The menopause and hot flashes could possibly be connected to the bloating and raising your cortisol, according to this article. Cortisol is the stress hormone and stress alone can make losing weight difficult. The ability to get a good night’s sleep is a good sign your cortisol level is normal.
I would research hot flashes/menopause and see how you might go about solving the bloating, stress and interrupted sleeping patterns.
Fat-adaptation generally takes six to eight weeks, sometimes longer. There are hormonal and biochemical adaptations that need to happen at the cellular level, and they take time.
If I can find it, I will post a link to an essay on the topic that Dr. Phinney posted on the Virta Health site. Dr. Phinney has been studying nutritional ketosis for nigh on three decades, so he knows a bit about the topic. 
Yeah, and sometimes a lot longer too. We’ve got people on here for whom it took a year or so.
As Paul says, it’s not a quick fix thing.
I would double the calories and use your tracker to make sure you are under 20g carb
@dkteacher Donna, in case this helps: for years I was waking several times/night with my heart pounding and occasionally hot flashes (I’m pretty sure the waking was hormonal and the flashes were a more extreme version). A few months ago I started supplementing with ReMag magnesium - I think I probably heard it on a 2KD podcast - and the results were almost immediate: it resolved the waking within a night or two. It’s pretty much the only supplement that I feel a direct response from. I take other things sometimes but more because I’ve heard that they’re good, but ReMag really seemed to make a difference for me. I bought a second bottle almost immediately (even though a bottle last for months) because I don’t want to run out!
Also - I had been supplementing with magnesium citrate for years and either it didn’t get me enough magnesium (you’re kind of limited because too much gives gastric distress) or it wasn’t the form that I needed or that’s most effective. I’m not sure; I just know that not all mg supplementation is the same.
I will add “run up hill” I had to walk during my runs for three months. It was like a switch was turned on and I had energy to run four miles all of a sudden.
I am still new. 3 weeks on keto. Feeling good effects so far except for the increased heart rate and bp. Although the bp seems today to be behaving. I would be Interested in reading the article you’re speaking of regarding fat adaptation. I’d like to know when I’ll know if I am fat adapted. Cravings are pretty much gone. My sleep sucks but i have a 2 year old who wakes alot still so that sign but be a hard one for me to tell lol
I’m 51, been on keto only 8 days but also had constipation. I started taking a magnesium supplement and yesterday and today it worked!!
Menopause is a game changer with so much! 
Thankfully, I’m mostly past the point of night sweats and crazy mood swings, but for about 2 yrs, I felt like an alien in my own skin. I wonder if I’d known about keto then if it would have made a difference.
What do you guys think about Michael Mosley’s 800 diet? 800 calories a day for 8 weeks to regulate blood sugar?
Sounds like torture to me!
I guess 5:2 (which I think is pretty good, generally) has run its sales course, so something new is required.
I think it is the stupidest thing I have read today (and I read a lot today).
But, let me elaborate (the fun part).
Picking a number is the problem - 800 - where did that come from???
For a small (130 trying to get to 120 pound sedentary) woman - this definitely could be viewed by the body as a new norm that it should try to adapt to - defend fat stores, slow the metabolism, spike insulin etc. All the bad things happen - horrible diet.
For a large (200+ pound - only 10 pounds to lose - 6 foot 4 inch muscular, athletic and regularly trains) man - 800 calories be so little that the good fasting adaptations of increased HGH and metabolism will kick in. Making this a great diet for him.
The calorie amount (and macro breakdown) of a daily food intake that is at the limit of what causes good fasting adaptations vs. what causes metabolic problems is (as far as I know) unknown. But, I am sure it would be related to body weight, lean body mass and level of exercise.
As far as regulating blood sugar - probably the same - good for the man, bad for the woman (in the above examples).
I’m thinking of an article that specifically dealt with ketoadaptation at the cellular and hormonal level (I have got to learn to bookmark them when I first find them!). Neither of these articles is it, but you might find them interesting anyway:
Thank you so much. I’ve been trying to read as much as possible . I will read these!
It took me five months to become fat-adapted. I think. Not even sure at this point what that means.
I lost a few pounds water weight the first few days. Lost the fat at four or five months in. Sorry, it takes a while.
I want to be 140. My entire adult life until I turned 45 I was between 135-140 , occasionally going to 130-125. I know my height dictates I should weigh more, but I feel my best at 140( not in clothes- but actually physically). When I gained this weight I felt very sluggish- I am feeling much better now, but I still have a long way to go from 166
I think it does. I never had any mood issues, but then I was very lucky and never had any PMS either so I sort of expected menopause might go that way too. However my hot flashes were horrible. After a year on keto they’d all but disappeared.
I might have thought that I’d just been lucky enough to have a very short menopause, but any cheats show this isn’t the case.
Lately, I’ve been having a non keto treat at night. I’ve been making excuses for it “Blah, blah, I’m at my goal weight, blah, blah, I’m still in mild ketosis every day.” But the hot flashes are back.
My menopausal symptoms will go into complete retreat, but only if I’m in a relatively deep state of ketosis.