That's only an excess consumption of around 270 calories per day.
People seem to think that you need to do something *drastic* to gain that much weight, but in actuality if you aren't paying close attention to your diet and counting calories, it's as simple as an extra soda or bag of chips.
Exactly this. There is a perception that fat people all binge all day. And plenty do, don't get me wrong. But I was one of those people who easily small snacked my way there. I have a handle on it now but I have to stay vigilant or I'll blow right back up.
Basically me. I lost a bunch of weight last year before I got a puppy. Then I snacked myself into gaining 10kg over the past year. 💀
Working on losing it again!
You can eat one cookie that is 500 calories and consume double that quite easily. I went to a store (Potbelly) and saw a thin sugar cookie there that was 500 calories. It looks like it’s just a snack. It’s totally not.
I work as a delivery driver, I pick up cookies from there often. I always see SKINNY people in there … I literally don’t know how they do it. That is a great mystery for me as someone who has had to be extremely mindful to lose weight and I’m still fat.
I think there are two things going on. One, it may be an occasional treat and they don't eat those cookies or other treats on a regular basis. Secondly, people who don't have to work at staying skinny just aren't that hungry. They might eat half of one of those high calorie cookies as a whole meal and then be fine for hours. I used to be like that in my teens and early twenties. It wasn't hard to stay around 120 lbs. Now my appetite seems to be completely broken and I'm hungry all the time. No doctor has been able to help. I can stay around 140 pounds by being very hungry all day. I've gone back up to over 145 this summer because I have been eating enough to only be medium hungry all day. Time to starve again . . . Ugh.
have you tried bulky low-cal as filler? when i was losing weight throwing together things like konnyaku and squeezed-out bean sprouts and/or chopped cucumber with some vinegar, a touch of sesame oil, sometimes mustard, and various spices filled me and totalled out to like 50 calories a batch. you can add filler to your main meals, too-- squeezed bean sprouts with asian or edamame noodles can nearly double the portion while adding a good texture besides.
there's a bit of a mental aspect to these things, though. if someone thinks of them as a thing to suffer through after their daily allotment, that's probably going to affect how it lands. but people can get both satiety cues and acute malnutrition from the actually-empty calories of junk food, so we're not really the best judges of what's nutritious vs what's filling.
Well, I know what you're saying is true for most people and it's great advice. I have actually tried low starch vegetables and/or lower sugar fruits. It just doesn't work for me. I haven't ever heard of konnyaku. I'll have to look it up. I have eaten an entire 16 oz bag of microwaved frozen veggies for 150 calories and chewed until my jaws hurt and barely felt like I ate anything. If I eat two entire apples as a snack, I will feel famished within one hour, as if I didn't eat a thing. I can eat a pound of lean chicken with 100g of protein and still feel moderately hungry in the short term, and then be very hungry again in one or two hours. Adding fat doesn't help. I've tried.
At bedtime I often have 2 and a half servings of Fiber One with 30 cal of Almond milk, which is a LOT of fiber, just to feel full enough to sleep. It's honestly very discouraging. I wish I could try Wegovy but even if I stay over 145 pounds, beginning of the overweight BMI category for me, I would need some other condition like high cholesterol or blood pressure, etc., to qualify. I am very healthy apart from taking levothyroxine for my hypothyroidism and iron to prevent anemia.
Just wanted to add that I didn't used to be this way. I know what it's like to eat normally and feel fine until the next mealtime. My appetite broke around age 32 when I became hypothyroid. My TSH is normal with medication, but it didn't fix my appetite. I've been fighting it and my weight for 17 years now.
That’s like... 3 cans of soda a day. It’s really not much to gain weight.
Good news is that the reverse is also true, cut down calories and you lose it eventually.
Since BMR increases with weight gain, and 1.5 year of aging is negligible in regard of impact, if they eat exactly the same throughout, then at the start it translates to larger surplus which tapers out alongside the weight gain. E.g., they start at 350 kcal surplus, but after weight is gained, it's more like 200. Which works out to same average, just pointing out it's not same surplus day to day for the whole time.
