Figuring Out Calories You Need in Menopause The Flipping 50 Show

Calories you need in menopause are key as your body experiences these natural changes.
Exercise nutrition in menopause is more important than ever. The intuitive response to a desire to lose menopause weight or belly fat is to eat less and or do sit ups and tons of cardo. All bad ideas. Make the calories you need in menopause, your guide to wellness.
First, let me tell you that I’m not an advocate of telling anyone how many calories they need or of tracking. I don’t measure food. I don’t use points. At Flipping 50 we focus on a simple formula and it starts with whole foods, protein, and servings instead of calories, points or exchanges.
That said, it’s sometimes necessary to really take a closer look at exercise nutrition in menopause. But I want to emphasize a few things before we begin.
Calorie counting isn't the best method if:
You want to change your body composition (tracking macros is a better approach for body recomposition). You have a history of disordered eating and feel the urge to drastically cut calories to an unhealthy level. You're not actually sure how many calories you need to eat. If you go searching blindly online, you’ll find a lot of different answers. For example:
Take your weight x 15 for a moderately active individual to maintain, as suggested at harvard.edu. There was no distinction between males and females.
For my 200 lb client that’s 3000. You’ll see as we continue that’s different from other numbers.
Any calorie estimator should take into account two things. Your BMR, which is your basal or resting metabolic rate, and your activity level.
So when you figure out your BMR you have an idea that if you drop below that number you’re going to risk interfering with bodily function. That’s number is just to keep you alive and functioning.
For my client that’s 1380.
Where to Start with How Many Calories You Need in Menopause Before you count calories, we first need to determine how many we need to eat. But we also need to consider what your past has been.
So on paper, or on the internet, it’s so easy peasy. Then welcome to life.
My client weighs 200 lbs. She doesn’t want to weigh 200 lbs. She’s very active. Weight training and HIIT, some endurance exercise - not much, and a lot of activity like pickleball and golf for 3+ hours several times a week. On a “day off” exercise, she’s still very active.
Calculations on calculator.net will tell her this:
2381 to maintain
2131 mild weight loss
1881 weight loss 1lb /week
1381 extreme weight loss 2 lbs/ week
This is based on her being extremely active, although not the highest level of activity.
From the Mayo Clinic calculator, I got 2100 as the average calorie needs daily. That is congruent with the numbers from calculator.net.
Here’s the problem: reality.
Her usual caloric intake has been 1500 - 1881 for a very long time. She isn’t kicking up her metabolism with meals or with activity. Essentially by eating that little consistently for so long (while not losing) and exercising significantly, she’s likely slowed her metabolism.
She’s putting one foot on the accelerator (exercise) and one foot on the brake (low calorie diet) constantly.
She can’t lose weight because she’s not eating enough.
What’s the Answer to Better Exercise Nutrition in Menopause or Beyond? Cycling her higher and lower calories for her active and rest days will help.
Most importantly though is looking at the content of her meals.
If she’s not getting enough protein, shown in studies with peri and post menopausal women both, to be a key indicator of fat loss, she’ll lose a significant amount of lean muscle when she loses weight. That reduces her metabolism further.
The opposite of the desired effect.
Protein recommendations also vary significantly. But the work of Dr Donald Layman, Blake Rasmussen and Douglas Paddon-Jones, have shown that distributing protein in a minimum of 25-30 grams per meal and reaching your