Meno Belly Question

[Sunswiped]

Does anyone have a meno belly that literally looks like a third trimester pregnancy belly?

I heard a meno podcast which explained belly fat takes over from the ovaries around meno and makes some oestrogen, not enough to replace your pre-meno levels but some. I’ll see if I can find the link.

Edit: It was a Zoe Science & Nutrition podcast with Dr. Sarah Berry and Prof. Deborah Clegg last December. Well worth a listen.

Yes, me too. I'm 58.

Hula hooping is helping to tighten up my stomach muscles (which are very slack after several pregnancies). So, overall, I'm looking better but I'm not sure how much the hooping will reduce the size of my spare tyre. 😬😂

Honestly, it’s not what anyone wants to hear, but I’ve found the only way to reduce the menopausal belly is to eat significantly less. I’ve probably reduced what I eat by half. My stomach isn’t flat, but I no longer have the pregnant belly.

Curious how many on this thread are on HRT?

I’ve been on HRT since I was seriously perimenopausal at 45. It never made any difference to my weight or belly. Helped with lots of other stuff, though!

Yes I have this belly, I'm very upset by it. It's huge and hangs down. I can lose weight anywhere else on my body but nothing at all will shift the belly. I look dreadful. If I could afford surgery I would have it cut off.

Avoiding UPF helps. No alcohol, lots of activity generally, water. Although I can't get too fussed, my flabby central area produced my many lovely kids 😅 and so I cherish it. After a long road of self loathing, this is aa VERY positive thing.

Fuck what it looks like, I know my worth. I want to be strong, I'm working towards it with exercise, but also I am a female and my body has worked hard for me, it is soft in places and that's because it houses my uterus, womb etc behind some very overworked and pregnancy-changed muscles. I refuse to beat myself up about that, I'm doing my best to live longer and feel healthy, looks are a distant thing on that list. I'm more interested in nutrition and gut health at the minute.

starting to get this too after being very slim all my life. I'm also very flat chested so now my belly sticks out more than my boobs! shame I can't move that fat upwards and onto my chest! why does fat never go to my boobs I hate it .

In desperation I am cutting alcohol and coffee to see if this has any impact. Coffee because along side this I am more tempted to have a biscuit 🙈 and alcohol is just empty calories.

@asbestosmouth24 , snap ! I have no boobs and a pot belly ! I look dreadful

After being a size 10-12 most of my life due to peri I'm now 14-16 and I'm small so it looks awful. The only way I can get weight off these days is fasting. I try not to eat to many processed carbs like sliced bread and try to eat porridge instead when I'm hungry. I'm about to start again this week as I've put on more weight the past six months when caring for my parents. Yogalates is also good for toning without the massive effort required for other exercise if suffering from peri related exhaustion and achy joints. It's such hard work trying to lose weight now, when I wanted to lose weight years ago after a holiday or something I'd just cut chocolate for a week!

Absolutely LOVE this post.

HRT possibly helps because weight gain around the middle is what happens when estrogen falls.

It means women become more like men in terms of weight distribution (fat.)

Interesting research out a couple of weeks ago which showed that women's risk of heart disease didn't just equals men's post menopause but actually doubles. And that is directly linked to visceral, abdo fat.

Overtaken now by dementia, heart disease is now the 2nd main cause of death in women.

However, HRT doesn't replace natural estrogen to the level it was before.

It's just sheer hard work to keep it off.

We all lose up to 10% of muscle per decade, after 30, so use less energy even when sitting still (unless you're doing lots of weight building exercise.)

So, in terms of calories, we need fewer.

The only way I can control my belly fat is by reducing carbs to a minimum- around 30-50gms a day- and adding more protein, fruit, veg, nuts.

I am (still struggling to get testosterone though). I have lost a decent amount of weight since going on it - it's easier to exercise when the flushes are controlled - but not nearly as much as I need to from my middle! I just feel weirdly out of proportion now.

I have the belly it's come on since starting HRT and I've put on 1.5 stone.

Slightly worrying as my HRT lady said to increase my dose of oestrogen that may help with the weight? I'm going to give that 6 weeks and see how it goes.

The post about it being ovarian cancer er worry's me as mine has come in so quickly but weight gain is views as totally my fault fur eating too much.

I stay below 1200 daily, and fast 16:8 5 days, I was thinking I'll do a 24hr fast see if that kick starts anything.

I have about 2 stone to shift.

Bloody awful isn't it. I've actually given some thought into getting a victorian style corset to see if I can move the fat upwards towards my chest 🤣.

Same problem here. I'm going to start stripping my diet down to the basics to see if that helps. It will be immensely boring on the food front, but I have to do something. I hate the belly more than I love interesting food.

I was curious about HRT because I'm now 6 years post and have been on it since about week 2 and, while I'm not going to say my stomach is as flat as when I was 21 (three kids), it's still relatively flat. If I do pilates regularly (which I'm not at the moment) it does get quite flat. If I gain any weight it tends to go to my breasts, which I'm not crazy about. I've always just assumed that both of those were down to HRT.

I'm fairly active in that it would be an unusual day that I got in under 13,000 steps, I run a very leisurely 5k about 3 times a week and do about 5 minutes of planking most days, but I'm far from a goddess of fitness.

I also never count calories and eat everything, including carbs - very few UPFs but definitely some as, despite all efforts not to, I like milk chocolate 🤗. I have a couple of drinks on the weekend, and, contrary to current dietary advice, basically graze all day. I do tend to eat relatively small amounts, though.

It would be interesting to know what's genetics, what's hormones, what's diet and what's luck.

My belly has reduced a lot, not flat but pretty good. It was huge. It only finally reduced when my bmi went under 21. Last fat to go. I am not on hrt. Age 57, 5ft 5”, 8st 10 lbs, measurements 34DD, 28, 34.

I have lost almost 3 stone since August. I eat dinner at 6 pm, piece of chicken or fish or steak, and about 8 veg, pulses too. No other meals, only carbs are from veg and potatoes once a week. I use a cross trainer 5 days a week for 45 mins, get very hot and sweaty doing that.

I feel the best I have in years. So worth it. You just have to knuckle down and find what works for you and then stick to it.

Hi @RaceDays maybe I am reading your post wrongly, but are you saying you only eat one meal a day? How many calories do you get?

You just asked what I was going to ask.

I'm struggling and having to ear less and less calories. I'm wondering what to cut out, but I don't really want to drop to one meal a day.

@AInightingale @RainbowZebraWarrior

yes one meal a day, 6 pm, I don’t calorie count but eat proper food for example fillet of wild salmon (250gr not a tiny piece), roast courgettes, cauliflower, peppers, onions, spinach (every meal), chickpeas, Swiss chard, beetroot. A big plateful for example I eat a whole small cauliflower. I never feel weak or faint, it just suits me. I am retired. I adapted this way of eating gradually. I am not suggesting anyone else do it, but it’s genuinely what I do and it suits me. I feel great.

Even a very big meal like that I would still only make out to be about 1000 calories at most - I know you say you don't count them - 350 for the fish, 300 for the chickpeas or pulses, 250-300 for the other stuff. Oh well if it works for you and you say you don't feel faint/hungry and very healthy ! There's a lot of protein in the fish/chicken. Interesting. I could probably eat like that for a week but not permanently, surely you'd be in permanent weight loss.

Not everyone needs 2000 cals.

My BMR is just over 1000 cals.

This describes me! Ps love the Barbamama reference 😂