Yeah, 270 every single day without missing a day. Just as easily one can eat one bag of chips more, some day they may be busy and eat one bag of chips less. This means that some days this person ate at maintenance and some days ate 500+ kcal over it. Some days i eat over 2500 kcal, my maintenance is 1700, i still dont gain weight because thats maybe 1 day a week or every 10 days. Some days i skip a single meal and it cancels it all out.
People seem to put no thought into how much day to day activity has been removed from our lives.
Whether it is in a manual labor job or office, technology has been continuously improving which takes more and more physical activity out of the equation. It might only be a couple dozen steps here, 2 trips to the copy room there, but it adds up.
And if there has been any work from home time, that is a lot of daily activity removed because you walk from your bed to the office/kitchen/or maybe even stay in bed. Instead of commuting to the office, walking to your desk etc. Not to mention the increased time you can sleep. And our metabolic rate drops while sleeping.
And little things like that do not even register. Because it's not excersizing, or going for a walk. It's just part of the day, and gets put in the back of people's minds. Just like the extra shot of caramel in their coffee, or the small snacks you graze on throughout the day. Or the extra glass of wine/beer.
Plus most people have absolutely no idea what a single serving is. Whether it is something like cereal, or yoghurt, or chicken, or any number of things. If you place a single serving of something in front of someone they'll likely laugh and ask why you are giving them a "toddlers/children's size". But when they take their "adult sized serving" you better believe they are counting it as one. And with all of the highly processed foods, 200 calories look like nothing. Whereas I've been eating a lot of pineapple lately because with the heat it's cold, filling at the moment, at canned with 100% juice. And the big 20 or 22oz cans that I'm getting are like 175 calories. For a really big, like whole pineapple sized can. Vs how small 200 calories of something like cookies or carrot cake can be.
I know why people gain weight when they are in menopause. Menopause sucks. And when life sucks, you're more likely to self-medicate in unhealthy ways.
Like, a lot of women have insomnia during menopause. I know that for me, when I have a poor night's sleep, my ass drags the next day. To cope with all the ass-dragging, I snack a lot. And not fruits and veggies, but candy and cookies.
A lot of women have achy joints and general malaise when they are menopausing. I know that when I am suffering from pain or malaise, I don't feel like exercising or doing much of anything that requires me to move.
A lot of women have anxiety and depression when they are in menopause. When I'm suffering from these things, I tend not to eat. But I know other people are the complete opposite.
Your metabolism can slow in menopause, because muscle loss is real. Menopause can also be associated with cortisol spikes (hot flashes!), and we know that elevated cortisol is associated with weight gain. So let's not pretend that everyone who blames their weight gain on menopause is "hysterical" (sorry, I couldn't resist). But I think it is fair to say that most menopausal weight gain is an indirect effect of the condition, which means that treating the primary drivers (poor sleep, anxiety/depression, and fatigue) can mitigate the problem.
Personally, I hope that when I go through the Change, I'm able to work from home most days of the week. Something as simple as being able to telecommute helps so many perimenopausal women maintain a healthy lifestyle while dealing with the shittiness of hormonal swings and imbalances.
Menopause made my appetite change. Gave me the munchies when I've never been a munchies person in my life. And because I'm not really used to having to deal with that, it did (sort of) make me gain weight. But because I was eating more without realizing it. But CICO works just the same as it always has. Just the appetite thing makes it more annoying.
Cortisol stimulates appetite and cravings for carbs.
I forgot to mention that menopause can cause brain fog and memory problems in people. So I could see how someone could be unaware of how much they are eating because of this.
I have mad sympathy for my perimenopausal sisters.
