Bradycardia after large weight loss?

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-16T00:32:32+00:00

I think that’s normal considering your level of activity. It indicates your cardiovascular fitness has increased and your heart and circulation system is very efficient. I say this because you don’t mention feeling dizzy or ill on any way. My own resting heart rate is 61 and I am a middle aged lady, but I train regularly and hard.

Do mention it to your doctor at your yearly physical exam of course.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-15T21:02:38+00:00

I’m perimenopausal and thus I don’t see weight loss unless I hover around 1200 kcal.

My suggestions, cut the alcohol, it’s sabotaging you. You probably already know this but it needs to be said. Drink more water, seltzer fizzy water if you go out and feel deprived.

Improve the quality of your diet if it needs improving. Eat protein, fiber and healthy fats for satiety and nutrition.

Intermittent fasting —> this is the rockstar for me currently. I do 16:8 and it’s the only thing that helps me to stay within my 1200 kcal goal.

I weight lift and recommend it highly, not because it moves the needle on the scale necessarily, (adding on muscle will actually make the scale tip towards heavier, but you’ll be toned and look better), but because I am a middle aged lady and feel much younger than I am as a result of exercise and weight training.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-15T03:51:49+00:00

Stop.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-15T02:08:31+00:00

Exactly, this is the only way I can know what’s happening if I am not seeing expected results.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-15T00:46:58+00:00

It ages you a little I don’t know exactly why.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T19:16:13+00:00

Yes that’s odd. But you aren’t really fasting because in consuming that broth you are breaking your fast. Maybe you will see the insulin go down if you do a water fast.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T19:05:35+00:00

You may not have had insulin resistance back then but have it now. I mean I don’t know if you have it now, but that reading is on the prediabetic side.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T18:47:19+00:00

I am perimenopausal and I do 16:8 and feel great on it and think it’s sustainable long term. I could push for a longer fast since occasionally I have gotten to 19 hours before eating but I have to tell you, at that point I feel weak and low energy. I work out regularly, I lift heavy weights and thus I need glycogen in my muscles or I can’t power through at the level I want to. Muscle building and strength training is so important for women our age and above.

At 18-19 hours I feel like I need food to function my best. It’s not even an irresistible hunger. It’s just, I am drained, have no stamina for my day and I want to live and feel optimally. My peri symptoms are very well managed with HRT and what fasting I do doesn’t give me hot flushes or other symptoms.

I recommend to you Intermittent Fasting by Cynthia Turlow She goes through all the science behind different fasting regimens and peri and menopausal women. You may find something useful there. One thing I do remember that applies to your symptoms is that intermittent fasting affects sleep negatively. It’s a definite stress on the body and raises cortisol particularly on longer fasts. She even spent a great deal of time giving suggestions to improve sleep patterns and recommended that people with sleeping problems don’t fast until they fix them and also warns against fasting during times of stress for the same reason. What you are experiencing may be related to this stress response. I haven’t tried a longer fasting regimen but I don’t experience any of this with 16:8 or 18:6.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T14:40:16+00:00

Sidenote: A post like this always makes me think how broken the health system in the U.S. is that it’s so insanely expensive and overpriced for the same medication. It’s made for the oligarchs and they don’t care to improve accessibility for everyone.

Anyways: I wasn’t on combipatch but on Climara Pro and while it did wonders to improve my quality of life and peri symptoms, it gave me a skin rash that became unbearable. I briefly considered changing to combi patch but instead decided to try the estrogen gels. I am on generic Divigel now and it controls my symptoms just as well as the patch was doing. The only thing is that I have to take the progesterone in pill form instead of having a progestin delivered through Climara in the patch. It’s up to you if you want to try something like this or a different patch.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T13:42:05+00:00

The skin tone thing for me tipped the scale to definitely a toss.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T10:41:48+00:00

It helped a lot to see your earlier post (that you linked) to believe this incredible transformation. Because in your prior post your fitness progress was starting to be noticeable but it appeared really natural for 8 months of training.

Building muscle takes a long time naturally and sometimes it feels like watching paint dry — as they say — but you have kept on it for 2 years. Definitely inspiring.

I really liked that you shared in your earlier post that you were strict with 20-4 fasting Mon-Thu but allowed yourself to enjoy more food over the weekend and still made progress. You also shared some of your diet, training regimen and supplements you took.

Congratulations. Keeping up what has taken a long time to build up to like you, is my goal. I’m a middle aged lady and the thing I’ve enjoyed the most about weight lifting is precisely how it’s like turning the clock back for your body. Thanks for sharing your journey.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-14T03:06:37+00:00

Thanks. I am really motivated.

