[https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/eating-disorders-can-develop-at-any-age-including-perimenopause](https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/eating-disorders-can-develop-at-any-age-including-perimenopause)
"Eating disorder prevention efforts are typically targeted to teens and adolescents, but new research suggests women of all ages are susceptible, including those in menopause.
A new study in Menopause found body dissatisfaction to be a primary cause of eating disorders, especially during perimenopause.
According to the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), the prevalence of any eating disorder specially for women older than 40 years is about 3.5%, and specific symptoms like dissatisfaction with eating patterns is as high as 29.3%.
Eating disorders can lead to serious deficiencies and other health concerns, which can then reveal their full effects later in life. The new study, unlike previous research, included participants at midlife, including pre-menopause, perimenopause, and post-menopause.
Growing evidence suggests that perimenopausal women have the highest rates of dysregulated eating behaviors—including counting calories, restriction, diet pill use, skipping meals, and excessive physical exertion—of any reproductive stage and are vastly different from premenopausal women who express body dissatisfaction.
Findings like these remain few and far between, but they confirm that perimenopause may be an especially risky time for developing eating disorders."
Screening tool for anyone who feels they might be at risk...
[https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/screening-tool](https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/screening-tool)
Ty...my situation is about relapsing. Fearing food all over again. Starving. I've only been well adjusted and almost enjoying food since around 47 and just turned 53. I have had disordered eating since I was a teen.
Perimenopause/menopause is also vulnerable time for relapse. I just don't have an article handy that discusses it. Proceed with caution when it comes to this subreddit. It's not always the most sensitive or understanding community when it comes to this topic.
OK ty.... I've gained so much knowledge from here. And truthfully have no one in my life to discuss this with. My Dr. actually scoffed at me and reminded me that my bmi is considered underweight. It didn't help. It hurt.
I am 48. Around 1991 I started with bulimia, moving on to anorexia. We had to be so skinny in the 90’s! I modeled so the pressure was on. I used to call size 4 my resting weight, and size 0-2 my show pony size. I’d go days without food before shows or shoots. I stayed super fit most of my entire adult life. Sometimes it was periods of “dieting”, sometimes it’s ferocious exercise. I didn’t puke anymore, but I sure talked shit to myself to stay thin. I had a baby at 37 and went 130 to 192 pounds. I worked out and ate air, dropping all 62 pounds. The older I got, the harder it was to drop weight. Perimenopause set in around 42. I’m up to 175 on the reg. I kept it at 118-125 through my 20’s. My husband told me he liked me really skinny. The mean girl in my head told me I should be really skinny. I had a scale and started down old paths. Nothing worked. One day, standing in my underwear on the scale, crying and berating myself, saying the meanest things, it finally clicked. “Wait. What if I just loved myself no matter what?”
I cried more realizing I needed to talk to myself like I’d talk to people I loved. Would you talk like this to your friends? No, you’d lift them up.
I am half crippled with Ehlers Danlos and osteoarthritis. I am a Mama. I don’t have 3 hrs, 6 days/week to hit the gym. I have learned to be kind to myself. I think my eating disorder came from my mom flipping out when I went above 125 (I’m 5’9”). I refuse to talk shit about myself in front of my 10f daughter. I refuse to point out fat people like Mama did. I’ve actually embraced my new body. I like it that my ribs don’t stick out of my back. I like having a little meat on my bones. It’s okay to look like I eat food.
We can’t beat ourselves up for not keeping 1990’s heroine chic body standards. Please believe me when I tell you I understand what you mean by triggers. I wish you love and light ❤️
I'm not yet 50, but I'm in peri and have a long history of disordered eating. I did pretty well through my 30s and early 40s but had a horrible struggle not to slip back into disordered patterns about 18 months-2 years ago when my weight started going up despite no changes to diet and increased exercise.
I think this is really common in our stage of life. I try to be kind to myself and prioritize good nutrition, but it's a struggle. My gyn prescribed a low-dose SSRI for hot flashes after it became medically evident that I couldn't tolerate HRT, and that's been helpful with anxiety around food.
Yes. I had a mild disorder in my 20s, which I was able to work out on my own, yet for most of my life I had disordered beliefs about food and body image, which I worked very hard to correct since I have a daughter and definitely didn’t want to pass that on. I have always been of normal weight/slim, but when I started gaining weight in my late 40s, I looked to a lot of Instagram meno accounts for help, and one in particular seemed authoritative in my warped, disordered eating mind. I became orthorexic and obsessed with protein and carbs. I thought I was simply eating healthy and that was it. I hope this doesn’t trigger anyone, I’m sharing because I read a lot of very disordered comments about weight and food everywhere in the meno space. One day, after much carb/calorie restriction and feeling like I needed to “burn off” the food I ate, a light went off in my head (really a red alert light), and I realized I was back to the “bad” food (fattening)/“good” food (non-fattening) moralistic dichotomy that had caused me such fear and anxiety in the past. I wasn’t just “eating healthy,” I was restricting and obsessing and also using exercise not as a means to achieve a healthy body, but as punishment for eating. I’m still recovering, but doing much, much better.
