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Menologues

Because stumbling blindly through menopause is less fun than it sounds

Summer’s coming and what does that mean?

April24

What else? The diet is underway.

When I start “the diet” as I’ve done many times over the course  of my lifetime, it is always with a goal and intent.

This time, my desire to look better is outweighed by the medical community and their threats of diabetes looming down the road. Do they do this to every non-skinny person around my age?

At any rate, it took a lot to get me into “the zone” mentally this time. When I’m in “the zone” I have a steel will. Try to get me to eat dessert at great personal risk – because I will hurt you!

This time, it’s harder than it’s ever been. Because I’m older and have additional medical issues that make losing weight an ever increasing challenge. It used to be easy – relatively speaking. It hasn’t been for a few years now. What I mean by ‘not easy’ is I’m not sure I’ll succeed. One could argue that I’ve never been sure of success in the past – at least not until I reached my goal – which wasn’t all the time, there were times when I quit out of frustration. There’s some truth to that.

This time I am determined. I am determined to surpass my medical goal and possibly even surpass my personal goal. I’ve got a great start – I’m down over ten pounds already. My next major hurdle is taking a long time – and it’s one I’ve never knowingly succeeded in overcoming.

The pressure is on. I am religiously following my diet. It’s taking forever.

I keep hearing “well, that happens,” “you’re just at a plateau,” “just wait, you’ll see.” All very nice – but none of these comments give me the assurance I seek. And my patience is shot!

Over the past two weeks I’ve lost somewhere between 1.5 – 2.8 pounds (I thought it was 2.8 until I got on the scale this morning – dammit). It’s just sooooo slow! And going backwards just sucks!!!!

Then there’s this major kidding myself thing. Right now I’m telling myself I’ll get way down and monitor carefully so I stay there. It seems to be working for Marie Osmond – but not so much for me. At least it never has in the past.

During and after every successful diet in my past, I was sure I’d be disciplined enough to never regain the weight – and obviously that has never been the case.

There’s a lot of obesity in my ancestry – am I just meant to be fat? Am I beating fate for fleeting moments here and there – only to fall back to my true body size when nature takes it’s course – if that’s the case why am I beating myself up – shouldn’t I give in to a greater force? But I do feel like crap when I’m heavier – so that’s a deterrent.

So in summary, I have posed a lot of questions, questions born of insecurity. I sure could use some moral support from women who struggle with weight, are too smart for their own good and are too lazy to always do the right thing in the right way – so they seek shortcuts. In short, I don’t need help from saints who are diligent, eat healthy (i.e. all fresh foods, nothing processed and low salt, low fat – you get the drift) because I’m never gonna be that person!

 

 

 

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How Does A Menopausal Woman Eat?

August13

We all know a large percentage of menopausal women have a tendency toward weight gain, but many of our doctors tell us that if we buckle down and do the work we can fix that. Do we need to tell these docs to get their heads out of their “Clavens” and face our reality?

I’ve tried it all. I mean recently. Over 30 years I tried it all and much of it worked. It was hard work – but it paid off. Not so much now.

I work my butt off eating all the right foods and exercising and results are just not forthcoming. Thankfully I love fruits and vegetables, but let’s face it you can eat only so many garden fresh tomatoes before your complexion turns that fire engine shade of really bright red!

Okay, I exaggerate, but nothing is working for me right now and it’s making me crazy. I’ve tried gluten free, wheat free, carb free, starch free, low cal and whatever else you can think of – and nothing. And let’s not even talk about the bloating – I’ll just sob!

The next doctor that tell me that two months isn’t enough to gauge whether or not X will work is going to get my boot in their ass! I know gluten free folks who claim to know within a week or two – so when absolutely nothing happens over 6 – 8 weeks – I know someone is blowing smoke up my skirt!

What’s even worse is that when I’m on full swing in my “recommended diet du jour” and am lamenting about a discernable lack of positive reinforcement, a well-meaning friend/acquaintance, who clearly puts little effort into life-sustaining behavior will always manage to chime in with “well, if you didn’t drink diet soda, you could probably drop those extra pounds.” Let me just say in the calmest and most rational voice I can muster “I want to drop you into a tank of piranhas and then throw the remains into a fiery volcano.”

Does that seem like an overreaction to you?


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In This New Year. Will We Finally Shed Those Unwanted Pounds or Will We Instead Choke Our Jenny Representative to Death? Tough Choice.

January12

As each year draws to a close there are certain traditions that are observed. We enter the holiday season with an eye toward sharing, festivities, thankfulness – and another eye toward moving “out with the old and in with the new.”

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Diet or Sleep. Pick One!

September12
Diet or Sleep?

Diet or Sleep?

Everyone knows that menopausal women can have trouble sleeping. Everyone knows that menopausal women can have trouble with weight gain. Two separate issues – right?

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Reviewing the Journey

August5

After two years of sharing my challenges, triumphs, frustrations, discomforts and random thoughts about the menopausal time of life on Menologues it seems like a good idea to take a look at where this journey started and how far it has come.
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Weight Stages in the Typical Life of a Woman Who Enjoys Food

June7
Woman Eating

I went through a period of about seven years when I could eat anything I wanted

I like to eat. I have a tendency to gain weight. I like to be thin. That is the unholy trinity that puts most women on a lifetime rollercoaster of torturous emotional self-abuse.

It’s also the deadly threesome that causes young women to throw their lives away to anorexia, bulimia and a plethora of other forms of physical self-abuse. So it’s damn serious. Read the rest of this entry »

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