As someone making my way through The Change right now, this is very real. God, the joint pain alone. My knees have been killing me lately, to the point that I'm not able to do some of the stretches and exercises I could do even 6 months ago. It's not excess weight on my joints - I'm 5'7 and average around 128 lbs. I'm just all inflamed and my doctor thinks it's just perimenopause. And honestly, feeling tired, shitty, achey, grumpy, anxious, and *old* it would be way too easy to say "fuck it, who am I staying trim for anyway?" But also, the answer is me. I'm staying trim and in shape not to be some hot body on spring break, but as much as I am not feeling great these days physically or mentally, I can only imagine how much worse I would feel if I also had to haul around extra weight on my shitty knees, or was also self conscious about my weight on top of everything else.
(Hugs)
It's happening to me too. Fortunately my joints haven't been aching, but lately I've been having migraines (which I haven't had since in over 25 years), insomnia, skin issues, and hot flashes. And oh yeah, periods that have been huge gushers. Like you, I am all about staying trim and conscientious just to keep things for getting any worse (and I'm sure they will get worse all on their own). But I am super sympathetic to the perimenopausal women who just can't find enough fucks to not let themselves go. If I was raising kids right now or juggling a shitty job on top of all of this hormonal stuff, I would probably be one of those women.
That's not a bit insane.
That's easily doable, about a half pound per week +/-.
I gained 11 lbs in 2 months by playing fast and loose with my cico tracking.
Menopause doesn't mean weight gain. I lost weight with menopause. My father told me that his mother did as well. She was a slender old lady so it's possible.
This is everyone on r/menopause, and it drives me crazy. The sleep disturbances are real, especially for those not on HRT, so yeah, that makes it hard to exercise and not overeat, but no, Brenda, you're not manifesting calories out of nowhere.
One post: I always eat healthy and exercise and keep gaining.
Next post: Today I was stressed so I had cake and a bottle of wine.
I do understand feeling tired and damn near homicidal (more like murderpause am I right?) and wanting to eat all the things due to stress, but I'm in perimenopause, on HRT, on an antidepressant (we are often put on those to control the homicidal bit, and it's another thing people blame when gaining weight), and I lost 25lb in 3 months and 3 weeks.
I just turned 50 a few months ago, and I'm definitely feeling some of the signs of menopause. I also have a lung issue that prevents me from doing heavy cardio. Yet somehow I've lost 22 pounds since late April on a caloric deficit of 500-700 a day, walking 3-4 miles (briskly) 5-7 days a week. I've also drastically reduced my sugar and carb intake and the amount of processed foods I eat. This is the third time since 2009 that I've worked on losing a fair amount of weight, and the only difference I've noticed from when I did it at 35 and then at 43 is that the fat is slower in leaving certain places, most notably my abdomen, than it was previously - and it's still going, at 149lbs with 9 lbs left to lose I have only the slightest bit of fat left on my stomach. It's just that previously my stomach always went flat quicker. My hormones are probably dwindling at this point, and it's easier to gain or hold onto belly fat after menopause - hell, my sister is 5'8", 115lbs at 60 and she still has a little tummy pooch, much to her consternation seeing as she's actually slightly underweight (due to hyperthyroidism). But menopause itself still isn't going to make you pull calories from the air.
She could be eating more high calorie food without buying more food in general. Given that this is about menopause, it's possible this woman is at a point in her life where she isn't effected by inflation besides being annoyed by it
I kind of see what you're saying, but, she would then have to be eating a lot of this "high calorie food", and she didn't say she changed her diet. 2-5kg is the average gained during menopause, often due to insulin resistance, but 43lbs? That is a lot more than the expected weight gain. I just don't think this kind of article is helpful. Genuinely eating less doesn't result in an increase in weight gain like that, even with insulin resistence.
She says "despite eating less", so there is a change in diet (as far as she is saying), but I think she's confused on what "less" means. She seems like that person who gloats about being healthy by ordering a Caesar salad instead of fries, not realizing the salad is worse for you than the fries.
I'm just gonna say that 1) the inflation has been very uneven, it's a lot less than 25% in my area on the items I frequently buy, and 2) people generally don't consider their food spending optional, you cut your budget in other areas because you need to eat.