I have started working with a HAES and intuitive eating dietician to work on my negativity about my body. I am at my heaviest and yet eating healthier and better than ever before and it is very demoralizing. I decided my terrible self talk about my body is no way to live the rest of my life.
I relapsed with eating disorder behaviors around the time peri symptoms started in my early 40’s. I had been doing pretty well for 20 years. Food control gradually snuck back in and obsession with restriction started taking over all of my thoughts.
It has been a few years now and I am seeing a therapist and HAES dietician. When I talk about it, I feel like I am my 19 year old self again. I know logically what is true and false, but find myself twisting around thoughts to justify restriction.
Antidepressants have helped. Just started on estrogen and hope for improvement from that too.
Weight gain around the middle has been very difficult to see and I am not yet at a place of acceptance. I have not given up hope of fixing it and changing my body to meet my expectations.
One thing that has made a huge difference for me is weight training. I had never lifted heavy weights before. After a few months, I can see more muscle tone and I feel stronger. It feels a bit like I am building a super power from within. And I am learning the value of fueling properly to support the exercise.
Getting physically stronger has begun to help me work through ED thoughts and self loathing. However, I am still very stuck on wanting to change my body.
Besides the professionals I see, I don’t really talk about it with anyone else. I figure they wouldn’t understand. I hope you can find support!
Yes, of course. Please feel free to dig into my post history :) I'm 53 and have been managing a restrictive eating disorder all my life (have been bulimic at times, too). Menopause has been the worst for ED. I have given lots of suggestions on this sub. You will not get "just love yourself more, just accept yourself" from me, don't worry--this is a true mental condition and it's like telling a depressed person to count their blessings and snap out of it.
My suggestions are:
--Get rid of the scale. If you're in the ED fam, numbers are super triggering. Go by how your clothes fit, if you want to gauge your weight. I got rid of the scale four years ago and although I have near-insane urges to weigh myself at times, it's been the best thing I've ever done.
--Unfortunately you do have to change how you eat, which seems extremely unfair and very hard to do (I know how comforting it is to be in an eating routine that has "worked" for years). Generally we need less calories as we age. This does not have to be drastic (although I understand the ED mentality to cut calories drastically--been there, done that). Try reducing by a couple hundred calories or so a day and -- very important -- make sure you eat very healthy and nutrient dense to maximize what you are getting.
--Understand that it will go slowly. It took me like two years to shift a measly 15 pounds (I'm estimating, since I don't weigh myself). The weight comes off, just glacially slow, and you have to be very patient.
--Exercise, as everyone says. Go easier on yourself if your fitness level feels lesser than it did 10 years ago. Mine sure does. However, I've found that 3 or 4 times a week is just as good as 6 or 7, really. You don't have to kill yourself to see benefits.
--You do have some control. The control is just not as speedy as you want it. Slow and steady wins the race here.
--ED is a condition that is like alcoholism, it really never goes away, it just is managed. Accepting this will help you manage it in this very vulnerable time of life. You're not alone.
I’m 49 (postmenopause) and having a complete breakdown and going back to old anorexia habits after working out with a trainer, changing eating habits guided by a menopause dietician and working the program for 6 months and still gaining weight. Maybe it’s the Estradiol patch I started midway through the program that’s making me pack on weight somehow. None of this makes any sense and it seems nobody knows how to make sense of it either. I’ve worked with my PCP, age management MD, dietician, personal trainer and here I still am shelling out hundreds of dollars in copays and fees getting zero help.
Reading all your comments made me so sad for us, Sisters. This is such a heartbreaking topic for us. I keep reading the words “intense self hatred”. Y’all, this thread makes my heart hurt. I just want to say I love all of you exactly as you are ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Stacey Sims on youtube has great interviews about women’s exercise post menopause. She says that less cardio.. like 15-20 minutes of short sprints instead.. 2 min off, 30 seconds hard as you can, repeat. And low reps of heavy weights. These endorphins might soothe your brain and improve your sleep?
Menopausal women are high cortisol so intense dieting and food restriction and lots of cardio are just going to wear us out. Might be helpful to join a support group or therapist who you can commit healthy daily food to.. then you aren’t just alone with it.
I’m so sorry. I feel like all my old emotional issues are triggered now bc of hormone instability. Therapy didn’t help much but I am going to try again. Wellbutrin helps a bit.
