To wonder why so many post menopausal women are overweight?

[Fruitandnutqueen]

My friend and I are both 44 and love to sit and people watch.
One conversation and observation we make regularly is the fact we notice there appears to be a high percentage of women, late 40's plus, who are overweight.
Last week I was on a campsite where the majority of the people where 50+ and most of them were quite overweight.
We are coming to the conclusion that it's either menopausal hormones and we'll have no control over the bulge attack when the time comes (not long now ) or that most people hit that age and think 'oh fuck it, life's too short!' and just eat and drink to their hearts content.
I suppose there are probably just as many men that age overweight too, but I can't help but notice women I know who were previously slim, hit that age group and expand quite a bit!
Just wonder if it's inevitable?

OP was being light-hearted. You guys are being too quick to be vipers. (sigh)

Fat redistributes when you get older, post-menop hormones make women put on fat more where blokes put on fat (eg, more in belly & less in boobs). The risk of obesity generally goes up with age and with rising disability -- we all tend to get disabled with age.

I don't think reduce activity, obesity or even losing muscle mass is inevitable, but increased risk of disability and some fat redistribution -- these things are inevitable.

I was plumper at 17 than I am at almost 50 :).

Oh if the OP was being 'light hearted' then it's fine then

The OP seems to have disappeared.

Get.a.life.

Maybe they are just really effing tired what With jobs and kids and grumpy husbands and aging parents.

Maybe they just don't give a toss anymore. It must be quite liberating.

Presume the regular convos with her mate are lighthearted too, Livia

Yeah I'm sure... when I am having a laugh with my bestie, it's always judging randomers

Oh god, me too. Commenting and about people's appearance is SUCH a lark.

It's biology innit ? Much harder to shift weight even when peri

Wait and see OP

We complain that men see women as 'objects' and here are two women judging the appearance of other women . I don't care if people are fat or thin, I just hope they have pleasant, unselfish, friendly characters.

Are you and your friend really 'sitting & observing the appearance' other women.

FWIW - I am post menopausal, over weight, unfit and happiest I have ever been .

"I haven't put on weight but found I was actually hungrier and more tired all the time. Just started very successfully on HRT and have gone back to my old patterns of energy and feel better again."

^^ This, a hundred times. I craved sugary crap continually, and suffered hormonally driven can't-be-arsed-itis. Not just with regard to weight, with regard to absolutely everything - job, parenting, relationships - my mood just completely nose-dived. Then I went on HRT and went back to normal in the space of a couple of weeks. I think it's fucking awesome, and the medics will have to wrest it from my cold dead hands.

But there's so much crap associated with going through menopause - I've been struggling with bursitis in my hip. Physio's first question was "are you on HRT?" When I said "yes" she just nodded and said "good". The drop in oestrogen absolutely screws your skeleto-muscular system (in most cases - contrary to what a PP said, loss of muscle mass with age is very well documented and supported by scientific studies - crap but true).

Anyway, you never know OP (in the unlikely event you come back) - individual physiological responses to just about anything are wildly variable, and menopause is no exception. You might sail through it symptom free and thus survive with your judgy pants intact. Or you might have a crap menopause and have to buy a new pair several sizes larger.

Wow nasty original post. I have seen plenty of women in the 20's and 30's who are overweight too OP.

Why are you being so horrible? Cruel post. Shame on you.

I actually noticed the opposite. Dh and I were at hacienda classsical - at 40 we were a bit younger than the majority of the crowd, we were still in school when they would have been clubbing so same age group as op mentions - and I noticed how many in shape well preserved women were there with blokes who appeared to have given up on even pretending to fight the fat.

So maybe it's that women who camp are less appearance interested than women who used to club 😉 and men just don't give a shit

I'm finding this thread very weird. MNers comment ALL the time about people's bodies. Consider the 70yo Australian woman flogging xylitol thread. Pah. Bunch of Hypocrites You Lot.

I don't make comments on other women's bodies 'brexitsucks.' So don't include me in your generalisations please.

Anyway it's OK coz the OP was just being light hearted and 'just making an observation.'

Yeah right.

I've put on a massive amount of weight in peri-menopause (still not menopausal - bloody wish I was - I'm 53! I attribute it to eating way more than I used to and moving far less. These are side effects of long term AD use, which originally caused the weight gain and made me sleepy and too chilled to move and craving carbs. then it became a vicious cycle of being overweight and still chilled by ADs so not that bothered about losing weight. I can't stop taking the meds as I need them long term. But lots of women are prescribed them for the natural mood siwngs and depression that occur in menopause, so may end up gaining weight because of that.

I also wonder if it's biological. We become less attractive to men and so need to store up fat as we're less likely to get fed by others, as we're lower down the pecking order than young women.

Not noticed this. In town today just loads of fat or chunky people of all ages.

Slim people stood out as unusual.

It's worrying - being fat or overweight is just the norm now.

That bmr calculator was wrong for me. It only gave me 1300 odd whereas i have a high percentage of muscle so bodytrax says my bmr is nearer 1600

Milli - sympathies (I have friends on ADs long term who are struggling with the same thing), and as you say, you're on them for independent reasons.

But can I make a quick public service announcement to anyone out there who goes to the GP with mood swings due to the menopause/peri, and gets offered ADs? Your doctor is woefully behind the times - current expert opinion (it's in the NICE guidelines with refs to the peer-reviewed literature) is that menopausal mood swings should be treated (where possible, and not contra-indicated by medical conditions) with HRT, not ADs. Just in case you have a GP stuck 20 years behind the times who wants to put you on ADs.

OP -

First...

Then an answer to the question in your thread title ""Why are so many post-menopausal women overweight?"

Because pies are nicer than exercise.

Hope that helps.

Really interesting this thread. I'm glad you started it OP. I am teetering on the edge of menopause. I've put half a stone on that I cannot shift despite walking 10km most days and fifty minutes on a cross trainer most nights. I certainly am not eating my full calorie allowance that a woman of my height and weight supposedly needs. It's all making me really miserable actually. Lots of interesting information on here that is giving me some comfort.

Women who frequent campsites often drink wine in the evenings. I know this because I am one of them. Wine is very caloric when drunk a bottle at a time.

I've had a marvellous time on a campsite this very week. I ate well, walked lots, played with my niece and nephew and bonded with my teenagers... all whilst being slightly overweight.

And during this past week, the only other person I sat in judgement over was the twat who was mean to his dogs. He was 50+ and overly tanned... I wonder whether that and a propensity to be mean to dogs go hand in hand.

Could be his hormones, I suppose.

*calorific

Tanned mean men have no place at Camp Menopause.

Todays judgy people watchers are highly likely to have been yesterdays school bullies.