Anonymous wrote:Just curious do you all work out regularly and watch what you eat? It is inevitable even for very fit women?

Not at all inevitable! I'm fit, not "very fit"as I need to increase my muscle tone. That said, I have always watched what I eat - and no I don't starve myself. I also made sure that when I was pregnant with my children that I continued exercising and didnt use my pregnancies as an excuse to "eat for two".

Now I'm 50. I went through menopause at 48. My weight has not changed one bit, nor do I have a thicker middle.

Part of it is genetics but a lot is lifestyle and making sure you have regular physicals to make sure your hormone levels and thyroid are what they should be.

Anonymous wrote:It is not inevitable. I suggest running outdoors because that requires terrain adjustments. Also yoga. My waist did not thicken at all.

Yoga doesn't keep a menopausal waist slim.

Anonymous wrote:It is not inevitable. I suggest running outdoors because that requires terrain adjustments. Also yoga. My waist did not thicken at all.

I suspect you are very, very lucky.

How much and how often do you exercise?

How old are you?

What is your diet like?

What age did you go through menopause?

Anonymous wrote:In the last couple of years and I'm 54, work out fairly regularly when it's not the holidays. I feel bloated all the time though.

Me too! Thanks for posting, OP!

I've been feeling terrible about this! I exercise and eat a really, really healthy diet! No sugar, no processed foods, and I'm still thick through the middle. Elastic waist pants are my new best friends!!

I went through menopause two years ago. I thought things were OK. I wasn't that thick-waisted or bloated, but in the past year, I've gotten fatter and thicker and really feel solid through my middle! I get bloated for a few days and get scared, but then the bloated feeling goes away, but I'm still fat! I worried I had ovarian cancer, but I had it checked out, and no, I'm fine, ultrasounds were fine. I'm just thick through the waist! My hips are slim, so are my arms and legs. I hate, hate, hate this thick waist! I used to be so slim through the waist! I don't know if there's anything to do about it except total starvation??!!

Anyone have any ideas??

It is not inevitable. I suggest running outdoors because that requires terrain adjustments. Also yoga. My waist did not thicken at all.

Just curious do you all work out regularly and watch what you eat? It is inevitable even for very fit women?

This is me exactly. My stomach starts under my boobs now. Suddenly came on in my late 40's.

Anonymous wrote:Happened pretty suddenly, between 49 and 50. I've always been kind of hippy but I had a small waist. Now my figure is like a refrigerator box. Hate it!

Same here. Like, overnight at age 48 it's as if I donned an inner tube and began wearing it around under my shirt.

I'm actually considering very modest liposuction because this is such bullshit. My new inner tube forces these two choices:

1. look like an overstuffed sausage with a gut in a normal shirt.
2. wear frumpy, flowing "swing" tops that don't stick to my new menopot

What is frustrating is that I watch my weight carefully. I even lost some weight over last few years. But I lost in bottom and gained in a big far belly. Happened quickly. So don't lull yourself by just watching the scale. Changed around 50.

Sudden. Started right after I weaned my second at 39 1/2. Sucks.

After the birth of my third child. Even after losing weight, it's not going back to the shape it was.

Happened pretty suddenly, between 49 and 50. I've always been kind of hippy but I had a small waist. Now my figure is like a refrigerator box. Hate it!

In the last couple of years and I'm 54, work out fairly regularly when it's not the holidays. I feel bloated all the time though.

Pretty sudden and no it never changes. I used to have to fit my clothes by how they went over my hips. Now, even at the same weight, everything is loose in the hips and tight in the waist.

Was it sudden or gradual? And what, if anything, did you do about it? Is it inevitable?