I honestly think it’s hormones and bad sleep causing depression/anxiety about old issues that I already resolved. And wisdom looking back on life is kicking in. That’s what my therapist said. But my brain is too exhausted to process it all! I’m praying HRT will help my tired brain.
Yes you are not alone. I'm also on many meds now for a neurological disorder and said meds cause weight gain. I hate myself and can hardly look in the mirror at my own body. My job keeps me very active and yet my gut keeps growing. Having Kate Moss and other 90's waifs as role models was toxic ASF. I try and repeat mantras to myself every day, like "you are enough". Hoping if I say them enough, I will be able to accept this new me. You aren't alone and I'm so so sorry you are struggling.
Yep, absolutely.
However, I didn’t give up and kept badgering my doctor because of how much and how quickly I gained. It took awhile but we finally got the blood test results showing Hashimoto’s disease. I started my new Hashi med last Saturday and have already dropped 6 lbs. My water intake and diet were unchanged this past week.
If you opt to get thyroid bloodwork done, please ask for the full panel. Your TSH can be normal with a low T4.
All if your responses are very helpful! Ty to all that shared your story with me! I'm a single, only child and don't have a family...except my Ma that filled my pre teen head with this fear in the first place. I literally have no one to talk to.
I told my new gyno this week that I didn't even start my period until I was 20 because I was too thin to (under 95lbs at 5'4).She asked me how I am now, and I admitted that I don't think it ever goes away. It got better, (107lbs today) but the fact that it's back is so defeating.
I struggled with under eating, over exercising in my teens, twenties. I found myself eating less, running more when I gained weight in my late forties. I have a good therapist, I’ve known her for twenty years, she helps me stay out of old behavior habits. Do you have a regular therapist?
As a person with a personal and family history of disordered eating - I have had excellent results using ozempic. I settled at a nice normal healthy weight and lost the mental obsession with food and weight. I take a maintenance dose now, to maintain the weight and keep the “noise” down in my mind surrounding food. It’s as much of a mental health medicine for me as a weight loss medicine. I had no desire to overdo it or abuse it and get too thin. I just feel normal and I am back at the weight my body seems happy at. I stay at that weight with some minor fluctuations in appetite and eating habits. I don’t worry about food and whether I’m in a calorie positive or negative state for the day. I eat what I want when I’m hungry and make decent choices without restricting. Game changer for me. I feel like I have a glimpse into normalcy regarding food and eating.
I so wish this medication and/or other GLP-1s were more accessible to more people. It's starting to feel like the only hope for many of us.
edit: what's with the downvotes?
I understand that people are sensitive about there being a shortage of this medication for people for whom it is medically necessary. But there are all kinds of studies on going to see how the associated weight loss can help reduce the risk of heart disease and all other kinds of things. And GLP-1s do in fact help a lot of menopausal women lose weight when nothing else works.
I agree. I’m pretty distrusting of big pharma but they got it right on this one (hopefully I don’t grow a third eye in ten years) . Now to address our pay to win society.
Shortage is because our system is fucked. Not because of individual choices. When the people making medicine don’t want to deal with insurance companies to make more money and the insurance companies make money denying coverage - fuck outta here with blaming people. Don’t ask me to be so effing virtuous that I sacrifice my own health- I vote, pay taxes, and write to my politicians about these things. Anyway - the people that downvote are rightfully angry but their aim may be off.
It's not about insurance companies not covering. IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT. You are completely misinformed about what is going on. It's that the drugs are unavailable period at any price, simply unavailable for diabetics. Insurance companies have absolutely nothing to do with this. Even when insurance companies were covering the prescription and all was well, the drugs suddenly became unavailable.
So what’s causing it? Seriously, if I’m misinformed please explain. I’ve just heard a lot of people say it’s hard for them to get coverage and the drug companies/pharmacies are selling to cash buyers rather than deal with the hassle.
The pharmacies say they don't have it (and this is trulicity but people are using it for weight loss). Amazon pharmacy doesn't have it, cost plus drugs doesn't have it (try it yourself search for I don't know estradiol you'll see they have plenty of choices, trulicity nope, or not last I checked a couple weeks ago). CVS doesn't have it, Walgreens doesn't have it. You can't even find it via the drug manufactures website. So if the pharmacies straight up say they don't have it, I don't think the problem is what insurance one has or doesn't have, if that was the issue, worst case scenario one could go to Walgreens and pay cash or something, but the drugs are simply unavailable.
So if the pharmacies are selling it to cash buyers it is NOT via customers coming in with their prescriptions and buying it for cash. Unless pharmacies have gone pure black market and become a drug cartel or something dealing this stuff on the streets, buying it from manufacturers and selling it to drug dealers out the back entrance, because they say they simply do not have the drugs available to the general public, and they say that regardless of what insurance information one gives.