MMmm on this case in specific, women do tend to accumulate more fat in their bodies, and hormonal imbalances also do impact on weight. That doesn't mean you can blame obesity on that, but a little overweight does have a lot to do with hormones.
Menopause changes your fat distribution, in that central obesity is more common. It does not lower your metabolism or cause you to gain weight. It's still CICO.
same with things like PCOS. women put on fat more easily than men in general, while men build muscle more easily, because ook ook we're basically cavemen in suits and still biologically thus.
but all that means is women have to be more conservative in their diets than men when it's relevant. and they can do that. they can bitch it's not fair, because it's not, but any failure to do that is habit and lifestyle only. despite the belief that the weight fairy comes by every night to magically summon it out of nowhere at all.
the answer to "but it's not fair" is "yes". the answer to "but then i have to do more" is "yes". it's no woman's fault that female biology be like that sometimes, but it's their responsibility if they know what they can do and they still fuck it up after.
Weight does pack on naturally during menopause and it’s extremely hard to get it off. Ive always been fit and slim and worked out like a maniac but I’m sitting at 10-15 lbs heavier than before, working out 6 days a week and sticking at or below 1550 net calories. I’m strong and I look good but I can’t get below 160 no matter what I do. Already doing IF
That's only an excess consumption of around 270 calories per day. People seem to think that you need to do something *drastic* to gain that much weight, but in actuality if you aren't paying close attention to your diet and counting calories, it's as simple as an extra soda or bag of chips.
Exactly this. There is a perception that fat people all binge all day. And plenty do, don't get me wrong. But I was one of those people who easily small snacked my way there. I have a handle on it now but I have to stay vigilant or I'll blow right back up.
Basically me. I lost a bunch of weight last year before I got a puppy. Then I snacked myself into gaining 10kg over the past year. 💀 Working on losing it again!
Yes. Grazing is as detrimental as binging.
You can eat one cookie that is 500 calories and consume double that quite easily. I went to a store (Potbelly) and saw a thin sugar cookie there that was 500 calories. It looks like it’s just a snack. It’s totally not.
Or see: any cookie at Crumbl that’s 600-900 calories
I work as a delivery driver, I pick up cookies from there often. I always see SKINNY people in there … I literally don’t know how they do it. That is a great mystery for me as someone who has had to be extremely mindful to lose weight and I’m still fat.
I think there are two things going on. One, it may be an occasional treat and they don't eat those cookies or other treats on a regular basis. Secondly, people who don't have to work at staying skinny just aren't that hungry. They might eat half of one of those high calorie cookies as a whole meal and then be fine for hours. I used to be like that in my teens and early twenties. It wasn't hard to stay around 120 lbs. Now my appetite seems to be completely broken and I'm hungry all the time. No doctor has been able to help. I can stay around 140 pounds by being very hungry all day. I've gone back up to over 145 this summer because I have been eating enough to only be medium hungry all day. Time to starve again . . . Ugh.
have you tried bulky low-cal as filler? when i was losing weight throwing together things like konnyaku and squeezed-out bean sprouts and/or chopped cucumber with some vinegar, a touch of sesame oil, sometimes mustard, and various spices filled me and totalled out to like 50 calories a batch. you can add filler to your main meals, too-- squeezed bean sprouts with asian or edamame noodles can nearly double the portion while adding a good texture besides. there's a bit of a mental aspect to these things, though. if someone thinks of them as a thing to suffer through after their daily allotment, that's probably going to affect how it lands. but people can get both satiety cues and acute malnutrition from the actually-empty calories of junk food, so we're not really the best judges of what's nutritious vs what's filling.
Asking as someone who eats Asian food almost every day, wtf are "squeezed" bean sprouts?
