Anyone got rid of a menopausal fat tummy

[Barsh]

I’m losing weight but the spare tyre of doom is still there. I

800 calories a day? Every day? And how do you eat that while still getting all of your nutrition? Sounds like a miserable and very hungry existence.

Yes, mainly through exercising. And not just specific exercising but generally moving around as much as possible, things like using stairs instead of lifts, standing instead of sitting, walking everywhere.
As far as food goes, I don't buy things like tubs of chocolates, though no doubt we will have a tub of celebrations on christmas day. I'm really unable to pig out nowadays, I just get horrible heartburn if I do.

FergusSingsTheBlues It was hard. I drank 4 juices or smoothies a day for a week and lost half a stone. I didn’t put the weight back on. By the end of the week I was craving prawn salads and vegetables instead of bars of chocolate. As I had to give up tea and coffee for the week I decided to stay off them. That’s been life changing as ditching coffee has mage a massive difference to my anxiety and other menopausal symptoms.
A few months after I did the Jason Vales’s 7 pounds in 7 days programme I went to one of his retreats which was amazing.
Since doing the program I’ve drastically upped my fruit and veg intake. I just had a health check and my cholesterol levels were excellent and the nurse said I must eat really well. A flatter tummy was just one of the positive benefits for me.

No booze and no sugar. Sorry! (Well, in theory my stomach would be completely flat again if I could stick to the no sugar thing..)
But when I quit drinking my belly just literally deflated. Also peri symptoms improved massively.
I don't really excercise as such except walking, gardening and dancing in the house.

I lost 2 and a half stone between July and October.
Post menopause nearly 50.

I cut way down on carbs but not to ketogenic level. Upped protein and stayed on about 1200 calories per day.

Boring but true I started slimming world and lost nearly 2 stone since May and my tummy flattened out. I love the recipes (bought nearly all the books). Still have wine and all food groups except olive oil, butter, coconut oil. I use spray lite. It’s working for me. I’m chuffed

The health thing is really interesting me as is the cutting down on menopausal symptoms.

I'm happilly on HRT but still get the odd flush or night sweat. I'm sure that cutting down on alcohol ahs reduced them still more.

Much less sitting like a giant red tomato.

My fitness pal is good. Gives you a daily calorie intake to have depending on your goal and you can also use it to work out your fat/carb/protein intake. Go to spin!

I wish I wasn’t reading this with a crashing hangover and whilst eating a gigantic stroopwaffel but I am sure that wine and sugar are the culprits. The menopause has wreaked havoc with my weight as I used to be able to burn off the calories but now every treat just goes straight to my tummy.

What is the issue with caffeine? If I had to give it up, life would barely be worth living and I wouldn’t be able to stay awake anyway...

I am finding hard core spin is doing wonders for my mum tum (2 c sections, 3 kids (one twins)) - it is really improving my obliques which is pulling everything else in and up. 1 try to do at least 2 classes a week. Not much else in the way of exercise - occasional yoga/bike ride/swim/run but pretty irregular. I am not skinny, eat a lot (some healthy, some not so healthy) and could easily do with losing a stone but the tum is not as horrific as it was.

For those querying the 800 calories have a look at “Fast 800”. I think there are a few support threads for it on MN

There’s no issue with caffeine, I kind of accidentally ended up giving it up after doing a week of juicing and couldn’t believe the difference it made to my mental and physical health. I felt much less anxious , more alert constantly, rather than the peaks and troughs that caffeine can cause and generally more balanced with clearer thoughts. I was complete tea/coffee addict although half the time it had decaf. It’s made a massive difference to my menopausal symptoms, caffeine definitely triggered hot flushes in the same way alcohol does for lots of women.
I know this isn’t directly about flat stomachs but I thought I’d post as we’re obviously similar ages and stages of life.

The only time recently I've really toned up was doing 3 classes a week, 2 circuits and a kettlebells. So a lot of strength and abs work.

But that was a couple of years ago. I'm working back up to it but it did work.

I rarely drink caffeine apart from 2 cups of proper tea in the morning - did that years ago when my sleep was appalling. I'm still not a great sleeper but can really feel it if I have a caffeine drink after about lunchtime.

Reduce sugar and try boxing .
My fat tum turned into a flat tum after doing this.
Boxing works all the stomach muscles

It's hormonal

You can heal your hormones by regulating your insulin levels and you do this by doing keto /blood sugar diet / very low carb

I've done it. Belly gone. Everyone I know who has done this it has worked for. Even without exercise. If you do exercise you won't get loose skin like I have

Reducing gluten has worked for me together with 30-40 mins cardio exercise 6 days a week + crunches/weight lifting.

I didn't get such quickly visible results with exercise until I massively reduced my gluten intake. I'm hypothyroid so shouldn't have it anyway. I'm also less hungry since going gluten free. I used to have toast x 2 and a large bowl of cereal for breakfast then be ravenous again mid morning. Now I am fine on fruit and yoghurt until lunchtime and rarely snack between meals.

My friend swears by a weighted hula-hoop.

Is that like a really big bag of hula hoops?

My kind of excercise!

Crap, I’ve just read waist size should be 31.5 inches for women. I’m 44 inches, how the fuck is that going to happen?