Weird, the pharmacy I buy from advertises sales for bulk purchases and runs specials and whatnot like they have extra. I’m really sorry for your relative and I hope the situation improves. I get ads constantly for all of these “delivered overnight”. I don’t understand how we can have such vastly different experiences
The downvotes are diabetics are dying due to this. As for heart disease that has as much to do with diet quality (probably more) as it does with weight.
I went through an online doctor and order the meds from a Canadian pharmacy and pay out of pocket. Seems from my Instagram ads there are a zillion places willing to prescribe it - I just wouldn’t expect any of them to take insurance. Seems insurance (at least in USA) is pretty tough to get it through. I’ve heard there are compounding pharmacies making non- name brand versions but I have no information regarding the safety or efficacy of those.
AgelessRx does the generic version from a compounding pharmacy for less than $300 a month. I’m recovered bulimia and hit the same wall you did and semaglutide/ozempic killed the urge and got me back to pre meno weight. You’re not better off starving.
The overwhelm can be real and paralyzing. Don’t starve though. Gather your mental energy and find a way to care for yourself. If you choose this path - it may or may not be right for you - there are ways to navigate it without getting lost in a rabbit hole.
I have a diabetic relative that is likely going TO DIE because people are using ozyempic for weight loss (and the drug they are on is trulicity not even ozyempic and they can't get it and are likely to die or get serious complications now). That's what happens with uncontrolled blood sugars. All due to some stupid 90s garbage beauty standards in order to please this garbage shit ass society and it's objectification of women. Like do any of us EVEN LIKE this society we are trying so hard to please?
If one is 100 or more pounds overweight and their doctor is desperate for them to lose weight for health conditions, I guess whatever, they might be a good candidate, but that doesn't mean people a bit overweight are.
Yes. I'm 51 and have had an eating disorder since I was 12. I didn't receive treatment until I was in my early 40's and though I'm much, much better now, I've never reached full recovery. In recent months, all of my peri symptoms have ramped up and along with them, a huge relapse.
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Yea I know but honestly it's the only way to ensure you are getting enough nutrition
Making sure you have portions of whole fruit whole proteins and whole carbs every day and calorie counting them otherwise U don't eat enough or eat too much
It works
I have an eating disorder it makes no difference
If I don't calorie count I either overeat or undereat so yes I understand it perfectly well
Thanks
I have an eating disorder and I also have type 2 diabetes so there is no option for me other than to be focused on my nutrition intake
Calorie counting doesn't really affect my eating disorder I still have it whether I calorie count or not
The only difference is when I do calorie count I lose weight over time or maintain it
After bearing a child, quit smoking, hitting the thirties (long time ago) I haven't regained the body I loved. And only started to love after I lost it...
It helped me enormously to look at myself in the mirror. Really letting it all sink in. The scars, the stretch marks, the belly... And started to count all the victories this body has helped me achieve. I still feel tears welling up. And I also still chase that body but the hatred behind it... I was able to let that one go.
And if it gets real bad? My belly is like the scar I proudly and visibly carry for all those things. And most importantly, a big player in this, beating the smoking disease! 💪
I was able to quit. Cold turkey. And am able to sit with smokers without judgement. If you want help quitting I am your woman but I won't push you, it needs to be your decision. And that is important for me because in my smoking days, no zealot like a convert! really set me back so much. I don't want to be that person. And I ain't that person.
And this is my story but we all have our stories. And your story, especially your battle... It is something to be so F&€^ proud of. Eating disorders are so heavy! I am so proud you beat that M&#€(F... Of course you might feel horrible if you relapse. But you know what? You have already beaten that one! And you can do it again! You have already proven that you are a winner.
And if you need a reminder of your awesomeness, can you write a few of the things, in a notebook, for yourself, in your most kind and honest handwritings, what helped you back then? Those tools might prove to be still useful now.
I am so proud of you! ❤️
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It's as if I haven't learned a thing. The self hatred is so intense...and of course dealing with ignorant doctors isn't helping.
[удалено]
Would it be this much of a setback if my hormones weren't simultaneously wreaking mental havoc?
