If anyone has lost the saggy menopausal belly , how did you do it ?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I'm specifically putting menopausal belly because I know lots of people say the hormones affect the way fat is laid down.

It;s the saggy apron flappy skin and bloaty belly that stares back at me .

I;m 56 and menopausal .(2 DC but not CSection)
I don;t drink or smoke
I cannot do the high fat/low carb because it will give me extreme pain.

I;m not even contemplating HRT or surgery but I know many have found success there .

I lost a stone last year through extreme ill heath (in a month ) but this has likely crept back .

I'm not looking for a miracle , but I don;t want to just accept it and I know as I get older its more difficult , plus the diabetes risk is higher .

Any tips ? Excercise specific to my abdomen ?

TIA

No tips, sorry, but watching with interest. I suspect hrt is making my body hang onto belly fat.

Watching 😄

Weight loss in the 40s/50s is so hard so I’m here for the wisdom.

Oh yes, I can help 🤗

Do these every day:

Bowflex 3-minute plank
Rebecca Louise's Best Abs.

Both free on YouTube. After about a month, you'll begin to feel your core getting strong. The belly fat will take longer, and you may not lose all of it, but you'll look tighter.

Doing legwork also helps. And don't forget your arms, i.e. weights. So important when you enter the menopause.

Lucy Wyndham Thighs & Glutes
Rebecca Louise's Ageless Arms and/or Bingo Wings

Your bones will thank you!!

Along with Pilates, this massage technique No lipo lipo will make a big difference.

During perimenopause/menopause, your body starts to lay down fat specifically on the stomach because these particular fat cells produce oestrogen.

Exercising your abs makes little real difference if they are hidden under fat. The only real way to effectively burn body fat is to build muscle, and muscle needs feeding. However, eating a calorie deficit will help weight/fat loss. Cutting out sugar and processed foods will be worthwhile. Drink mote water too.

Steady state cardio such as walking and swimming will be greatly beneficial too, as will intermittent fasting.

I gained a couple of kg recently on holiday and last week had the inner resolve to start shifting. It was all on belly and waist (mid 50s on HRT).

Decided no bread, butter, jam, peanut butter, pastries, pasta, potatoes, but especially no bread!

I ate the following:

Breakfast: porridge made with water, raspberries & blueberries, chia seeds.
Lunch: a boiled egg and an avocado
"Dinner": chicken & veg soup, then fruit.

Variations: Greek yogurt with almonds/raspberries, tinned mackerel, baked fresh salmon..but I relied heavily on boiled eggs and avocado.

I've done this for 4 days and am down a kilo already, maybe a bit more because I last weighed myself on Friday.

Stomach has deflated owing to no wheat-bloat, skin is clearer, and I am not hungry because this regime is heavy on protein.

It's difficult/impossible to spot reduce.

But I had the flattest tummy ever (with only a small amount of sag/baggy skin) because:

a) I really reduced my weight - not just into the 'healthy' BMI range, but towards the lower end of it because that's where I looked so much better
b) I was running 4x a week - did a power of good to how my entire lower body (legs/tum/bum) looked. Clocking up some serious milage.
c) occasional pilates - I suspect weight training might have been even more effective

It all went a bit wrong after I had covid last year, and found exercise really hard for months (weight came back on, condition lost). But I'm optimistic I'll get it back by about June.

BTW, I had been overweight much of the time from when I started having babies, and was seriously unfit. If you'd told me back then that one day I'd be posting stuff like this, I'd have laughed in your face and thought you deluded!

Are, you actually overweight - what's your BMI? If in addition to toning up you want to lose weight, I'd suggest:

Intermittent fasting
Diet of mostly vegetables, moderate amounts of lean protein, plus some healthy carbs (and EVOO for salad dressings) - basically a Mediterranean diet
No processed food, virtually no sugar - definitely no UPF
Don't drink calories

Are, you actually overweight - what's your BMI? If in addition to toning up you want to lose weight, I'd suggest

Yes , I;d say overweight but I haven;t weighed myself for a while so I;ll need to do this and then calculate my BMI

Intermittant Fasting won;t work for me as I have diverticular disease and no gallbladder (removed) so I know this will trigger an attack , part of the reason high fat won;t work.

Probably next step will be cut out sugar ?
I;ll get the scales out and cut sugar then give myself a goal.

I know it;ll be a slow slog ,

I've had steady success with this by boosting actual whole grains/ pulses in diet. Quinoa, bulgar, lentils etc with loads of veg at every meal It's dramatically cut my desire for processed carbs and refined sugar and I'm actually enjoying it. Need to work on the wine now.

It'll take a while but it need not be a slog, @70isaLimitNotaTarget 😁

If you cannot do IF, cutting out snacks, especially sugary stuff, is key. I do eat fruit, but I don't drink fruit juice or sodas, and hardly any alcohol. If I'm hungry between meals I eat a carrot, an apple, some grapes or a slice of melon.

I go by the mantra "eat food, not too much, mostly plants". However, as I work out with weights, I try to eat a fair amount of lean protein - chicken, fish, eggs, legumes. For me this has become a way of life. I found that since I cut out UPF and sugar, I'm way less hungry. If I do gain weight, for instance over Christmas, I just dial back the amount I eat for a while - no major changes needed.

