Anyone fixed a knackered middle aged body? Come this way...

[NFG47]

I'm 48 and definitely perimenopausal.
I'm on iron tablets and take various supplements, magnesium and vit d plus some others
I work full time and am fairly active but I do zero extra exercise. Just the usual cleaning walking round the shop etc
I have 2 kids who are at uni now so have more time to sort myself out
I have this awful fat roll above my belly button and quite fat hips and I hate it!
Where do I start to sort this out.. is this bloating? Its just a big fat lump that looks awful.
Should I fast? Should I up my protein? I am overwhelmed with so much info on social media that I can't watch or read anymore. Just need someone who's been where I am to give some ideas or what worked for you
Thank you for reading my brain dump 😀

Are you overweight?
What is your diet like?

Assuming you have a normal bmi you need to burn your fat reserves and make muscle instead

lots of exercise - weights , squats

If you are eating healthily generally you don’t need to fast or increase protein. It’s the exercise that needs to change. Walking, stretching, strength training, swimming. Get a simple weekly routine, start slow and build up. I’m just starting the same. My plan is swimming and yoga class once a week. The other days walking and YouTube dumbbell videos.

There was a similar thread yesterday and lots of good advice given along the lines of eat less and go to the gym. Increase veg, reduce carbs, reduce portion size generally, replace between meal snacks with apple.

Oh really.. I'll try and find it
I'm probably a good stone and half overweight and diet is way better than it was years ago. Takeaways are a rare treat. Cook from scratch and eat plenty of veg and fruit each day but I do think I eat too much overall.
Typical day would be porridge for breakfast, lunch is egg on toast or similar (but with nice butter not low fat)
Dinner is mainly a meat dish and veg. I've stopped having pasta or potatoes at night... but still a good old plateful so I guess the calories are still too high in general

No that diet is really healthy op, except cutting down on fruit may help - even if you replace it with veg sticks at first.

It sounds as though you just need to get a bit more exercise in.

I think I've just become overloaded with information from Instagram. Went down a rabbit hole the other night and then was doubting myself and wondered if I've been doing something wrong
Hoping that exercise generally will help shift the weight and the awful lump of fat under my bust!

To lose weight you have to diet

unless you have the time to train for ultramarathons

Could it be a lipoma?

Assuming there aren’t any health issues I’d recommend you start exercising and then deal with your diet. Also, give it time to take effect.

You need to lift weights, get your cardiovascular fitness up, plus something for flexibility. It’s also nice to have one or two moderately active hobbies, even if you don’t do them all the time. Find things you enjoy and remember your body needs fuel to build muscle. It’s great to be slim, but as we age we need to build muscle, bone density, and flexibility.

At 50 I’ve realised that what worked for me in the past (just eating less, basically) just won’t work any more so I have to exercise and I’d rather be a tiny bit bulky (I’m currently slightly over BMI for the first time) than ‘skinny fat’. I do lots of exercise and if I don’t eat enough (especially protein) my energy levels really suffer. I’m realising I’m in this for the long haul and that’s good!

We need to be realistic and aim for healthy BMI but not chase numbers on the scale to the detriment of bone density, strength and good posture.

Look at some older people and see how dramatic the loss of muscle, balance/stability and strength can be. That’s the strength we need to do all our everyday things. Also exercise makes you feel better which IME is priceless in menopause!

That doesn’t sound much food tbh. However it does depend on you age, how active you are, and how big your portions are. I’m post menopause and medium active, and I have to be very careful compared to when I was younger. If Im being good breakfast is porridge or weetabix, lunch is salad with tuna/ chicken, snacks are apple/banana, dinner is something with lots of veg and not much carbs. My good dinners are sea bass and roasted root veg, pasta with tomato sauce and prawns, bean chilli with rice, ratatouille with rice/pasta/chicken, veg curry with lentils/chickpeas and rice. With all these rice or pasta is one big spoon and veggies is lots. I often switch root veggies for potatoes. - roast squash, carrots and sweet pots or mashed turnip, carrot and squash. Thankfully I love veg especially root veg. Unfortunately I also love digestives, cheese and crackers, and chocolate. I try and make mainly good choices.

I’m sure you will get there if you just carry on eating healthy food, having slightly smaller portions and making as many good choices as you can. Think of it as moving towards healthier eating with weight loss as a bonus.

Try Dr Michael Moseley’s The Fast 800, which includes some easy recipes.

