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[Dorothy]

Can anyone advise?  In the past few months I have put on scary amounts of weight round my middle, to the point where I can't fit in to most of my clothes and the ones I can get into are really uncomfortable.  I'm eating much less than before as the nausea means I don't have much appetite, and I'm also right off sweet food, so no cakes, biscuits etc.  I'm mostly living on pulses, vegetables, fruit, yoghurt and soft cheese. 

I have one of those tummy exercisers where you roll it out and back across the floor while tensing your tummy muscles - I'm using it every day and my waist measurement has gone up by nearly 2 inches since I started using it.  Do you think it is making the problem worse or would I be even more enormous if I wasn't using it?

I am feeling really uncomfortable all the time as my tummy get in the way when I bend down etc, and am feeling quite desperate as nothing seems to help.  Also, I am running out of things to wear!  Any ideas?

[CLKD]

Laxity of muscles is a result of a drop in oestrogen  ………. if it's muscle loosening then it's difficult.  If it's weight gain then exercising i.e. walking regularly will help.

[honeybun]

Sorry don't remember how old you are.

Middle age spread happens unfortunately. Hubby and I were laughing about it the other day. I am 5ft 1 and weigh 8st 7.   I am not overweight and have been this weight for the last ten years or so. What I have is a redistribution of weight....a lot around my middle.
Hubby is almost 6 foot and 11 stone,never been over weight but he has got a little pot belly.

I'm afraid it's middle age and there is nothing you can do about it.

The most important thing is to maintain a healthy weight....how it chooses to distribute itself around your body is anyone's guess.


Honeybun
X

[honorsmum]

Pilates would make a difference to your core strength.

[Taz2]

Hi Dorothy. If you are eating less but are still putting on weight around the tummy then if you haven't had a check up at the docs recently I feel you should make an appointment. Sorry if this has already been discussed but have you got a reason for the nausea?

Taz x

[Dorothy]

Hi, I'm 39 and quite active - walk my dog for an hour a day and during the week I walk someone else's dog for half an hour a day too.  Also do gardening.  Not doing as much physical exercise as I was a few months ago, but have also cut out lots of fattening food at the same time.

The nausea seems to be hormonally related...what a surprise!  I get tummy cramps for a few days, followed by nausea and then a couple of days of normality followed by cramps again    My doctor is hopeless and on the rare occasions I have gone, makes me feel like I'm wasting their time, but I am having to move at the end of the month, so I am hoping to have a more helpful doctor in my new area.  Will go for a general checkup then. 

If the size of my middle is due to muscle laxity, then presumably this exerciser thing should help?  My tummy muscles certainly ache after, but I don't see any other result.    I have to do something as I have no money to buy new clothes so need to be able to wear the ones I've got! 

Honorsmum, is Pilates something you have to do in a class or can you get a book or something that tells you how to do it at home?  Sorry for the ignorance, but I've always had enough exercise from work and life in general, so know nothing about the various 'keep fit' classes.

[Hurdity]

Hi Dorothy

I agree with Taz re going to the doctor - you said the amount of weight going round the middle is dramatic in a few months and "middle-aged spread" would not be expected to happen quite so quickly, unless you experienced an equally dramatic change in hormones.

Whereabouts are you in menopause, periods etc? Could you be pregnant?

As Taz says - do get checked out, and be pushy with the doctor - mention uterus and ovaries - then you could at least get a blood test and be referred for a scan.

Re Pilates - I go to classes - I'm sure you could do it from a book but really best to be shown as a good instructor will come round and make sure you are doing it right to exercise the muscles correctly - it's a different type of exercise from walking - you exercise muscles and joints eg hips etc that don't normally get used, and as honorsmum says, excellent for core strength,  although gardening is excellent. 

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

OOOhhhh moving  ………. does that mean you won't be walking the other dog  ………

[Winterose]

If you get the all clear from the doctor try the 5:2 it makes fat melt from your middle, however you sound a bit young to ahve put on so much so quickly.


Pilates is good at toning things up , also relaxing.

[Taz2]

Having read that you are only 39 and probably not far into menopause I would say that a trip to the doctor is important. Weight gain around the tummy which doesn't come and go, tummy pain, lack of appetite and nausea are all symptoms of common illnesses but they can also be attributed to ovarian cancer. Sorry to be blunt but it's better to be safe than sorry and quite often GP's are also slow to recognise the early symptoms.

I think that I should Pilates as I'm sure my core strength could do with a boost!!

Taz x 

[Hurdity]

I agree - a friend of mine has just been diagnosed with this and starting teatment this week, and her only symptoms were rapid weight gain around the middle and general discomfort - although she is early 60's like me.

Taz - despite doing three exercise classes per week including Pilates my middle is also getting bigger - I'm sure I am stronger underneath the roll but the muscles must be hidden away somewhere!

Hurdity x

[oldsheep]

I think I'd get checked out by a good doctor, if for no other reason than to rule out anything.
As for pilates, you can get lots of DVDs or watch online how to do it, but a class is a routine at a fixed time and maybe (hopefully) with nice people, so is a lot more motivating. Funny how women prefer classes while men prefer solitary gym pounding

[Dorothy]

Thanks for advice.  I only just realised a few weeks back that I am peri-menopausal but I think I am quite far in as I have all the symptoms mentioned in the 2nd stage.

No possibility at all that I could be pregnant.  I am on the pill, so difficult to tell what my periods would be doing normally, but my bleeds have been fluctuating in length and heaviness for quite a long time.

I will go to the doctor once I have moved (3 weeks time - yes, I will miss walking my midday doggie!).  I don't think there is any point going with this one.  This is the surgery that bodged a simple eye injury to the point where I had to have an operation at Moorfields; they also dismissed the fact that I was bleeding continuously for a year and when I insisted on getting checked out at hospital, they found 3 things wrong.   

[CLKD]

Have a look at the Ovarian Cancer web-site - which is how I landed here  [Ovacome]

Are you able to register with your new practice as a temporary patient and see them sooner? 

[nelliedee]

I have also had weight gain in the last few months, its not so much the tummy (always had a bit of a tummy) but the bit under my boobs. I think I am also in 2nd stage peri. Moving will cause you stress on top of your hormones which is a toughie. Joining a class if you can manage it is far better for us ladies as it gives social interaction and that is something I have shy'd away from and I feel it has done me more harm than good. xx