I hope you'll give weights a go. All you need is a pair of dumbbells (3-5 kg, depending on your fitness), and try the workouts I mentioned earlier. At some point you may want to look at Caroline Girvan - her weight based workouts are excellent, albeit very intense and not for beginners. However, I found them life-changing. I'm in my 60s but fitter than I was in my 40s.

I followed the Our Parks free workouts and used My Fitness Pal app to very carefully monitor my food intake. I lost 3 stones in 9 months and dropped from size 18 to a 12. Then we had a major building project and the exercise stopped (and food was tough to deal with, given we were managing with a microwave, toaster and kettle) and some of the weight has gone back on and my flabby belly has returned. I will be starting the regime again and hopefully keeping it going this time.

My advice is to accept abit more fat on stomach and size up when buying new clothes.
Because the other options sound like bloody hard work, very miserable, and difficult to realistically maintain.
I am 54, and for first time have a little pot belly, I don't smoke or drink, l do abit of moderate exercise but l am not stressing it. Pot belly it is.

Well, I guess it's horses for courses. Unfortunately a poor diet and lack of exercise ultimately result in more than a pot belly. The health consequences in old age can be very serious.

I'd be bloody miserable if I was unable to exercise. It's my daily workouts that sustain and motivate me.

Interested in this too - I am 49 and on HRT, and for the first time have an annoying tummy, where previously I have always been very pear shaped. My waist is still very defined but that almost makes things look worse. I do a lot of exercise but am now a 12/10 instead of a 10/12! Going to look at some of the workouts up thread, and also try to up protein and reduce carbs.

Slimming world did it for me.

I honestly didn't expect it to and it's not why I joined slimming world(joined to lose weight and I did)but it somehow got rid of my overhang Harry (as I liked to call it)😁I couldn't/can't really do much exercise since becoming disabled so the diet getting rid of that apron was a very welcomed and unexpected plus for me.

Sorry should have said I'm 47 and I've had 5DC.

Marking. I SO need this. All my excess weight has gone to my tummy. Mine is so pronounced that people give up their seats for me in the Tube. :(

Btw I eat only lentils and plants, zero UPF, zero sugar, zero alcohol and it makes no difference! The only thing that works is zero carb and that is very hard because I am veggie.

You must know the only way to rid of saggy skin is surgery.

Hillwalking and yoga give me a flat stomach.

Any Asians on here? We store weight differently IMO. I walk over 15 k steps a day. Beginning weights this weekend.

The best thing for me is low carb. That does not mean high fat. It’s perfectly possible to do low carb by simply ensuring you have lots of greens on your plate and good protein.

I have lots of raw green beans, broccoli, eggs, chicken, fish, smoked salmon etc.

I don’t eat breakfast. Lunch is a low carb wrap (the Australian wraps I buy are 6 gems carbs) with avocado, lettuce, chicken, cheese). Snacks are things like almonds, raw green beans, a hard boiled egg. Dinner is a version of what everyone else eats. If the family are having chicken fajitas, I have spicy chicken salad. If they have potato I have a larger share of green vegetables.

I try to exercise 3 times a week and also have a light weights routine, with sit ups and planks, I do while watching tv at night.

I drink vodka lime soda or gin with zero sugar tonic water. Sometimes I have a small glass of red wine.

If I’m out to dinner with friends I eat and drink whatever I want.

@StClare101 I eat v similarly to you.
I'm 53 & have lost 18lbs since September& would like to lose about 10lbs more.
I'm 5ft 9" & currently weigh 12st 3ozs. I'm a large 12 / small 14 & would prefer to ne in a comfortable 12 / large 10. I am apple shaped & carry all my weight around my middle so I'm v conscious of the health implications as I get older.

I'm not on hrt but contemplating it at the moment.

My daily diet looks like this:

Breakfast: porridge made half water half low fat milk, tiny sprinkle brown sugar (just to make it palatable), coffee with low fat milk

Mid morning in work small coffee with low far milk

Lunch - bowl of soup. This is generally a thick soup with loads of veg & beans or pluses & herbs. We have an amazing deli next door to my office & they change the soup every day so it's things like tuscan bean or Tunisian chickpea soup etc.
I drink water with that. No bread.

If there's no soup or I fancy a change I get a small salad bowl from there

Dinner - depending on what I had for lunch I will have a salad with cooked chicken / eggs / salmon / prawns etc with a drizzle of homemade dressing

Or a baked salmon darne with spices, asparagus & other greens & 3 steamed baby potatoes

Simple unprocessed food with lots of vegetables

If I snack its on satsumas / melon / apple slices

I don't drink midweek but if I did it would be a glass of red wine or a gin & slimline tonic.

If I'm out with friends I eat & drink what I like!

This style of eating really works for me. I'm losing weight v steadily & not feeling hungry or deprived & I'm motivated because I can see its working

Is planking possibly the only way?

Could you eat lots of vegetables? I cut out bread, cut down on other carbs and doubled the veg in meals rather than increasing the protein. I’m also eating more eggs.