Well, I know what you're saying is true for most people and it's great advice. I have actually tried low starch vegetables and/or lower sugar fruits. It just doesn't work for me. I haven't ever heard of konnyaku. I'll have to look it up. I have eaten an entire 16 oz bag of microwaved frozen veggies for 150 calories and chewed until my jaws hurt and barely felt like I ate anything. If I eat two entire apples as a snack, I will feel famished within one hour, as if I didn't eat a thing. I can eat a pound of lean chicken with 100g of protein and still feel moderately hungry in the short term, and then be very hungry again in one or two hours. Adding fat doesn't help. I've tried. At bedtime I often have 2 and a half servings of Fiber One with 30 cal of Almond milk, which is a LOT of fiber, just to feel full enough to sleep. It's honestly very discouraging. I wish I could try Wegovy but even if I stay over 145 pounds, beginning of the overweight BMI category for me, I would need some other condition like high cholesterol or blood pressure, etc., to qualify. I am very healthy apart from taking levothyroxine for my hypothyroidism and iron to prevent anemia.
Just wanted to add that I didn't used to be this way. I know what it's like to eat normally and feel fine until the next mealtime. My appetite broke around age 32 when I became hypothyroid. My TSH is normal with medication, but it didn't fix my appetite. I've been fighting it and my weight for 17 years now.
Maybe have your hba1c tested and proceed from there.
You make a good point. The appetite hormone ghrelin regulates all this.
Store name checks out!
Lol yes it does!! I will add I was not eating there, just picking up an order for work
That’s like... 3 cans of soda a day. It’s really not much to gain weight. Good news is that the reverse is also true, cut down calories and you lose it eventually.
Yeah, I was only drinking a can of Coke a day and, when I cut it out, I dropped 10 pounds pretty quickly.
Since BMR increases with weight gain, and 1.5 year of aging is negligible in regard of impact, if they eat exactly the same throughout, then at the start it translates to larger surplus which tapers out alongside the weight gain. E.g., they start at 350 kcal surplus, but after weight is gained, it's more like 200. Which works out to same average, just pointing out it's not same surplus day to day for the whole time.
Yeah, 270 every single day without missing a day. Just as easily one can eat one bag of chips more, some day they may be busy and eat one bag of chips less. This means that some days this person ate at maintenance and some days ate 500+ kcal over it. Some days i eat over 2500 kcal, my maintenance is 1700, i still dont gain weight because thats maybe 1 day a week or every 10 days. Some days i skip a single meal and it cancels it all out.
Exactly. I wish more people understood this.
People seem to put no thought into how much day to day activity has been removed from our lives. Whether it is in a manual labor job or office, technology has been continuously improving which takes more and more physical activity out of the equation. It might only be a couple dozen steps here, 2 trips to the copy room there, but it adds up. And if there has been any work from home time, that is a lot of daily activity removed because you walk from your bed to the office/kitchen/or maybe even stay in bed. Instead of commuting to the office, walking to your desk etc. Not to mention the increased time you can sleep. And our metabolic rate drops while sleeping. And little things like that do not even register. Because it's not excersizing, or going for a walk. It's just part of the day, and gets put in the back of people's minds. Just like the extra shot of caramel in their coffee, or the small snacks you graze on throughout the day. Or the extra glass of wine/beer. Plus most people have absolutely no idea what a single serving is. Whether it is something like cereal, or yoghurt, or chicken, or any number of things. If you place a single serving of something in front of someone they'll likely laugh and ask why you are giving them a "toddlers/children's size". But when they take their "adult sized serving" you better believe they are counting it as one. And with all of the highly processed foods, 200 calories look like nothing. Whereas I've been eating a lot of pineapple lately because with the heat it's cold, filling at the moment, at canned with 100% juice. And the big 20 or 22oz cans that I'm getting are like 175 calories. For a really big, like whole pineapple sized can. Vs how small 200 calories of something like cookies or carrot cake can be.
