A New Change—Weight Gain

My weight has fluctuated throughout my adult life. If I was really stressed out, I lost weight and usually received a lot of compliments. Gee, Thanks. And when I was very happy I usually gained a few pounds. But it was mostly manageable. My weight fluctuations were in a 10 pound range and I could easily cut back on something or another that would get me back to my target weight. Fast forward to the approach of my second year in my 5th decade and I have noticed a change. I had always welcomed change, finding it either a fun challenge or exciting. This new change Perimenopause falls into neither of those categories.For the first time in my life, my clothes are no longer fitting! This is serious! I can get my pants on and with some effort I can zip them, but I can’t button them at the waist unless I relinguish the fine art of breathing. What gives here? I’m doing all the things I used to do, regular aerobic and free weight exercises, yoga, eating “right”, not consuming too many sweets and as usual a minimum amount of alcohol. Despite all that, the pounds keep creeping up.I am of two minds about this. One side of me says, hey that’s where I am in my life, go with the flow and accept what is. Be happy and keep doing what you know makes you feel happy. The other side of me is saying, “Oh hell no, we’re not going down like this”! Maybe it’s just because it’s winter??? Blame everything on winter.So what’s the solution? One thing I could do, would be to change my diet drastically, like go raw or something, skip meals, cut out most carbs. How about, I’ve been there are done all of that and more, many times before. I did do Weight Watchers for a little while. The counting got on my nerves. These days I can’t do [drastic] especially drastic that’s imposed on me by me. Heck no!The other solution is to work out at a madding pace like some of the [young] ladies I see at the gym. They’re working out feverishly and it seems they’re on a mission and they look like they’ll kick your butt if you get in their way. Hey, my energy can no longer do that pace. Lately when I try that I find myself depleted. I drag around and it seems to take a week to recover. Welcome to your fifties, I mean, my fifties.On the other hand I must admit I’m finding this a bit intriguing. Perhaps once the spring rolls around I’ll become inspired and find a workable solution. In the meantime, I’ll continue to try to be grateful, count my blessings, and seek realistic and reasonable solutions…