissipate into the frigid winter air. Great weather for hot flashes ! I am trying to embrace the hot flashes, yeah, that's really easy.... (not!) How long are these hot flashes going to be so dramatic? I tell you, Middle Age is BRUTAL !

I'd love to hear from anybody who's in perimenopause, or menopause, (or has been through it !).... because I would really like to get a good support thread rolling.

[sundial]

Hi Hermit, welcome to peri-menopause. I'd say you are there from the symptoms you are describing. I found some of the most up to date information about hormone replacement therapy, bio synthetics, herbal remedies, diets and such here:

www.hystersisters.com

I went through surgical menopause so I didn't have the gradual changes and symptoms of peri-menopause. I went straight to the big M the day of my surgery. I remember feeling really tired and didn't have the same energy. I also saw my weight sky rocket not 6 months afterwards. It will take an act of God to get this weight off but I'm gonna try. I found cycling for a min. of 90 minutes actually does more for my weight than any activity. I guess I need that sustained cardio benefit to burn those calories and tone up.

Hot flashes were the worst and I found that by eating soy protein it helps. Sweet potatoes are also shown to reduce some of the symptoms. And those flash temper moments can get UGLY. It's another moment brought to you by the hormone. I feel it coming on, like an adrenaline rush and it drives me cuckoo. It's better I stay away from people at that point.

I found my sleep pattern changed and am on an Rx (non-habit forming). You might find relief just taking melatonin at bedtime IF you don't already have sleep pattern disturbance.

I hope this helps and hang in there. It does get better a little at a time. Just keep cycling and eat good food and it will help diminish your symptoms.

[sundial]

Wanted to add, if you scroll to the bottom of this page, to the Hormone Jungle, you'll find lots of interesting articles. One is titled, "Burning Up".

http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/view_hoj.htm

[Norse]

I have been peri for several years now, and I am 45. Welcome to the club! Isn't it great!? Not! Anyway, try doing a search on TE. I know that peri-m, the big-m and middle age have been discussed a lot on here.

Also, I like to hike and walk in addition to biking. But neither of those will burn as many calories as biking. If it wasn't for biking, I know I would likely be carrying some xtra pounds now.

[shootingstar]

Best thing is not to overanalyze when to bike but just ...get on the bike. And start cycling. Small distances several times weekly and go abit farther each time/every few days...always exploring and enjoying yourself. If you follow the latter and have a friend join you occasionally..it will become part of you.

When you are mobile, able..and live in an area where there's no snow, there's no such thing as a better time in life to cycle.

and you won't think as much about your peri and weight.

I am 50 in peri but not experiencing much of negative symptoms... but do have to be careful what and how much I eat now.

[HermitGirl]

Best thing is not to overanalyze when to bike but just ...get on the bike. And start cycling. Small distances several times weekly and go abit farther each time/every few days...always exploring and enjoying yourself. If you follow the latter and have a friend join you occasionally..it will become part of you.

When you are mobile, able..and live in an area where there's no snow, there's no such thing as a better time in life to cycle.

and you won't think as much about your peri and weight.

I am 50 in peri but not experiencing much of negative symptoms... but do have to be careful what and how much I eat now.

That's sober and nice advice Star.

Well, I did search 'menopause' and there's more long threads than I care to read. I did read some, and I've noticed women panicking about their waist line broadening. Heck, I don't care where the fat is so much, I just want to be leaner all around. I'm over trying to be skinny 120 pounds like in my fittest Thirties. No, I'll settle for 135 or 140, I just can't handle being 180 anymore . The more I read, the less faith Ihave in diets in general. I still think just adding riding to my schedule may start the scale pointing in the right direction.

I also know it is human nature to think our own plight is special and obstacles are more difficult... example of that thinking in general: "I am in perimenopause, so I eat less, exercize more, and the weight stays" . Can't be. Sure, maybe after 40ish years, our bodies don't burn as much , so we have to eat less... I can deal with that. I am exercizing way more, but it's merely maintaining my already too high weight. It's a B*tch to exercize more, eat less at the same time to have a very gradual and slow weightloss. Sure, in youth, it was easier. No way this middle-age thing is for pansies. I just want to be assured that if I really do start eating less, I'm not going to tempt my metabolism into starvation and it will hold tenaciously on to every calorie. I just don't want to get into that mental or physical trap. Bun DARN IT... I want to lose some of this weight !

