Meno belly: does anything work?

[TonTonMacoute]

Post menopause, not on HRT and never taken it.

Fit and healthy but slightly overweight (mainly thanks to enormous tummy). Good diet, exercise

I am bombarded on SM by adverts for supplements , which I am sceptical about. How have people got rid of it?

I have one too. I manage by doing a lot of running, and I often remind myself, “At least I’m fit.” But even so, it still gets me down. Sometimes I tie a jumper around my waist as a sort of bra 😂

I have to keep carbs very low, usually at one meal a day. So that's either a 2-3 oatcakes, one small portion of brown rice, or pasta, jacket potato, sweet potato.

I do eat loads of veg, fruit, ( up to 8 portions a day) full fat greek yoghurt, some nuts, seeds, fish, chicken, beans and pulses.

1- 2 squares of 75% choc a day.

Sorry if this sounds grim or boastful but it's the only thing that works for me.

It does sound very depressing. How do you have the will power?

I went on a v low fat diet - less than 5% Sat fat at all times, and no cheese, butter, marg, pastry, cream, icecream or biscuits/cake. I also cut right down on salt, which reduces water retention, so no crisps. No shop curries or pasties.

It helped lots. The weight, particularly around my stomach fell off. And I do pilates to strengthen / tighten the abdo muscles.

I still eat well - lots of meat, veg, plenty of carbs: pasta, rice or potatoes (boiled or baked no roasties 😥Fruit with yoghurt). I allow myself a daily biscuit, a weekly piece of cake, and an annual pasty!

I've been following the Glucose Goddess's advice, initially from YouTube but also from her book. For starters, I generally keep my carbs low-ish but I dropped a dress size in about 10 days by drastically cutting the amount of oat milk I was having. It sounds really stupid now but I didn't appreciate how starchy and sugary it is, I just thought oats were healthy. It's made me more mindful of moving after eating as well so I've toned up quite a bit, plus eating food in a specific order - always a veggie starter to every meal, protein and fats, then carbs. I'm not diabetic or insulin sensitive or anything but it's had an enormous impact on me. I feel loads better in all sorts of ways. Also, I've started doing weight focused exercise rather than bashing away on the treadmill, forcing myself to run when I'm not a natural runner. I do the majority of my exercise throughout the day.

I can get it down by the usual diet and exercise, but I also know if I put on a few pounds that’s exactly where it’ll settle.

I eat well, I like food, I make nice meals - just fewer carbs.
I do have the occasional weekly treat, but it's once a week not every day.

This is really helpful, thank you

GPL1s online have arrived in Italy. Considering how much I’m being bombarded with ads for them my iPad has evidently been listening into my calls to my sister when we both bitch about the new big tum we’re both sporting.

I’ve tried drinking water with chia and flax seeds soaked in it overnight to suppress my appitite. Didn’t work, but love the tapioca nostalgia I get from it.

I can resist temptation in the supermarket, but DH keeps buying tortilla chips and little plum cakes, which I sniff out like champion blood hound within minutes of them entering the house.

So I’m considering the jabs. Unless I discover that the speed laced “toffees” of the 70s my mum used for weight loss are somehow still buyable on this side of the alps.

I’m so hot. There is no way I can cope with wearing my stomach squishing big knickers that act like a boa constrictor but give me a semblance of my former silhouette.

Really tired.

And fucking hungry.

I don’t think there is a supplement on the planet that can manage that much heavy lifting.