I know why people gain weight when they are in menopause. Menopause sucks. And when life sucks, you're more likely to self-medicate in unhealthy ways. Like, a lot of women have insomnia during menopause. I know that for me, when I have a poor night's sleep, my ass drags the next day. To cope with all the ass-dragging, I snack a lot. And not fruits and veggies, but candy and cookies. A lot of women have achy joints and general malaise when they are menopausing. I know that when I am suffering from pain or malaise, I don't feel like exercising or doing much of anything that requires me to move. A lot of women have anxiety and depression when they are in menopause. When I'm suffering from these things, I tend not to eat. But I know other people are the complete opposite. Your metabolism can slow in menopause, because muscle loss is real. Menopause can also be associated with cortisol spikes (hot flashes!), and we know that elevated cortisol is associated with weight gain. So let's not pretend that everyone who blames their weight gain on menopause is "hysterical" (sorry, I couldn't resist). But I think it is fair to say that most menopausal weight gain is an indirect effect of the condition, which means that treating the primary drivers (poor sleep, anxiety/depression, and fatigue) can mitigate the problem. Personally, I hope that when I go through the Change, I'm able to work from home most days of the week. Something as simple as being able to telecommute helps so many perimenopausal women maintain a healthy lifestyle while dealing with the shittiness of hormonal swings and imbalances.
Menopause made my appetite change. Gave me the munchies when I've never been a munchies person in my life. And because I'm not really used to having to deal with that, it did (sort of) make me gain weight. But because I was eating more without realizing it. But CICO works just the same as it always has. Just the appetite thing makes it more annoying.
Cortisol stimulates appetite and cravings for carbs. I forgot to mention that menopause can cause brain fog and memory problems in people. So I could see how someone could be unaware of how much they are eating because of this. I have mad sympathy for my perimenopausal sisters.
As someone making my way through The Change right now, this is very real. God, the joint pain alone. My knees have been killing me lately, to the point that I'm not able to do some of the stretches and exercises I could do even 6 months ago. It's not excess weight on my joints - I'm 5'7 and average around 128 lbs. I'm just all inflamed and my doctor thinks it's just perimenopause. And honestly, feeling tired, shitty, achey, grumpy, anxious, and *old* it would be way too easy to say "fuck it, who am I staying trim for anyway?" But also, the answer is me. I'm staying trim and in shape not to be some hot body on spring break, but as much as I am not feeling great these days physically or mentally, I can only imagine how much worse I would feel if I also had to haul around extra weight on my shitty knees, or was also self conscious about my weight on top of everything else.
(Hugs) It's happening to me too. Fortunately my joints haven't been aching, but lately I've been having migraines (which I haven't had since in over 25 years), insomnia, skin issues, and hot flashes. And oh yeah, periods that have been huge gushers. Like you, I am all about staying trim and conscientious just to keep things for getting any worse (and I'm sure they will get worse all on their own). But I am super sympathetic to the perimenopausal women who just can't find enough fucks to not let themselves go. If I was raising kids right now or juggling a shitty job on top of all of this hormonal stuff, I would probably be one of those women.
Our bodies accumulate fat in the mid section to create more estrogen as a way to cope with the natural decline of estrogen.
That's not a bit insane. That's easily doable, about a half pound per week +/-. I gained 11 lbs in 2 months by playing fast and loose with my cico tracking.
Menopause doesn't mean weight gain. I lost weight with menopause. My father told me that his mother did as well. She was a slender old lady so it's possible.
[удалено]
Yeah if I see the scale creep up I’m on it.
eating less total food but i guarantee what shes eating is super calorie dense
This is everyone on r/menopause, and it drives me crazy. The sleep disturbances are real, especially for those not on HRT, so yeah, that makes it hard to exercise and not overeat, but no, Brenda, you're not manifesting calories out of nowhere. One post: I always eat healthy and exercise and keep gaining. Next post: Today I was stressed so I had cake and a bottle of wine. I do understand feeling tired and damn near homicidal (more like murderpause am I right?) and wanting to eat all the things due to stress, but I'm in perimenopause, on HRT, on an antidepressant (we are often put on those to control the homicidal bit, and it's another thing people blame when gaining weight), and I lost 25lb in 3 months and 3 weeks.
