Tracking perimenopause and its effects on my personal TDEE

Stats: 5’6ish (167cm), 48F, currently 171lbs, 33lbs lost

I have terrible hot flashes and night sweats. Due to family history and personal history, I am running out of medications I can safety take. Which means, at times, I frankly suffer. Thankfully, my symptoms are such that I go through waves, so I get stretches of relief. I noticed that my weight loss radically changes during those periods, so I decided to track calories for the last five months in a TDEE adaptive calorie app to see what those changes were. (I hadn't tracked calories before, because I was overall fine with my slow weight loss, but I decided to to help track how hot flash phases of 4-6 weeks meant very little weight loss compared to "normal" for me).

For those who don’t know, a hot flash can be a short or longer period of hotness, obviously, but some people also get adrenaline surges with it (physically feels like a panic attack, except you’re mentally absolutely fine). Some get nausea with them. Night sweats are when they happen at night, obviously, but can be mild (where you just need to remove a blanket from the bed) to severe (where you have the AC on 16, the overhead fan on, no blankets, and you still wake up 2-3 times a night having to change the sheets because they are soaked through with sweat).

Average “normal” TDEE: 2289 Average “on fire” TDEE: 1971

Steps average “normal” 9427 Steps average “on fire” 7594

Average calories “normal” 1779 Average calories “on fire” 1882

I don't do strenuous exercise or heavy weightlifting. I walk, garden, and do physiotherapy-prescribed strength and very light weight-based exercises.

This turned out to be the biggest shocked for me: my TDEE drops a lot when the hot flashes and night sweats are really bad. My steps are lower during those weeks, but not shockingly so. I started to journal and make note. I discovered a few things.

1. I have significantly more migraines and headaches during hot flash phases. Understandable, but in discussing this with my specialist, we realized I am extremely dehydrated. Drinking 3.5L of water turned out to be pointless; I needed salt. Which was why half a family bag of chips could get rid of my headaches and literally nothing else could.
2. I did significantly less chores during this period. It makes completely sense. I get an average of 5.25 hours of sleep during these phases, as opposed to 8.15 hours (according to my Garmin). The insomnia is brutal during this phase. I’m exhausted.
3. I am significantly hungrier. Sometimes to the point of nausea.
4. I watch significantly more TV and play more video games during these periods.

The calorie uptake isn’t that high, overall, but I am miserable during these phases. I came to realize it’s nearly all NEAT-based for me. I am moving less. My step count isn’t that reduced, sure, but I’m gardening less, I’m doing fewer chores, I’m laying down more than sitting up or standing up. My entire body moves significantly less.

So here’s the actions I’ve taken, and they honestly help.

I moved to using electrolytes meant for backpackers, and that helped significantly with the headaches. I drink 500mL with breakfast. I also make homemade broth that is in ice cube trays in the freezer, so that I can pop one into a mug and add boiling hot water when I cannot sleep (so, instead of tea, salty broth). This greatly reduced the hunger and headaches.

If I am awake from insomnia, I do some light chores, such as washing a sink of dishes, tidying the countertop, or bake three months worth of cookie platters and storing them into mix and match containers, don’t look at me like that we’ve all done it.

I set my Garmin to alert me to move which buzzes every hour of sitting around, and I do a 5-10 minute youtube stretching video (I really like fabulous50s youtube exercises and Bob and Brad’s channel. They’re all gentle, safe, and don’t exhaust me).

Strict sleep hygiene rules. The bedroom is now only for sleep, sex…and sorting the laundry because it’s the easiest place to do it. No laying in bed on the phone. No watching TV in bed now. If I am not asleep within 20 minutes, I get up and do a light chore.

With these changes, I found my weight loss re-stabilized around 2.75-3.25lbs a month (the goal I’m comfortable with) and I am not nearly so miserable.

I hope this is helpful to some of you. Also, please talk to your doctor. For most people, there are a lot of solutions.

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