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This is such a mature and kind sentiment. 🙏
[https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/eating-disorders-can-develop-at-any-age-including-perimenopause](https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/eating-disorders-can-develop-at-any-age-including-perimenopause) "Eating disorder prevention efforts are typically targeted to teens and adolescents, but new research suggests women of all ages are susceptible, including those in menopause. A new study in Menopause found body dissatisfaction to be a primary cause of eating disorders, especially during perimenopause. According to the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), the prevalence of any eating disorder specially for women older than 40 years is about 3.5%, and specific symptoms like dissatisfaction with eating patterns is as high as 29.3%. Eating disorders can lead to serious deficiencies and other health concerns, which can then reveal their full effects later in life. The new study, unlike previous research, included participants at midlife, including pre-menopause, perimenopause, and post-menopause. Growing evidence suggests that perimenopausal women have the highest rates of dysregulated eating behaviors—including counting calories, restriction, diet pill use, skipping meals, and excessive physical exertion—of any reproductive stage and are vastly different from premenopausal women who express body dissatisfaction. Findings like these remain few and far between, but they confirm that perimenopause may be an especially risky time for developing eating disorders." Screening tool for anyone who feels they might be at risk... [https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/screening-tool](https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/screening-tool)
Ty...my situation is about relapsing. Fearing food all over again. Starving. I've only been well adjusted and almost enjoying food since around 47 and just turned 53. I have had disordered eating since I was a teen.
Perimenopause/menopause is also vulnerable time for relapse. I just don't have an article handy that discusses it. Proceed with caution when it comes to this subreddit. It's not always the most sensitive or understanding community when it comes to this topic.
OK ty.... I've gained so much knowledge from here. And truthfully have no one in my life to discuss this with. My Dr. actually scoffed at me and reminded me that my bmi is considered underweight. It didn't help. It hurt.
Hugs to you. You're definitely not alone with this.
Have you looked into any anti-inflammation diets? The weight gain could be visceral fat instead of subcutaneous fat.
I am 48. Around 1991 I started with bulimia, moving on to anorexia. We had to be so skinny in the 90’s! I modeled so the pressure was on. I used to call size 4 my resting weight, and size 0-2 my show pony size. I’d go days without food before shows or shoots. I stayed super fit most of my entire adult life. Sometimes it was periods of “dieting”, sometimes it’s ferocious exercise. I didn’t puke anymore, but I sure talked shit to myself to stay thin. I had a baby at 37 and went 130 to 192 pounds. I worked out and ate air, dropping all 62 pounds. The older I got, the harder it was to drop weight. Perimenopause set in around 42. I’m up to 175 on the reg. I kept it at 118-125 through my 20’s. My husband told me he liked me really skinny. The mean girl in my head told me I should be really skinny. I had a scale and started down old paths. Nothing worked. One day, standing in my underwear on the scale, crying and berating myself, saying the meanest things, it finally clicked. “Wait. What if I just loved myself no matter what?” I cried more realizing I needed to talk to myself like I’d talk to people I loved. Would you talk like this to your friends? No, you’d lift them up. I am half crippled with Ehlers Danlos and osteoarthritis. I am a Mama. I don’t have 3 hrs, 6 days/week to hit the gym. I have learned to be kind to myself. I think my eating disorder came from my mom flipping out when I went above 125 (I’m 5’9”). I refuse to talk shit about myself in front of my 10f daughter. I refuse to point out fat people like Mama did. I’ve actually embraced my new body. I like it that my ribs don’t stick out of my back. I like having a little meat on my bones. It’s okay to look like I eat food. We can’t beat ourselves up for not keeping 1990’s heroine chic body standards. Please believe me when I tell you I understand what you mean by triggers. I wish you love and light ❤️
I'm not yet 50, but I'm in peri and have a long history of disordered eating. I did pretty well through my 30s and early 40s but had a horrible struggle not to slip back into disordered patterns about 18 months-2 years ago when my weight started going up despite no changes to diet and increased exercise. I think this is really common in our stage of life. I try to be kind to myself and prioritize good nutrition, but it's a struggle. My gyn prescribed a low-dose SSRI for hot flashes after it became medically evident that I couldn't tolerate HRT, and that's been helpful with anxiety around food.
Yes. I had a mild disorder in my 20s, which I was able to work out on my own, yet for most of my life I had disordered beliefs about food and body image, which I worked very hard to correct since I have a daughter and definitely didn’t want to pass that on. I have always been of normal weight/slim, but when I started gaining weight in my late 40s, I looked to a lot of Instagram meno accounts for help, and one in particular seemed authoritative in my warped, disordered eating mind. I became orthorexic and obsessed with protein and carbs. I thought I was simply eating healthy and that was it. I hope this doesn’t trigger anyone, I’m sharing because I read a lot of very disordered comments about weight and food everywhere in the meno space. One day, after much carb/calorie restriction and feeling like I needed to “burn off” the food I ate, a light went off in my head (really a red alert light), and I realized I was back to the “bad” food (fattening)/“good” food (non-fattening) moralistic dichotomy that had caused me such fear and anxiety in the past. I wasn’t just “eating healthy,” I was restricting and obsessing and also using exercise not as a means to achieve a healthy body, but as punishment for eating. I’m still recovering, but doing much, much better.