Dr Mark Hyman’s The Blood Sugar Solution Diet Book also includes a lot of healthy low-calorie recipes.

Here is my top tip wot I saw on tiktok the only time i looked at it
When you're brushing your teeth, lift and bend alternate legs and tap them on the side of the bath.
That's it.
I've been doing it 2 x day since Oct half term and it's toned up my midriff no end.
(I do eat healthily - but too much - and walk a small dog)

Do you tap them facing the side of the bath, like a kick? I’m struggling to imagine this.

plse can you describe this thing wot u saw a bit more.

I think I could do that. How high is your bath and do you twist at the waist or face the bath?

me too

Me three..

Thank you... this is something I can actually do

I’m also 48 and in reasonably good shape (if you don’t look too closely around the middle.) Over the past few years I’ve found the things that worked for me in the past aren’t enough and I’ve had to really think about what I need to do to stay healthy, tr and fit. We are all different, so it might not be exactly the same for you but here are some of the things that work for me:

A mostly unprocessed (chocolate notwithstanding) diet with lots of plants, high quality protein and fibre.
Really cutting back on alcohol (it makes me fat and sleepless)
Much less sugar (but a square of chocolate everyday, or I get sad.)
10000 steps a day, at least.
I do some sort of strength/balance/flexibility training each day, but nothing too much. Weights, Pilates, a body weight HIIT, Body Balance, a yoga class.
I’ve found a couple of active things I really enjoy (dance, Padel) so do these each week with friends.
I take HRT (game changer) plus magnesium, omega-3, L-thiamine and a multivitamin (my doctor sister says I now just have very expensive pee, but it’s unlikely to do any harm.)
And if I don’t do some of these things for a day (or a week, on holiday) I don’t sweat it. It’s the big picture that matters, not a blip.

Good luck. It feels daunting at first but the benefits can be huge.

Can you link to the thread please

Same 🫠

You mentioned possibly fasting. I needed to shift 5kg a few years ago and 16:8 worked really well. But it’s not for everyone (not for me now!) and I think the evidence is that it’s the calorie deficit that makes the difference, not fasting per se. You can get a similar benefit from just cutting portion sizes.

I mean I have advanced cancer and I don’t feel as bad as you describe. You need to eat lots of fruit and veg and healthy fats and protein. Your sample day has a lot of carb but not lots of fruit, veg, nuts, avocados, fermented foods, seeds.

And get outside for fresh air and exercise. Do you have a partner? Leave kids with partner twice a week and walk or start running. Do the same one lunch break. It’s not about losing weight. You don’t have to lose weight to feel good. You need fresh air and movement. I’m probably a stone and a half overweight. I still walked 4 miles today. The month before I started my cancer treatment, I walked 100 miles long distance with a pack. You don’t have to be skinny or toned to be fit and have loads of energy.

Plus go to bed early. Don’t drink alcohol. The two go together really. As soon as my youngest is asleep at 9:30pm, I am in bed, every night, even on the weekends. If I want to do something fun, I do it during the day. No need to stay up to 11pm to do it. Sleep is important. I’m 45 and perimenopausal, plus on cancer treatment.

This has worked for me. I’m 50 and in menopause:

• Aiming for 100g protein a day
• Walking 10,000 steps a day (or if this isn’t possible, try to at least up your current step count)
• Weight lifting and ab exercises
• Cutting right down on alcohol, UPFs and carbs
• Calorie counting using My Fitness Pal (boring but it works) I won’t suggest a calorie limit because we’re all different but for me, an initial stage of 1300 cals a day for the first few weeks, edging up to around 1400 on average has really worked.
• Doing 16:8 fasting, but be careful. The aim at our age is not to go into default starvation mode in order to lose weight because our bodies just hold onto it more and we end up yo yo-ing.
• I’ve found yoga three times a week on top of walking, weights and abs has really toned me up and stretched my muscles.

A few months ago I’d given up thinking my body had changed forever, but doing the above has meant I’m now back in my old clothes again and looking like I did ten years ago (body not face!). It’s also completely rewired my eating habits.

Facing the side of the bath, lift leg with bent knee to tap bottom of foot on edge of bath. You can bring the knee diagonally across the body, do wider positioning or a combination for your 2 min work out.
It's almost 4 hours of standing sit ups a month if you're consistent! I find using an electric toothbrush with timer makes me do the full 2 mins. It's been a revelation for me as I've always had a porridgy tummy, even when i was 8 stone.