to ask if you have managed to get rid of perimenopausal belly fat and bloat and how you have done it?

[SoManyQuestions219]

Am 46 and am noticing bloating and a thickening waist .

Just wondering what you have done to combat these symptoms!! Is it possible to be this age and have a youthful figure? Have about half a stone of general weight to lose but my belly has freaked me out!

Thank you!

As someone who has never dieted the prospect of fewer carbs is .
I don't snack but I do eat whatever I want other than that.
Someone else asked what you mean by bloating? I presume it just means fat or is there more to it?

I have also never exercised (there is another thread on that!). I loathe it in all forms and I'm not convinced it makes much difference to weight. It's all down to what I eat.
I have always been active in a fidgety sense though. Would never take a lift, always run upstairs. Lots of gardening.
Never took HRT despite horrendous hot sweats which are now few and far between finally.

I LOVE exercise. I love running, swimming, kayaking, hot sweaty yoga, even love ridiculous hardcore circuit style bootcamp stuff. It does make a huge difference to my general and mental wellbeing.

I have good muscle tone and even still have a waist…..but weight loss and fat loss….not so much. I feel like I have a strong body with lumps of fat stuck all over it.

It's raining in Baltimore ....I'm feeling it too. Every centimetre of fat. Hiding my feelings from OH. We are on holiday but it's on my mind all the time.

Had some nuts about midday then at 2 pm had a buckwheat pancake.

Google buckwheat. There's no gluten in it. Its full of protein and amino acids.

It might help some of you to use the pancake as a wrap for salads, hummous, a kind of uneven bread.

I feel there's no help for me.

I've never felt so dismal!

maybe we all just need to lower our expectations for a waist in this phase of life, and dress to flatter?

I don't think for me the HRT has made me put on weight - the pill never did either.

I lost a stone when I found the right HRT because it lift my mood sufficiently, and put the night sweats in abbeyance sufficiently, to make me feel better about myself and start to think about what I was doing.

Bloating - I never used to get bloating and was always a bit about it. Now I do get it, definitely linked to my cycle (well what's left of my cycle) - I can gain half a stone in a day and lose it all overnight. I'm wearing 'thin' jeans today, that I couldn't have worn last week. I feel full and quite nauseous at its worst. Today, absolutely fine. Doesn't seem to be linked to any particular food.

I think it does just take more work as you get older. My mum went through this stage at about the same age - went from a 10 to a 16 and then, once through it, back to a 10. I'm kind of hoping that will happen to me too!

48 still have periods, although not regular any more.
I practice yoga everyday, so far have kept my weight the same as it has always been
I am a natural pear shape with a small waist I think this helps with
Keeping a reasonably feminine look. I guess I'll see if it stays this way.
I do stand on the scales every day ( boring I know) if I gain a pound I eat less that day.
Oh it is all a bit of a pain, one thing though I have never been on the pill, can't take it, and am not on HRT so maybe just having my own hormones rather than synthetic ones helps.
I cross my fingers I still look the same in 5 years time.
Let the battle commence!

I've got IBS and have the bloating, too. Can't say that its improved 100%, but these things have really helped me

• chewing every mouthful 30-50 times. Allows the digestion to begin in your mouth, makes you eat more slowly, so you don't eat as much. I try and sit down and concentrate when I eat as much as possible. Also no drinks with meals - leave 20 mins before and after.

• eat as much vegetable stuff as you can. Keep your foods as alkaline as possible. Finding this book a huge help Honestly Healthy

• I eat a big breakfast (after school run and dog walk), a pretty medium sized lunch, and almost no supper. Maybe a vegetable soup and a couple of corn cakes. This has improved my sleep pattern hugely.

• Cut out gluten, sugar and dairy as much as poss, and stick to Lactose free milk when you do have it.

I never did a day of dieting in my life until I hit my early 40s, and realised I was getting really portly.

Low carbing and Couch to 5k was what sorted me out.

Five years on, I have put a little back on, but as I've now gone through the menopause (periods stopped at 46) I expect that's hormonal, and I'm not too worried because I know a good go at low carbing will always keep it in check (also, I did lose a bit too much and started to look a little gaunt).

I do sometimes have a few days of eating cakes/bread whatever, and it almost immediately gives me a bloated tum!

Oh I should cocoa. I'm in your boat too. Thinking of going to SW . Aren't they supposed to have a programme for gluten, dairy free people

for the last 2 or 3 weeks, i've only been eating one meal per day plus a couple of snacks (pumpkin seeds, apple or rice cakes). i've cut back drastically on carbs (vegetarian bread addict) and had no sweet stuff or crisps at all.

i've done this before and lost about 5lb but then stuck at that. i admit it. i must be shallow as my weight is really getting me down. i was a size 12 for 25 years without changing anything so i've no idea how to crack this.

"Its full of protein and amino acids."

Protein is amino acids.

