Does your shape change with the menopause?

[Pepperypig]

I've always been pear shaped with big hips and a relatively small waist. I am peri-menopausal and I notice that I am really thickening around the middle and my boobs are bigger. My hips now seem less of an issue. I'm trying to diet and exercise but it's slow going. Anyone else experiencing this?

It's something to do with hormones; with high female hormones we tend to put down fat on bottom & breasts with less on waist; when those hormones fall we become more like blokes so the fat goes off the chest/bottom and onto the belly.

I think the key thing here is to try to not be fat.

Bodies change. No biggie.

It’s natures way of letting the opposite sex know that you are no longer fertile. Sorry ladies, blame Mother Nature for your changing shape.

I was very slim before my hysterectomy.

After the surgery and surgical menopause my weight has steadily increased and I’m a good 14/16 now .

I didn’t take HRT because I was worried about weight gain but it happened anyway.

I’m 60 and seriously considering a breast reduction once my BMI is in the normal range for my height.

My friend had a best reduction, which my GP suggested. It aint for sissies...

My shape hasn't changed at all. I have got slimmer. That said, it was a bit harder to lose than the time I dieted previously.

Fuck, I'm already a horrid apple with a massive gut and saggy massive boobs. What will happen to me???

If you look at former Hollywood beauties in their later years you realise it happens to the best of us. Ginger Rogers, Lauren Bacall, lovely wispy women who became matronly. The only way to avoid it is to not eat, Real Housewives-style, and where’s the joy in that?

Yup, same here. Was naturally slim for years and could eat for England. Now my waist has thickened and my boobs have expanded...Not in "hello boys" good way, but in a matronly bosom way!

Just got home from holidays and looked positively chunky in some photos. This far and no further! I AM going to do something about it and not let things slide any further. I won't ever be the size 8 I was when I was younger, but I'm ok with that as I think it's possible to look a bit scrawny after a certain age if you lose too much weight.

Not relishing having to reduce my food intake by 20% just to maintain weight - I like my food!

Yep. You lose your oestrogen and your testosterone comes to the fore so your fat redistributes in a male pattern. We go from pears to apples.

Peri, 53. Recently lost 30 pounds by cutting out treats most of the time (still eating good meals) and walking. Weight loss took 18 months. Shape before - hourgass size 14/16. Now size 12. Tits are enormous, waist is slim, bum has slimmed down and so have legs. So now an upside down triangle. In clothes - don’t look so bad but trying to disguise big norks without wearing tents/smocks is difficult. Out of clothes - no time good. Still slim waisted but these big breasts and flabby thighs are not a good sight. My legs seem flabbier now than when I was much heavier, with rampant cellulite.

I was moaning to my OH the other day about the size of my chest. He told me it was a common thing in women of a certain age. Not sure how he knows it but reading this thread, he is right! I would like a reduction so that Inam back to being a small Hourglass.

He has also lost weight. He is in proportion and looks really fit. He is the same age as me. Not fair.

I've become skinny fat, so slim in clothes but once they're off I've got soft rolls of fat round my belly. My BMI is underweight but my top half requires a size 12 because my boobs have inflated. I need to do Pilates and weights to get my body lean again.

DarklyDreamingDexter, if you exercise 20% of your calorie intake, you can still eat.

Heavy weight lifting helps.

I fear having a full set of Widdicombes* - I hope they don’t get any bigger.

*Ann

I haven’t noticed much of a change, although being an emotional eater with too much stress I have gained weight due to inhaling shed loads of chocolate. When it goes, I’m currently yo-yoing I seem to have same shape as I’ve always had.

Boobs,and hips have slimmed down / are less pronounced,

I’ve gone from hour glass to inverted pear. I’m still the same weight, but my legs and arse are skinny and my stomach and breasts have expanded. To be honest, I don’t mind the boobs, but the stomach is horrible. It feels more solid too.