One Year After Losing the Menopause Weight
The unglamorous truth about maintaining weight loss
A year ago, I was in the middle of my second workout program with Hailey Babcock of Hailey Happens Fitness, thrilled to finally feel progress after three years in a body that didn’t feel like mine.
In 2021, I was officially postmenopausal and 15 pounds heavier than the year before. No matter what I tried, the weight wouldn’t budge. But after working with Hailey and doing several of her programs, the weight ALL came off.
But that’s where the battle really began.
I’ve cataloged what I’ve learned over the past year, in hopes of helping you shortcut the process.
1— Focus on the feeling
How am I feeling? How do my clothes feel? What’s my energy like?
I don’t care about the number on the scale as much as the feeling attached to it. I know I feel my best when I’m somewhere just below 130. When it creeps up toward 132, I start feeling sluggish and a little gross. It’s such a reliable tell that I can usually course-correct without even stepping on the scale.
And, yes, any weight I gain is ALWAYS connected to food.
2— Food rules help
I know “food rules” make people wince, but they’ve helped me more than anything (probably because we’re not 23 anymore).
I eat four times a day. That’s it. No snacking or grazing. If I want tortilla chips, fine, but they’re part of a meal, not a standalone snack. And I’ve been experimenting with portion sizes: bigger breakfasts and midafternoon meals, but lighter lunches and dinners. So far, that’s my sweet spot. It’s helped keep my steady energy, and I don’t really feel peckish.
I stop eating two hours before bed. I started because it seems to help me sleep better, but the real bonus is that it sets a natural stop time. By the end of the day, decision fatigue sets in, making questionable food choices inevitable. This simple boundary saves me a lot of regret.
I understand what I’m eating. Twice a year, I track my food (yes, weighing it) in an app like MyFitnessPal to remind myself how little three ounces really is. Seeing what I actually eat changes how I look at food. What we think is a single serving is often three or four.
These days, I care more about nutritional value than calories. They’re often inversely correlated: higher calories usually mean lower nutritional value, and vice versa.
3— Pay attention to how food makes me feel
Years ago, I read The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, and the chapter on why we overeat stuck with me. Americans often eat out of boredom or stress—we’re truly hungry maybe 20% of the time.
I stopped drinking my beloved John Daleys (a boozey Arnold Palmer) over five years ago when I realized I couldn’t recover well from alcohol, and it made my hot flashes worse. The same thing happens when I eat too much sugar. And heavy carbs, oatmeal, bagels, and most boxed cereals make me crash. Not worth eating.
I’m still learning the art of connecting food to feeling.
Here’s what it comes down to: Our ancestors didn’t need these “rules” because they didn’t have fast bites on every corner or teams of neuroscientists designing food to light up their brains like slot machines. We’re fighting a losing battle. If food weren’t aggressively available or engineered like social media, we’d have it so much easier.
Now I see my food rules as guardrails—not restrictions. They help me survive a kitchen stocked with Pringles and frozen pizza because, apparently, teenage boys can eat whatever they want.
So that’s where I am today. The scale dances a little, but overall it’s been steady thanks to the habits I’ve built and continue to hone.
Lest you think it’s all sunshine and sparkles, I’m still figuring out how to live well in a postmenopausal body. But now that I feel I have some traction, it’s not the struggle it used to be.
There’s no use pretending this is easy. You’ve probably already learned it’s hard work—or you’re about to. But the exhale you’ll feel is worth every bit of effort.
At the foundation of it all is figuring out who you are and what truly matters to you.
Curious about anything I’ve mentioned? Ask a question in the comments or email me. If I can help, I will. ❤️
👉 If you missed my earlier email, How I Lost the Menopause Weight, you can read more about my journey.
👉 And if you want the cliff notes, here are 14 Things I Did to Lose the Menopause Weight.
👉 Also, I wrote these back in 2019, long before I found my footing with menopause, metabolism, or midlife. It was the start of me realizing that “loving yourself” isn’t a switch you flip—it’s a slow, clumsy practice of showing up and doing the work.
I’m sharing it here as a snapshot of where the work began.
1) The Mirror Has Opinions (and I’m Finally Talking Back)
WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT AGING, BODY IMAGE, AND DOING THE WORK
2) On Body Dysmorphia and Motherhood
YOU HAVE SUCH A PRETTY FACE.
So proud of you! And you look strong AF. xoxo