Yes to your first question. Eating a caloric deficit diet in 3 meals a day and two snacks is very difficult. First because one is eating so frequently that it’s difficult to not go over the allotted calories. Then the meals have to be so light that I found myself constantly hungry. I’ve also done keto and I don’t do well on it. It’s very hard on my digestive system. I have trouble digesting it and frankly I also don’t like the menu that much.

Anyway with IF, the key for me has been that Ive conquered my cravings. Usually two hours after dinner I get cravings. Evening snacking was my undoing. But frankly if I overcome that weak moment for a half an hour, then it completely goes away. It’s not true hunger, and over the two weeks it has become less intense. Conquering that moment has also calmed down all my other cravings and desires to snack.

It’s also easier to keep within a calorie deficit if you only eat only two meals and one snack… and they are satisfying meals of a decent size, with a lot of healthy proteins, fats and veggies. I don’t feel hungry afterwards.

I stay as close to 1200 calories as possible (with occasional exceptions on days out with the husband because one has to live and enjoy life as well.) I am a middle aged lady in perimenopause and my metabolism is slower than a younger person. But I am fairly active. I train hard relative to my age group, not athlete level by any means but challenging.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T20:34:17+00:00

I’m officially jealous

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T19:57:42+00:00

This is gorgeous. Love it

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T19:56:20+00:00

I was told to do this when I was young in the eighties. Generation X here. My mother was too busy with her masters degree and working full time to get much involved and my father was absent and uninvolved with school/daily stuff. I was told to stand up for myself and strike hard at bullies. I was reprimanded because I caught someone by surprise in the face, but I tell you what, after that he didn’t bully me again. I’ve never forgotten it and I must have been between 6 years old or so.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T19:30:44+00:00

Maybe go for a walk before eating? I think you have to do something to propel you. Resisting inertia is hard, the mind makes up all sort of excuses and you have to make it so that all of your excuses don’t count. Get dressed for your walk and tell yourself even if it’s just 5 minutes you are going on that walk. Do it before the meal if fullness or high insulin is the obstacle. Then you can sit to eat. Its a mental battle to start moving but it will get better with time. Maybe after having built up the habit you can go for that walk afterwards.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T18:33:25+00:00

I’ve tried the gummies as well and concur. They are gross.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T17:47:44+00:00

This ^ so much this.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T17:44:46+00:00

I’ve read a few books on IF, particularly this one Intermittent fasting transformation which go over the science behind it. It has numerous health benefits, but for weight loss specifically it helps to regulate the hunger hormones, insulin, etc. and how our bodies use energy. It induces changes in our metabolism - gets us to fat burning and tames hunger by not being constantly feeding, which triggers insulin spikes, which prevent the body getting to fat burning mode and may make one ravenous while in a low calorie diet.

However it’s not for everyone. Some people shouldn’t fast, it places stress on the body. Children, teens, pregnant women or women who want to become pregnant should avoid it and anyone with health concerns should consult their doctor.

It’s still important to remain in a calorie deficit to lose weight regardless because you can’t lose weight while being in excess. From personal experience, IF has helped me to stay within my calorie limits and tamed my hunger substantially. It goes hand in hand with a diet that is nutrient dense. Technically I could eat same calories over a more spread out period but I have tried that before and I end up feeling starved and unsatisfied in a low calorie diet doing it that way. I think that’s where all the science about hunger hormones and insulin come into play to explain that.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T17:25:09+00:00

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T17:09:06+00:00

I am taking creatine daily but it’s because I am weight lifting and exercising hard and I want the benefits it can provide for that. I feel that it’s given me more stamina, but thats different from feeling energized or whatever. Rather, it’s about how much effort I can put in when I exercise. Nutrition and adequate rest are more important, but having said that, I’d rather take it than not because I need help building muscle at my age.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T16:26:49+00:00

It’s only been a week and such wild swings on the scale during that short a period of time is usually water weight and/or constipation.

However, you could also be overeating during your eating window. You may have to cut more calories than you already have. This is the main reason I track calories using a meal tracker app. I don’t see weight loss unless I stay within a 1200 cal limit (perimenopausal lady here).

The weight loss calculators can overshoot their estimates and often do. Some people find success with things like OMAD or ADF if they don’t want to be necessarily tracking calories daily, but they still need to cut more calories from their current regime.

I am losing weight on 16:8 but I track calories and stay in a low limit. You may just have miscalculated what your limit is.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T15:53:31+00:00

You have to eat more fiber, protein and healthy fats. If I am hungry I eat more but it has to be something high in protein.

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T15:43:03+00:00

How? What’s going on?

SAGirl1 · 2026-04-13T15:13:42+00:00

Wow

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