I noticed a change much earlier in my twenties (so a little congratulations, OP!) with my also apple shaped body, and thought I could correct it with just exercise which helped and got me through my thirties.

What really helped me though lose all that extra weight in my late thirties was addressing my diet and adopting a much healthier lifestyle when I really tried to limit processed food (especially my love of sweets) and up my veggies. I can't believe how much better I looked and felt plus I lost my perpetual belly!

Now that I'm forty I just started incorporating weights into my exercise routine and decreasing my cardio, and that has been amazing! Don't push yourself too hard, but things can get better!

At 38 I resumed exercising daily, started IF, and finally stopped consuming so much sugar. I lost the 10 lbs I had been wanting to shed since my teens. A few years later I stopped lifting weights during COVID, although I continued doing cardio. My body went back to 'blah' in months. The sad truth is that nearly all women who are slim at our age either are genetically blessed or eat little beyond what their bodies require calorically.

Once you uncouple food from the deep pleasure you once took in, for example, romance, it is easy to stop overeating. The rub is that very few of us can. Most days that bowl of buttered popcorn with honey and sugar is my true joy. Half an hour on the treadmill doesn't come close to compensating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

I am not thin because I "workout 5x a week". You are wrong if you think exercise is what makes me not have a large belly. It's because I don't overeat. And I eat dessert 3-4 times a week, I just don't eat a ton of dinner on those nights.

I don’t eat “a ton of dinner” either and I’ve never been thin. The caloric difference between being thin and not being thin isn’t a “ton” of food.

Dp. No, but exercise makes a difference. I eat about the same calories now, as I did when I was obese. The difference now, is that I workout 6 days a week. Instead of storing that energy on my body as fat reserves, it's being used in energy expenditure.

AND not to mention OP is complaining that she used to be petite so effortlessly. I mean boo F’in Hoo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

Not one person has been mean. We are telling OP they aren’t stuck. If they don’t like it, THEY HAVE the ability to change it!

This. I’m so tired of women being told it’s normal to start gaining weight, feeling tired, blaming everything on the hormones when they’re in their mid-30s, and not even close to the age to when some of these things start happening. Ladies take charge of your health, fitness, and well-being.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

Not one person has been mean. We are telling OP they aren’t stuck. If they don’t like it, THEY HAVE the ability to change it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

I am not thin because I "workout 5x a week". You are wrong if you think exercise is what makes me not have a large belly. It's because I don't overeat. And I eat dessert 3-4 times a week, I just don't eat a ton of dinner on those nights.

I don’t eat “a ton of dinner” either and I’ve never been thin. The caloric difference between being thin and not being thin isn’t a “ton” of food.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

Most of what you listed is "I don't have the motivation/time to stay in shape." They're not "mid-30s metabolism." I'm empathetic to hardships of jugging the things in your life, but don't blame it on late 30s metabolism drop. That's BS.

Anonymous wrote:I’m 49. I wish appreciated my late 30s body and face more than I did.

48.5 and this times a million!!

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

I am not thin because I "workout 5x a week". You are wrong if you think exercise is what makes me not have a large belly. It's because I don't overeat. And I eat dessert 3-4 times a week, I just don't eat a ton of dinner on those nights.

Do you have kids OP and when did you give birth?

My mother was skinny until she gave birth to me at 39. My sisters are much older and she gave birth to them at 26 and 30. She never lost the baby weight after me.

Wow. Some people here are mean.

Some people get injured or sick.
Take a medication that causes weight gain.
Have a child or adult family member that requires a lot of care.
Have an eating disorder.
Work shift work that messes with your metabolic rate.

Not everyone has time to workout 5x a week.

OP. Muscle mass decreases with age. Some people are naturally more muscular than others, those who are not have to work a bit to maintain it.

Anonymous wrote:OP is late thirties. It's a late thirties body. He rmetabolism has slowed. It takes more work to maintain a middle-aged body than a young body.

Actionable advice is great, but don't be obtuse about it.

NP. OP has the body she chose, and it has nothing to do with metabolism in your late 30s. Does life get in the way of working out and making decent eating choices? Sure, but this is 100% action, and 0% metabolism. I've struggled with weight all my early life, but 37-40 were probably my most fittest years - because I worked for it. At 44, I'm still in great shape, because I make time to work on my fitness and eat out infrequently.

Anonymous wrote:Wait until 50

Lol let’s not forget 40s. Equally unforgiving time.

Anonymous wrote:OP is late thirties. It's a late thirties body. He rmetabolism has slowed. It takes more work to maintain a middle-aged body than a young body.

Actionable advice is great, but don't be obtuse about it.

“Metabolism has slowed” in late thirties is code for “I don’t understand how body composition works.”