Menopausal women - how do you keep a flat stomach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keeping a flat stomach means that you’re really going to be in trouble if you get sick. Older women need to have slightly higher BMIs to be healthy. The fragility of a very thin older woman is not healthy.

This seems like a very self-serving comment. I'm pretty certain that weight carried around your midsection has more negative health implications than having a flat stomach.

weight naturally accumulates in the abdomen post menopause. the amount of effort and dieting needed for (most) women to keep a flat stomach would not be healthy.

[Anonymous]

Weighing yourself daily or a couple times per week, weight training, and eating heathy. But you also have to be realistic in your expectations. At 60, you will not have the same waist and proportions as you did at 25. You just won’t. There is a reason men are attracted to small waist: it signals fertility. Menopause is the opposite of fertility. As hormones drop your waistline will change and widen, you will lose some muscle in your legs and rear making you more rectangular less hourglass. This is completely normal as you age and hormones drop- even if you do not gain any weight. You can minimize the changes through diet and exercise, but change will still happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a size 0-2, weighed about 100 lbs all my life, and had a little belly pooch even when I weighed 97 lbs. Now my menopausal pooch is so big- I'm shaped like my mom. Don't know how to even deal with it! This just happened in the last 4 months. Had to buy new pants in size 4-6.

Are you me? I recently saw photos of myself in a bathing suit and wanted to cry! From behind, I look like a fit 17 year old. From the side and front I look like a heavily pregnant 17 year old - it makes no sense! My legs are fit, arms are fit, however, My stomach and boobs are HUGE (and I used to be a tiny person) - I swim HARD for an hour daily and walk 8-10k daily and it's clear I need to do some heavy lifting or something? i'll take any recommendations.

How do you figure you look like a 17 year old?

Yeah I’m sorry- no menopausal woman looks like a 17 year old. Not even “a pregnant 17 year old from the side.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's super hard. I'm thin (size 2) but with two kids and it takes a tremendous amount of effort. If I stop doing these things the belly comes back:

1. No food 4 hours before I sleep
2. Mostly protein and fat, very few carbs
3. Lots of yoga and pilates exercises that target the lower abs. Like, every day

I am a size 4 with a flat stomach. Same as PP. I mostly eat protein and fat. Very few carbs. I moved away from carbs so long ago that I don't crave sweets or pasta. I'm 55. I work out every single day. I do cardio (that's what keeps my weight down), but also lift every day. One day arms, next day legs, next day whole body, etc. I don't lift heavy. 20 lbs max. I don't do ab work but I do alot of core.

[Anonymous]

I cut way back on carbs, especially added sugar. Still enjoy fruits.

[Anonymous]

I hate what I’ve got going on in the stomach region. But even more I hate all the awful ads I get online about shrinking belly fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a size 0-2, weighed about 100 lbs all my life, and had a little belly pooch even when I weighed 97 lbs. Now my menopausal pooch is so big- I'm shaped like my mom. Don't know how to even deal with it! This just happened in the last 4 months. Had to buy new pants in size 4-6.

Are you me? I recently saw photos of myself in a bathing suit and wanted to cry! From behind, I look like a fit 17 year old. From the side and front I look like a heavily pregnant 17 year old - it makes no sense! My legs are fit, arms are fit, however, My stomach and boobs are HUGE (and I used to be a tiny person) - I swim HARD for an hour daily and walk 8-10k daily and it's clear I need to do some heavy lifting or something? i'll take any recommendations.

Do you have PCOS? Heavy periods?
Constipation?

Could be Excess estrogen and sub-optimal liver function.
Take Calcium d-glucarate daily. This is critical in your lates 40s and 50s.

Consider other supplements after talking with provider:
diindolylmethane (DIM), indole-3-carbinol, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), alpha-lipoic acid, and glutathione.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super hard. I'm thin (size 2) but with two kids and it takes a tremendous amount of effort. If I stop doing these things the belly comes back:

1. No food 4 hours before I sleep
2. Mostly protein and fat, very few carbs
3. Lots of yoga and pilates exercises that target the lower abs. Like, every day

I am a size 4 with a flat stomach. Same as PP. I mostly eat protein and fat. Very few carbs. I moved away from carbs so long ago that I don't crave sweets or pasta. I'm 55. I work out every single day. I do cardio (that's what keeps my weight down), but also lift every day. One day arms, next day legs, next day whole body, etc. I don't lift heavy. 20 lbs max. I don't do ab work but I do alot of core.

Are you post menopause?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keeping a flat stomach means that you’re really going to be in trouble if you get sick. Older women need to have slightly higher BMIs to be healthy. The fragility of a very thin older woman is not healthy.

This seems like a very self-serving comment. I'm pretty certain that weight carried around your midsection has more negative health implications than having a flat stomach.

lol agree. This sounds completely made up on PP part.

[Anonymous]

No belly fat, 55, and 3 years post surgical menopause. 20% body fat. For me, a relatively sedentary person working a desk job, the key is weight lifting 3-4x/week and a healthy diet of 1700-1800 calories daily depending on exercise. No alcohol, lots of protein, healthy fats, good sleep, hydration, and moderate carbs.

[Anonymous]

I never had a flat stomach. Even when I was 5 years old.

So glad to see almost everyone in my peer group joining me now that I am 62.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keeping a flat stomach means that you’re really going to be in trouble if you get sick. Older women need to have slightly higher BMIs to be healthy. The fragility of a very thin older woman is not healthy.

Not true, and regardless I'd rather be a delicately thin octegenarian that still does yoga than an obese blob on endless medications.

OP the way I am keeping a flat stomach through peri and into meno is DIET and EXERCISE. It's 80% what you eat and 20% what you do. Abs are made in the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Here's generally what I eat in a day:

AM: Coffee with 1 tbsp oatly. Usually only drink 6 oz. Drink 32 oz cool water.

Walk dog 1/2 mile. Come back and drink 6 oz cold press juice or have a small bowl of miso soup. Go to yoga practice. 90 minutes. Drink 32 oz cool water.

Lunch: Rest of bottled cold juice (10oz.) 1/4 cup home made yoghurt, topped with fresh fruit, a bit of lemon juice and honey. 32oz cool water.

Snack: 1 clementine and 5 walnut halves. Matcha tea.

Dinner: Tofu and veg stir fry with hoisin glaze--6oz. 4oz cooked short grain rice. Marinated cucumber salad--2-4oz. Pellegrino water., more still water.

Evening wind down- Lavender and Chamomille tea, or warm water with lemon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's generally what I eat in a day:

AM: Coffee with 1 tbsp oatly. Usually only drink 6 oz. Drink 32 oz cool water.

Walk dog 1/2 mile. Come back and drink 6 oz cold press juice or have a small bowl of miso soup. Go to yoga practice. 90 minutes. Drink 32 oz cool water.

Lunch: Rest of bottled cold juice (10oz.) 1/4 cup home made yoghurt, topped with fresh fruit, a bit of lemon juice and honey. 32oz cool water.

Snack: 1 clementine and 5 walnut halves. Matcha tea.

Dinner: Tofu and veg stir fry with hoisin glaze--6oz. 4oz cooked short grain rice. Marinated cucumber salad--2-4oz. Pellegrino water., more still water.

Evening wind down- Lavender and Chamomille tea, or warm water with lemon.

how do you make your yogurt?

[Anonymous]

Really clean diet. Lots of water.

Exercise every day - LOTS of weight training. You need muscle as you age. Lots of it.