[ny biker]

I don't think you can be assured of anything. If you alter your diet and/or your activities, you might not lose weight. But if you don't try, then the odds of succeeding are near 0.

Perhaps you should start with a food diary to track how many calories you are eating every day. You might find some easy things to cut back on or eliminate entirely.

There are some online food journal sites. I personally don't have the urls, handy, but I've seen them referenced in other threads so someone here should be able to recommend one.

[jobob]

Well, I did search 'menopause' and there's more long threads than I care to read. I did read some, and I've noticed women panicking about their waist line broadening.

"Panicking" is overstating it a bit, don't you think? Annoyed, yes. Panicking, eh, notsomuch.

It's a pity you're too busy to read what's already been written. I'm too busy right now to repeat myself.

[Tuckervill]

Jobob, lol.

But, Hermitgirl...you say you don't want to diet, but if you really are hiking an hour 5 days a week, and jogging, there must be something else to do. It's either what's going out or what's going in. Now is the time to be brutally honest with yourself, and start recording what you do. We often grossly overestimate the amount of exercise we do, and grossly underestimate the amount of food we eat.

The only way to stop that is to write it all down and review it later. fitday.com, nutritiondata.com, calorieking.com, biggestloser.com, sparkpeople.com. Lots of choices. Don't get too bogged down in those websites and the "community". Just make one little change, and start logging your food and exercise. If you have an Iphone or PDA or Blackberry, get the food logging app for it.

You don't have to diet. You just have to measure and make appropriate little changes one at a time, and be consistent!

Don't blame it all on menopause until you know it's not you.

Karen

[jobob]

Don't blame it all on menopause until you know it's not you.

I love that - may I borrow it?

[Brandi]

I don't think you can be assured of anything. If you alter your diet and/or your activities, you might not lose weight. But if you don't try, then the odds of succeeding are near 0.

Perhaps you should start with a food diary to track how many calories you are eating every day. You might find some easy things to cut back on or eliminate entirely.

There are some online food journal sites. I personally don't have the urls, handy, but I've seen them referenced in other threads so someone here should be able to recommend one.

I have to agree. I have a friend who was a tri ath and she could not understand with all she was putting into it why she wasn't loosing wieght. Well everytime I was around her and we would be eating something she was eating the worse food. Fried this, ranch dressing that,mass butter on everything. But she was also on a # of meds for depression and sleeping problems which did not help her weight either. And now she is having terrible peri problems. I just wonder if dropping wieght would help that situation? And you don't have to diet just watch what you put in you. Cut back on starch and sugar and see if that helps. Eating more fruits and veggi dishes couldn't hurt either unless you don't like that stuff. And if you haven't talk to your Doc please do. Have you had a blood panal done? Maybe thyroid is at work here as well. Good luck. Ice packs in your pocket might help! Know someone who did that.

[runningteach]

You might want to get a physical and see if anything else could be causing the weight problems. Thyroid issues can do that as well as cause the night sweats. I think a GYN can do a bloodtest to tell if you are near menopause. Your body might be use to the hiking and you might need to shake it up a little by doing something different.

[GLC1968]

Do you do any weight lifting? If you've been basically eating the same and exercising daily (with hiking) but gaining since you were 40, I'd say there's a solid chance that your metabolism is dropping and based on age - muscle loss is likely a major contributor. After age 35 (approx), women lose muscle at a rate of about 0.5 lb a year if we don't lift weights. While that might not matter from a scale perspective, it's HUGE when you consider the metabolic effects.

And I am living proof that it is entirely possible to gain weight eating all the right things. I've been doing it for a year now. I make a large % of what we eat from scratch using only whole foods and I don't eat fast food at all. I don't smoke, I rarely drink (maybe a glass of wine or a beer every two months or so), I'm physically active...and yet I'm gaining.

While you may not want to 'diet'...there is a lot to learn from logging what you do eat. Just eating the right things is not enough...eating the right amounts is as important (if not moreso).

[PinkBike]

GLC, +1. totally.
since menopause i've gained 20 pounds. until you've been there you cant understand. there is NOTHING i've done that works. i'm hoping my body will adjust over time and i can lose it back.