Does your digestive system just pack up in your mid-40s or what?

[teawamutu]

I spent a year losing nearly 3 stone, and kept it off without effort all last year.

Over indulged over Christmas and put 5lbs back on. Despite doing My fitness Pal and exercise just as I did before, the weight's not shifting.

And neither is anything else (I promise I'm not a poo troll). I feel full and bloated all the time.

Is chronic constipation an occupational hazard of being 47? Any tips that don't involve bloody useless Senokot?

Get your thyroid levels checked.
Also make sure you are eating lots of probiotics/fermented foods - kimchi (I make it), live yogurt, miso etc.
And lots of veggies.
Strong coffee in the morning.
I avoid too much bread and cheese.

Just saw your update and extremely jealous.
Googling the free workouts now.

Agree perimenopause might be involved.

Regular exercise will help. I eat a fairly wholefoody diet. Cooking from scratch - plenty of veg, wholemeal bread. No booze.

And all is essentially well. (I'm in my early 60s if that helps.)

My mother swears by a glass of prune juice. I can't vouch for this, because it looks too disgusting to try, sorry.

Prune juice is lush, but if you find it delicious, do not drink a whole carton in one day. I am the voice of experience here...

I find my digestion is mostly improved in recent years (just turned 50), but I am doing a lot more exercise and eating more healthily than a few years ago, so I suspect all the normal advice about regular exercise, lots of fruit and veg and less processed food is annoyingly true.

It seems so. Im 41 and for the last year im finding i react so badly to greasy food.

Logically when children were young was tearing around with them, loads of exercise add in so much house work and gardening I was pretty supple and fit. Now my life is much more sedentary which isn't good for the gut either I suspect

Same here

You are me OP. Also 47 and I have reluctantly accepted that I have inherited both my my parent’s tendencies towards chronic constipation. Was making me so miserable a few months ago. Bloating, abdominal pain, and so painful to shit. Piles and anal tears followed.
I set about experimenting with all manner of strategies to see what worked.
Currently my bowels are now back to happy regularity with:
Fybogel in the morning
Movicol in the evening
Linseed on my porridge
Big increase in veggies NOT fruit
Increased water consumption
Reduced amount of bread and pasta I was eating and cut back dramatically on all processed foods
Cut down drastically on alcohol
Aiming to walk 10,000 steps per day

This has coincided with me focusing on improving my mental health after getting severely burnt out at the end of last year, so I’m also doing mediation and ensuring that I‘m carving out time every day when I switch my mind off from work. I also left my fucking awful job and have a new one that I love.

Mind and bowels both in a much, MUCH happier place now.

Interestingly my bowels were not happy with increasing insoluble fibre. So bran heavy diets just make me bloat up to Verruca Salt status.

Long intestine in humans, food goes round very slowly to extract nutrients.
In carnivorous animals it's short and expels meat quickly.

Bowel cancer very common after certain age. Also very profitable.

I'm over 40, not eaten meat since early twenties. I have noticed a decline in my own but nothing compared to what's considered normal.

Not here for an argument but you can look into quitting meat. I could put across argument after argument but most are unwilling to hear them so I won't bother, I used to.

Look into it, or don't. Good luck though. Gut problems are ruinous, have a huge impact on mental health too.

unexplained bloating can be a sign off cancer - bowel & ovarian.

might be good to discuss with gp.