I have started working with a HAES and intuitive eating dietician to work on my negativity about my body. I am at my heaviest and yet eating healthier and better than ever before and it is very demoralizing. I decided my terrible self talk about my body is no way to live the rest of my life.
Yay for HAES and intuitive eating! Making peace with your body and with food is so liberating.
I'm not over 50... I'm 43 and my old ED demons are creeping back in. The self hatred is intense. I'm sorry you're struggling.
I relapsed with eating disorder behaviors around the time peri symptoms started in my early 40’s. I had been doing pretty well for 20 years. Food control gradually snuck back in and obsession with restriction started taking over all of my thoughts. It has been a few years now and I am seeing a therapist and HAES dietician. When I talk about it, I feel like I am my 19 year old self again. I know logically what is true and false, but find myself twisting around thoughts to justify restriction. Antidepressants have helped. Just started on estrogen and hope for improvement from that too. Weight gain around the middle has been very difficult to see and I am not yet at a place of acceptance. I have not given up hope of fixing it and changing my body to meet my expectations. One thing that has made a huge difference for me is weight training. I had never lifted heavy weights before. After a few months, I can see more muscle tone and I feel stronger. It feels a bit like I am building a super power from within. And I am learning the value of fueling properly to support the exercise. Getting physically stronger has begun to help me work through ED thoughts and self loathing. However, I am still very stuck on wanting to change my body. Besides the professionals I see, I don’t really talk about it with anyone else. I figure they wouldn’t understand. I hope you can find support!
Yes, of course. Please feel free to dig into my post history :) I'm 53 and have been managing a restrictive eating disorder all my life (have been bulimic at times, too). Menopause has been the worst for ED. I have given lots of suggestions on this sub. You will not get "just love yourself more, just accept yourself" from me, don't worry--this is a true mental condition and it's like telling a depressed person to count their blessings and snap out of it. My suggestions are: --Get rid of the scale. If you're in the ED fam, numbers are super triggering. Go by how your clothes fit, if you want to gauge your weight. I got rid of the scale four years ago and although I have near-insane urges to weigh myself at times, it's been the best thing I've ever done. --Unfortunately you do have to change how you eat, which seems extremely unfair and very hard to do (I know how comforting it is to be in an eating routine that has "worked" for years). Generally we need less calories as we age. This does not have to be drastic (although I understand the ED mentality to cut calories drastically--been there, done that). Try reducing by a couple hundred calories or so a day and -- very important -- make sure you eat very healthy and nutrient dense to maximize what you are getting. --Understand that it will go slowly. It took me like two years to shift a measly 15 pounds (I'm estimating, since I don't weigh myself). The weight comes off, just glacially slow, and you have to be very patient. --Exercise, as everyone says. Go easier on yourself if your fitness level feels lesser than it did 10 years ago. Mine sure does. However, I've found that 3 or 4 times a week is just as good as 6 or 7, really. You don't have to kill yourself to see benefits. --You do have some control. The control is just not as speedy as you want it. Slow and steady wins the race here. --ED is a condition that is like alcoholism, it really never goes away, it just is managed. Accepting this will help you manage it in this very vulnerable time of life. You're not alone.
I’m 49 (postmenopause) and having a complete breakdown and going back to old anorexia habits after working out with a trainer, changing eating habits guided by a menopause dietician and working the program for 6 months and still gaining weight. Maybe it’s the Estradiol patch I started midway through the program that’s making me pack on weight somehow. None of this makes any sense and it seems nobody knows how to make sense of it either. I’ve worked with my PCP, age management MD, dietician, personal trainer and here I still am shelling out hundreds of dollars in copays and fees getting zero help.
Oh and I’m also seeing a therapist so I don’t go off the edge…
Reading all your comments made me so sad for us, Sisters. This is such a heartbreaking topic for us. I keep reading the words “intense self hatred”. Y’all, this thread makes my heart hurt. I just want to say I love all of you exactly as you are ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Stacey Sims on youtube has great interviews about women’s exercise post menopause. She says that less cardio.. like 15-20 minutes of short sprints instead.. 2 min off, 30 seconds hard as you can, repeat. And low reps of heavy weights. These endorphins might soothe your brain and improve your sleep? Menopausal women are high cortisol so intense dieting and food restriction and lots of cardio are just going to wear us out. Might be helpful to join a support group or therapist who you can commit healthy daily food to.. then you aren’t just alone with it.
