The FastDay Forum

Been having lots of hormone related problems for 6 months and have had extreme difficulty losing wright fir some years now.

I have been going to the gym for nearly 2 years and have been on the 5:2 diet for nearly 4 weeks.

No matter what diet I go on - I have an initial loss then I just plateau for weeks.

I saw a doctor yesterday who told me I had a dangerously high waist measurement (35") and the reason my body was not losing weight was because I am Insulin resistant and an apple shape.

I have been put on HRT patches and tablets (low dosage) to try to even out my plummeting oestrogen levels.

She suggested I follow a low carb high protein diet to try to sort out the insulin resistance.

This totally messed up my existing food plan with fruit now being a no go as a snack and having to introduce protein for breakfast - I usually have Greek yoghurt and fruit.

I am feeling incredibly frustrated that I will never be able to lose this horrible fat around my tummy and also concerned about how the HRT will affect my weight.

Would be great to hear from any one who has had a similar experience.

Hi noodle,

You don't say how old you are but I am 66 and an apple shape with a vengeance. I was always around 8-8.5 st with a waist measurement of 24-26" then the menopause hit and life turned upside down. I hit 11st and rising, my waist went up to, well, let's just say I stopped weighing and measuring my waist after it got bigger than 36". It was yo-yo dieting for years after that til I decided enough was enough, I would change my whole lifestyle, still eat the foods that I loved but in reduced quantities. Then the gorgeous Dr MM entered my life with 5:2 and again my life changed dramatically but this time it was the for the better. I am now back to 8st plus a little, my waist is now 28" and 24-26" will never visit me again but that's fine, middle age spread is the lesser evil. I refused HRT and some days my hubs begged me to reconsider HRT but I stuck to my guns and glad I did. I survived, feel better than I've felt for years, have more energy, am slim again in fact, short of winning the lottery there is nothing that could enhance my life, actually, even the Lottery would not make me happier, just richer. Stick with this, it will work, it will change everything you thought was was gone for ever, it will come back, honest, and good luck. Let us know how you get one,

Ballerina x

There is protein in yoghurt. Perhaps replace the fruit with nuts?

I am 46 so they have given me HRT as my oestrogen levels were falling too quickly for my age and making me feel terrible.

I am a weird shape because the rest of my body has lost weight and firmed up except my tummy and waist. I look ridiculous and the doctor told me that no amount of exercise will get rid of it until I sort out this insulin resistance problem.

[Debs]

Hi there,
I am on a very low does of HRT as I wasn't prepared to put up with the symptoms (hot flush in 44 degrees anyone?!). I am losing weight VERY slowly, but it is happening, and it isn't going on so at least that is something I guess. I too am apple shaped and my waist is the last to shrink!!
Hang in there!

Hi @noodles29, and welcome! Sounds like you are at the mercy of raging hormones! I hope things settle down a little, I understand your frustration.

At 57 (just turned!), I am now 5 years post menopausal. For me, menopause has been about working out strategies & disciplines to cope with my brain fag, roller coasting emotions and insomnia. I really don't care about hot flushes/flashes, they seem the smallest part of it for me. And I'm probably just lucky, but menopause didn't seem to make any appreciable difference to my insulin resistance, since I have had type 2 diabetes since I was 43, so nearly 9 years prior to menopause. My sugars have remained very stable over that whole period - and I know that's not only luck, but also a big commitment to myself re diet and exercise. I am still an occasional binge eater, but 5/2 (and 4/3 now) has changed my whole relationship to my hunger and eating signals. Long may the journey continue!

Um, may your GP forgive me, but in my experience exercise makes a HUGE difference to insulin resistance, even if, by itself, it doesn't allow you to lose weight. Exercise has been my bottom line, my inspiration and my comfort over the last nearly 14 year journey with diabetes. And now I have found high intensity interval training, my results and my sugars are even better. So I'd advise you to do some research yourself on it and exercise in general. My protocol for HIIT appears below in my signature.

I too have recently been working on reducing my carbs, which is hard, since I have been a big bread and milk girl since I was a young child. But I am slowly having some success. I would recommend looking at @fatdog and @rawkaren's posts for good advice & recipes on low-carb eating.

Good luck with that, and I hope things settle down for you!

Hi and welcome! Sorry to hear about your experiences. I'm not apple shaped, (a pear), it just goes on in different places You have alot to get your head around and the first thing to do is to get your diet under control. Lots of good advice here but if you want to reduce flushes/flashes and help brain fog, you need to go cold turkey on sugar, booze and coffee. It takes about two weeks to get these out of your system. One glass of wine tips me into hot flushes for a whole week, so I'm sorry, but your next few years involve herb tea and managing anything that creates 'heat' carefully, if you don't want to do HRT.

Lowering carbs also seems to have the same effect. Burning 'sugars' rather than fat sends me into heat mode, so your GP is giving you good advice. There is tons of low carb help on these threads, but also go to Mark's Daily Apple to get your head around it quickly.

I agree with Jools about the exercise, but I found yoga to calm me down, so find out what suits you. I went through the menopause without HRT because I was very strict about what I ate and managed my symptoms carefully., supported by natural progesterone cream. I'm two years post menopause now but have resorted to very low dose pessaries for dryness. I did not want to go that route, but I'm still young Anyway for more about the menopause, we have a thread here that is worth going through. Hope helpful post149035.html?hilit=menopause#p149035

I too found that eating high levels of carbs gave me hot flushes. As long as I stay lowish carb I don't get the hot flushes. I have a different problem in that I have low testosterone levels and will be glad when I finish this part of my life as my naturally lowered oestogen etc will then balance with my abnormally low testosterone and I can stop having implantsevery 6 months. I'm not sure if my brain fog is hormonal or medication induced, I will have to see once I get off the meds.

I have heard good news about Yoga and Pilates for re-shaping bodies,especially those problem areas. Try a different type of exercise. Though I do recommend HIIT as well. The exercise has dropped my blood pressure from 120/90 to 110/70 and its built up my stamina brilliantly. This is from someone who barely managed 2 minutes on a cross trainer level 1 (dripping wet with sweat, barely able to pant with spots before my eyes) and who is now considering upping to 10+ minutes on level 3.

Just an update - I had my 7th Fast day yesterday and my weigh in this morning showed I have still stayed the same weight now for 2 weeks.

Starting to think this diet is not suitable for everyone.

[Debs]

There is quite a lot of info on this forum that show that the closer you are to a normal BMI, the harder and slower it is. I know, I am in the same boat as you. There are also health benefits to consider too, and you aren't putting on weight are you? 7 fasts isn't really long enough to assess its effectiveness.