Eat real food 3 times a day. Stay away from crap - sugary drinks, etc.

I'm 50 and have lost my 15 extra peri pounds by cutting out bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and added sugar - so I still eat fruit but no cakes etc. Surprisingly easy and I feel better for it, because my blood sugar stays more on an even keel.

Was doing so good today.....and then I had four vodkas!!!

Most of the weight gain is just because we become less active as we get older but don't reduce our calories. less alcohol, smaller portions, fewer carbs and more exercise. Middle aged men get podgy too, blaming hormones is a cop out.

We also lose muscle mass unless we actively seek to maintain it, calorie requirements drop in line with the change in body composition.

Hormones DO have an effect, reduced estrogen means that any fat women do have is more likely to be stored centrally, this is more disruptive to various metabolic processes aswell as to appetite regulation.
Leading to further central fat storage.
It's a positive feedback system whereby body composition shifts towards a fat torso an thin arms and legs with decreasing amount of muscle tissue.
Same thing happens to men?

The only way I managed it was to drastically sort my diet out. There are no quick fixes.
Do some sort of fast diet - fast 1-2 days a week or skip breakfast and only eat between 12-8pm.
Get your hands on all the new recipe books that are about 'the glow' They basically cut out sugar and a lot of carbs, but incorporate lots of healthy fats. I would recommend Madeleine Shaw's book - Get the Glow.
Do some pilates type exercise. With lots of plank type exercises.

Exercise alone does not help. You have to eat a lot less and it has to be healthy.
Ps I am back to the same weight I was at 21 - 9stone and am incredibly toned with no weight lifting. I

diddl i've not done the abs challenge but i did do the 30 day plank challenge...hard core but effective!

I must be honest I do not particularly enjoy exercise, and the bigger/older I've got the harder I find it to motivate myself or have the condifence to join any clubs/classes/gyms.

I have been out a bought a Reebok 'Step' step today though, because from memory I did used to really enjoy doing Step and became quite good at it for a while, in one of my slim phases a million years ago. If I can stand in my own spare room and shove a DVD in and step away for an hour a day while the kids are at school it's a start, at least.

I'm knackered after just reading the abs challenge

Why do the fanatics always turn up on these threads? Oh no, eating healthily, cutting down on sweet stuff, going out for walks will never work. You need to be exercising for three hours a day, eating no carbs after 4pm blah blah.
Posters like that do more harm than good.

I agree ballet
No point giving sensible no frills responses.
Simple fact is, that if you move more, eat more vegetables... You are going to shift weight. :)

Ballet and Feminine, it's fine to share your own experience of how you've controlled your own post Menopause weight gain, but unfair to call women who have decided not to accept their changing shape/muscle loss, "fanatics".

At 45 I (like most) would of tried any lifestyle plan to alleviate the symptoms of the Menopause, that's when, cutting down on dairy, caffeine, doing daily exercise (for anxiety) starts.

I went Vegan, it works for me. I now lift weights, The group I lift weights with are all women 35+.

I'd rather revamp my lifestyle than take meds, whilst I can. I also want to stay as strong and healthy for as long as I can.

The whole "we slow down when we get in our 40's" is bollocks to this generation. But because previous generations were just happy to be healthy, or still alive and it being drummed into women that their happiness should come from their family/home, it wasn't an issue that was discussed.

It also patronising to tell women in their late 40's that they need to eat more veg and walk, you may control your own weight, but you'll lose muscle and won't protect your bone health.

We've lived our lives, been responsible for others, know our bodies etc.

Our generation of 40+ is the first to enjoy good bone health, generally, when I was growing up neatly all 60+ women had reduced mobility.

Sorry birds that wasn't my intention.
I'm not peri yet, (43)
I've always taken care of myself, and have followed a healthy lifestyle and diet since l was young.
When l read of a dramatic and intense regime recommended, l tend to worry for the long-term. Those 'attacks' seem to be too much, and the natural thing is to quit.
I also do pilates, and eat a 'close to' vegetarian diet. I'm not comfortable agreeing with anything else.
Obviously, just my experience. :)

If you head over to the threads about aging, you'll see that no-one in their 30's/early 40's thought certain things would happen to them and if they did they would be easy to counteract, then found out different.

Most of what posters are recommending isn't extreme, though, to a large extent it's how we should be living.

Ours is one of the first generations that can share the way we do, becsuse of an increase in Women's rights etc, before that you wasn't supposed to be interested in just you and having just you time.

When really it isn't anyway, because if you are a carer or a hands on Nan, then you need a good level of health and fitness.

It can seem extreme until you suffer severe Menopause and aging (piles, incontinence, anxiety) symptoms, then it becomes a choice of say, dairy/junkfood/sleeping more, or good health and feeling well.

So its an easy choice to make and it becomes sustainable.

I see it as choosing to have Fab Fifties and beyond.