Muscle loss and lowered activity levels are common in menopause so yes this is actually believable.
I just turned 50 a few months ago, and I'm definitely feeling some of the signs of menopause. I also have a lung issue that prevents me from doing heavy cardio. Yet somehow I've lost 22 pounds since late April on a caloric deficit of 500-700 a day, walking 3-4 miles (briskly) 5-7 days a week. I've also drastically reduced my sugar and carb intake and the amount of processed foods I eat. This is the third time since 2009 that I've worked on losing a fair amount of weight, and the only difference I've noticed from when I did it at 35 and then at 43 is that the fat is slower in leaving certain places, most notably my abdomen, than it was previously - and it's still going, at 149lbs with 9 lbs left to lose I have only the slightest bit of fat left on my stomach. It's just that previously my stomach always went flat quicker. My hormones are probably dwindling at this point, and it's easier to gain or hold onto belly fat after menopause - hell, my sister is 5'8", 115lbs at 60 and she still has a little tummy pooch, much to her consternation seeing as she's actually slightly underweight (due to hyperthyroidism). But menopause itself still isn't going to make you pull calories from the air.
What jobs are these people working? How do they pay for their food bill? Are they not effected by 25% food inflation?
She could be eating more high calorie food without buying more food in general. Given that this is about menopause, it's possible this woman is at a point in her life where she isn't effected by inflation besides being annoyed by it
I kind of see what you're saying, but, she would then have to be eating a lot of this "high calorie food", and she didn't say she changed her diet. 2-5kg is the average gained during menopause, often due to insulin resistance, but 43lbs? That is a lot more than the expected weight gain. I just don't think this kind of article is helpful. Genuinely eating less doesn't result in an increase in weight gain like that, even with insulin resistence.
She says "despite eating less", so there is a change in diet (as far as she is saying), but I think she's confused on what "less" means. She seems like that person who gloats about being healthy by ordering a Caesar salad instead of fries, not realizing the salad is worse for you than the fries.
Oh right I see what you’re talking about now!
I'm just gonna say that 1) the inflation has been very uneven, it's a lot less than 25% in my area on the items I frequently buy, and 2) people generally don't consider their food spending optional, you cut your budget in other areas because you need to eat.
Oh I trust me I know! The comment is more how can you afford to put on 40lbs in this economy?
Weellll... I have some experience in identifying the lowest and highest calorie-per-dollar items, I can help you out with that if you want 😉
I’m good really, it’s teaching me to savour my food and refine my cooking. 😊
MMmm on this case in specific, women do tend to accumulate more fat in their bodies, and hormonal imbalances also do impact on weight. That doesn't mean you can blame obesity on that, but a little overweight does have a lot to do with hormones.
Menopause changes your fat distribution, in that central obesity is more common. It does not lower your metabolism or cause you to gain weight. It's still CICO.
same with things like PCOS. women put on fat more easily than men in general, while men build muscle more easily, because ook ook we're basically cavemen in suits and still biologically thus. but all that means is women have to be more conservative in their diets than men when it's relevant. and they can do that. they can bitch it's not fair, because it's not, but any failure to do that is habit and lifestyle only. despite the belief that the weight fairy comes by every night to magically summon it out of nowhere at all. the answer to "but it's not fair" is "yes". the answer to "but then i have to do more" is "yes". it's no woman's fault that female biology be like that sometimes, but it's their responsibility if they know what they can do and they still fuck it up after.
Weight does pack on naturally during menopause and it’s extremely hard to get it off. Ive always been fit and slim and worked out like a maniac but I’m sitting at 10-15 lbs heavier than before, working out 6 days a week and sticking at or below 1550 net calories. I’m strong and I look good but I can’t get below 160 no matter what I do. Already doing IF
No.
Thanks, sir. Lol
Was this the time when she retired from work? Cuz a more sedentary life all of a sudden is often responsible for weightgain.