At what age does middle age spread begin?

[lounellie]

Hi all, bit of a random topic but please bear with me.

If you don't have children and you keep your weight stable, at what age do most women's waists start thickening?

I am 35, no kids, same weight and size as ever, but I have been noticing a change in my waist in the last couple of years and I am trying to understand if it is a matter of fitness or just my body changing with age.

Thanks for your thoughts!

What I am observing is more of a subtle change in shape than weight or flabbiness. I wear the same size as usual, but my waist area is blockier. I don't have much tummy fat and I exercise regularly so I have good muscle tone.

It is like I suddenly woke up with a new body shape at 35

35 seems early? I'm 50ish and waist is the same as ever.

I thought so too!! Hence, my post here to understand if this is age or something to do with my lifestyle

My body changed shape around peri-menopause. Until I lost two stone my body looked decidedly middle aged after a lifetime of being slim. Thick waist, nanna boobs, flat arse, visceral belly fat from nanna boobs to pubic area.

I've lost two stone and I'm starting to see my shape come back.

Now those two stone of extra fat wasn't caused by menopause, but having more money, giving up my job and eating and drinking more, and exercising less as a result.

The last time my body changed shape was after child birth the first time, I got slim again but the shape was different.

Suddenly at 49 for me but it was tied in with my appetite also suddenly increasing. I have managed to reverse it at 50 by getting my over-eating under control.

There is no magic solution, but with a bit of lifestyle adjustment it is absolutely possible to banish middle-age spread. I gained over 30 pounds during and after the menopause but today, aged 70, I'm almost the same weight as in my 20s + 30s. I have a slight 'overhang' due to 2 large pregnancies but other than that my tummy is tight.

How? Not eating/drinking cr@p, intermittent fasting and exercising virtually every day - at least 45-50 minutes (mostly weights) each morning. I exercise at home, mostly with Caroline Girvan whose workouts have been life changing. I always do the Bowflex 3-minute plank as well and add in some HIIT courtesy of Growingannanas as well.

Once I had weaned myself off sugar, everything else became easy. UPFs are full of sugar and emulsifiers, artificial colours, preservatives, E-numbers, salt, fat...... and very little nutrition. They are designed in laboratories to make people crave more of the same. Cut them out and discover the more subtle tastes of real food, especially vegetables.

I eat two healthy, Mediterranean style meals (vegetables + protein cooked or dressed in olive oil) a day and some fruit in between and I'm never hungry.

I think the reassuring thing about this thread is that it's completely normal for your body to change around 40.

You're not lazy or greedy or 'bad' it's your skin elasticity, fat distribution and your metabolism changing.

I enjoy exercise and as I age, I really hope my focus will remain on my strength and cardio health, NOT weight & measurements.
All the calories counting needed sounds like a restrictive and slightly obsessive way to live for very little benefit.

30s seems early for this. Middle age spread is about fat redistribution due to the drop in oestrogen that occurs in menopause. For me, it hit around 46-47. I'd always had a neat waist before then. Now regardless of whatever I do in terms of diet and exercise, my shape has changed.

With a very low bmi it's unlikely you'll develop much abdomen thickening.

Its fat. The difference is it's more visceral fat that it used to be so it looks thick and blocky. If you have little to no excess fat you won't have a thick mid section

Weight training and developing a strong core helps hold everything in tight

Mine started quite suddenly this year (36-37) always been between an hourglass and pear. BMI always teetering around 25-26, now firmly 27. I'm short so don't carry extra weight with any dignity! 😁 Always had thick thighs and cankles but used to have a teeny waist and flat stomach. Now I have bloating to my stomach and my waist is disappearing. I genuinely exercise more than I ever have and as a family we've upped our walks. I'm not the most careful eater alive, but I watch how much I eat as being a shorty I WILL dump on weight if I take that snack. I'm pretty sure I'm in perimenopause (raging hormones to boot) but I don't bother the GP with these things. I know from working on the inside, it emits an eye roll at my age. I did try upping the weight training but it made me look 'big' and once again , unflattering on a short frame. I'll try to reduce my calorie intake and continue with the walks and hope to at least stave off any major weight gain.

I do definitely need less calories now at 50-odd than I did a couple of decades ago but my appetite has dropped off commensurately fortunately, and definitely less cravings for junk food, so it's balanced out.

A lot of middle-aged spread is caused by insulin resistance as you get older. As the natural levels of oestrogen in your body start to reduce, your body becomes more insulin resistant and inclined to put on tummy fat. To see results in middle age, it helps to need to be mindful of the high GI foods and reduce carbs a bit - sugar is the enemy at this age....

I am probably above average in the activity department. My weight settled when I was 40 (nearly 62 now) and I haven't changed shape since. I can still wear clothes I bought then and they look just as good.

My perimenopause started in my late 30s with everything finished by 45, GP had been disbelieving until he saw my blood test results at 40. I walk a lot, five miles-plus every day, and I think it's the regularity that keeps things whittled down

I’m 51 (nearly 52) and I haven’t noticed much of a difference. I’m a size 8-10 (in today’s sizes, not those of yesteryear!). I walk a lot and pretend to avoid carbs by having coffee for breakfast and adopting a diet where 90% is made up of Waitrose No.1 chocolate.

I realize I'm preaching, but being superfit at 70, I know it works:

• cut down/out sugar, UPF, booze
• do a plank (preferably abs work and weights as well) virtually every day.

Around 40 for me, no children, size 8 but not waist is getting bigger no matter how much i exercise.

Definitely.

The Blood Sugar Solution by Dr Mark Hyman - as well as books by others such as Michael Mosely, Chris van Tuleken, Tim Spector etc explain the problems relating to insulin resistance due to excessive consumption of sugar and refined carbs in ways that laypeople can understand.

Hate to say this, but mine went in stages, with an increase in late 30s, again early 40s and then again later 40s and early 50s. I changed from cardio to weights (in the main) and have to seriously cut carbs to reduce down to my 'pre middle age' me size. I was determined not to put on weight and haven't particularly, but it's a constant battle.

I’m 42 and size 10/12

Used to be a 6/8 regardless of what I ate (and trust me, I indulged!)

Thankfully I am naturally sporty and love being active and I’m 5”7 so size 10/12 is still on the slimmer side.

I also think I have a nice body shape which I often think counts for a lot, e.g I have a friend who has always been bigger but she has a cracking hourglass shape so I always think looks great despite never having been thin

I meant to say now waist is getting bigger

Then your bottom starts sliding towards your knees...

I'm 49 in peri and haven't noticed anything. I do a lot of walking and try to mostly eat sensibly but nothing else. DH has piled on the pounds because he eats far more than he needs to and sits down all day. I don't think it's rocket science really at any age.

Threads like this are always invalidating for people like me (at 35, not now) and others who were already doing everything 'right'. There's a clutch of regular posters with rigid beliefs around diet and body size, who are unable to accept the rules they follow aren't perfect. I empathise with them - I'm an ex-anorexic and still had a borderline fitness addiction in my thirties - but it does get a bit tiring to be repeatedly told you're wrong about your own life experience.

I used to eat NO sugar apart from wine, NO fast or packaged food; nearly everything was wholegrain, free range and organic; I did 3 or 4 hours of deliberate exercise every day; I had health insurance that included a detailed annual checkup. As I've said, other people wouldn't have noticed my shape changing all of a sudden because I was slim, fit and toned. I did, though! It's ridiculous to deny the effects of a changing hormonal balance.

This is my experience.