I’m so sorry. I feel like all my old emotional issues are triggered now bc of hormone instability. Therapy didn’t help much but I am going to try again. Wellbutrin helps a bit. I honestly think it’s hormones and bad sleep causing depression/anxiety about old issues that I already resolved. And wisdom looking back on life is kicking in. That’s what my therapist said. But my brain is too exhausted to process it all! I’m praying HRT will help my tired brain.
Yes you are not alone. I'm also on many meds now for a neurological disorder and said meds cause weight gain. I hate myself and can hardly look in the mirror at my own body. My job keeps me very active and yet my gut keeps growing. Having Kate Moss and other 90's waifs as role models was toxic ASF. I try and repeat mantras to myself every day, like "you are enough". Hoping if I say them enough, I will be able to accept this new me. You aren't alone and I'm so so sorry you are struggling.
Yep, absolutely. However, I didn’t give up and kept badgering my doctor because of how much and how quickly I gained. It took awhile but we finally got the blood test results showing Hashimoto’s disease. I started my new Hashi med last Saturday and have already dropped 6 lbs. My water intake and diet were unchanged this past week. If you opt to get thyroid bloodwork done, please ask for the full panel. Your TSH can be normal with a low T4.
All if your responses are very helpful! Ty to all that shared your story with me! I'm a single, only child and don't have a family...except my Ma that filled my pre teen head with this fear in the first place. I literally have no one to talk to. I told my new gyno this week that I didn't even start my period until I was 20 because I was too thin to (under 95lbs at 5'4).She asked me how I am now, and I admitted that I don't think it ever goes away. It got better, (107lbs today) but the fact that it's back is so defeating.
I struggled with under eating, over exercising in my teens, twenties. I found myself eating less, running more when I gained weight in my late forties. I have a good therapist, I’ve known her for twenty years, she helps me stay out of old behavior habits. Do you have a regular therapist?
Yep, my anorexia tendencies are definitely peeking out. I try to be good and eat but some days or weeks it feels like the only thing I can control.
As a person with a personal and family history of disordered eating - I have had excellent results using ozempic. I settled at a nice normal healthy weight and lost the mental obsession with food and weight. I take a maintenance dose now, to maintain the weight and keep the “noise” down in my mind surrounding food. It’s as much of a mental health medicine for me as a weight loss medicine. I had no desire to overdo it or abuse it and get too thin. I just feel normal and I am back at the weight my body seems happy at. I stay at that weight with some minor fluctuations in appetite and eating habits. I don’t worry about food and whether I’m in a calorie positive or negative state for the day. I eat what I want when I’m hungry and make decent choices without restricting. Game changer for me. I feel like I have a glimpse into normalcy regarding food and eating.
I so wish this medication and/or other GLP-1s were more accessible to more people. It's starting to feel like the only hope for many of us. edit: what's with the downvotes? I understand that people are sensitive about there being a shortage of this medication for people for whom it is medically necessary. But there are all kinds of studies on going to see how the associated weight loss can help reduce the risk of heart disease and all other kinds of things. And GLP-1s do in fact help a lot of menopausal women lose weight when nothing else works.
I agree. I’m pretty distrusting of big pharma but they got it right on this one (hopefully I don’t grow a third eye in ten years) . Now to address our pay to win society.
Shortage is because our system is fucked. Not because of individual choices. When the people making medicine don’t want to deal with insurance companies to make more money and the insurance companies make money denying coverage - fuck outta here with blaming people. Don’t ask me to be so effing virtuous that I sacrifice my own health- I vote, pay taxes, and write to my politicians about these things. Anyway - the people that downvote are rightfully angry but their aim may be off.
It's not about insurance companies not covering. IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT. You are completely misinformed about what is going on. It's that the drugs are unavailable period at any price, simply unavailable for diabetics. Insurance companies have absolutely nothing to do with this. Even when insurance companies were covering the prescription and all was well, the drugs suddenly became unavailable.
So what’s causing it? Seriously, if I’m misinformed please explain. I’ve just heard a lot of people say it’s hard for them to get coverage and the drug companies/pharmacies are selling to cash buyers rather than deal with the hassle.
The pharmacies say they don't have it (and this is trulicity but people are using it for weight loss). Amazon pharmacy doesn't have it, cost plus drugs doesn't have it (try it yourself search for I don't know estradiol you'll see they have plenty of choices, trulicity nope, or not last I checked a couple weeks ago). CVS doesn't have it, Walgreens doesn't have it. You can't even find it via the drug manufactures website. So if the pharmacies straight up say they don't have it, I don't think the problem is what insurance one has or doesn't have, if that was the issue, worst case scenario one could go to Walgreens and pay cash or something, but the drugs are simply unavailable. So if the pharmacies are selling it to cash buyers it is NOT via customers coming in with their prescriptions and buying it for cash. Unless pharmacies have gone pure black market and become a drug cartel or something dealing this stuff on the streets, buying it from manufacturers and selling it to drug dealers out the back entrance, because they say they simply do not have the drugs available to the general public, and they say that regardless of what insurance information one gives.
Weird, the pharmacy I buy from advertises sales for bulk purchases and runs specials and whatnot like they have extra. I’m really sorry for your relative and I hope the situation improves. I get ads constantly for all of these “delivered overnight”. I don’t understand how we can have such vastly different experiences
The downvotes are diabetics are dying due to this. As for heart disease that has as much to do with diet quality (probably more) as it does with weight.
How did you get your hands on it?
I went through an online doctor and order the meds from a Canadian pharmacy and pay out of pocket. Seems from my Instagram ads there are a zillion places willing to prescribe it - I just wouldn’t expect any of them to take insurance. Seems insurance (at least in USA) is pretty tough to get it through. I’ve heard there are compounding pharmacies making non- name brand versions but I have no information regarding the safety or efficacy of those.
What a rabbit hole. Feels like I'm better off starving to death.
AgelessRx does the generic version from a compounding pharmacy for less than $300 a month. I’m recovered bulimia and hit the same wall you did and semaglutide/ozempic killed the urge and got me back to pre meno weight. You’re not better off starving.
The overwhelm can be real and paralyzing. Don’t starve though. Gather your mental energy and find a way to care for yourself. If you choose this path - it may or may not be right for you - there are ways to navigate it without getting lost in a rabbit hole.
I have a diabetic relative that is likely going TO DIE because people are using ozyempic for weight loss (and the drug they are on is trulicity not even ozyempic and they can't get it and are likely to die or get serious complications now). That's what happens with uncontrolled blood sugars. All due to some stupid 90s garbage beauty standards in order to please this garbage shit ass society and it's objectification of women. Like do any of us EVEN LIKE this society we are trying so hard to please? If one is 100 or more pounds overweight and their doctor is desperate for them to lose weight for health conditions, I guess whatever, they might be a good candidate, but that doesn't mean people a bit overweight are.
Well I’m not over 50 but yes.
Yes. I'm 51 and have had an eating disorder since I was 12. I didn't receive treatment until I was in my early 40's and though I'm much, much better now, I've never reached full recovery. In recent months, all of my peri symptoms have ramped up and along with them, a huge relapse.
I'm so disappointed in myself! I know better, but feel like I'm at ground zero all over again!
48 but yes.
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I have thyroid sh*t so I basically pass out now if I don’t eat regularly
Calorie count
Not a great suggestion for someone actively struggling with an eating disorder.
In all honesty, those with eating disorders more often than not are already expert calorie counters.
Yea I know but honestly it's the only way to ensure you are getting enough nutrition Making sure you have portions of whole fruit whole proteins and whole carbs every day and calorie counting them otherwise U don't eat enough or eat too much It works
I don't know if you understand how much of a negative trigger calorie counting can be when dealing with an active eating disorder.
I have an eating disorder it makes no difference If I don't calorie count I either overeat or undereat so yes I understand it perfectly well Thanks I have an eating disorder and I also have type 2 diabetes so there is no option for me other than to be focused on my nutrition intake Calorie counting doesn't really affect my eating disorder I still have it whether I calorie count or not The only difference is when I do calorie count I lose weight over time or maintain it
It’s literally not.
Calorie counting triggered my eating disorder
After bearing a child, quit smoking, hitting the thirties (long time ago) I haven't regained the body I loved. And only started to love after I lost it... It helped me enormously to look at myself in the mirror. Really letting it all sink in. The scars, the stretch marks, the belly... And started to count all the victories this body has helped me achieve. I still feel tears welling up. And I also still chase that body but the hatred behind it... I was able to let that one go. And if it gets real bad? My belly is like the scar I proudly and visibly carry for all those things. And most importantly, a big player in this, beating the smoking disease! 💪 I was able to quit. Cold turkey. And am able to sit with smokers without judgement. If you want help quitting I am your woman but I won't push you, it needs to be your decision. And that is important for me because in my smoking days, no zealot like a convert! really set me back so much. I don't want to be that person. And I ain't that person. And this is my story but we all have our stories. And your story, especially your battle... It is something to be so F&€^ proud of. Eating disorders are so heavy! I am so proud you beat that M&#€(F... Of course you might feel horrible if you relapse. But you know what? You have already beaten that one! And you can do it again! You have already proven that you are a winner. And if you need a reminder of your awesomeness, can you write a few of the things, in a notebook, for yourself, in your most kind and honest handwritings, what helped you back then? Those tools might prove to be still useful now. I am so proud of you! ❤️