Yeah …..it is hormonal I think. As oestrogen drops I believe the body tries to compensate by storing more belly fat (these fat cells produce a small amount of oestrogen).
At least that’s what I keep telling myself!
I’ve only put on about 1/2 stone since I was 40 (now 46) but my body shape has changed massively. It’s all round boobs, belly and hips.
I’m afraid HRT made it worse, not better!
A lot of it seems to be water retention too which makes it look worse. After two kids my stomach will never be pristine I know but yes I’m starting to really hate it! I can randomly lose 2-3 lbs day-day sometimes which tells me it must be water. Salty food makes a definite difference to the bloating (increase).
My bmi is still 22-23 so I’m just aiming to keep within that. As CLKD often says, eating little and often really helps with the blood sugar crashes and energy problems I seem to get sometimes nowadays. Yet in total I am eating much less than I was a few years ago. But it’s a struggle to keep weight down still.
I am just accepting it for now and hopefully once hormones stable after meno I can perhaps lose a little weight if I still want to. It’s just hopeless to try now with everything so unstable. I’m just trying to eat healthily and maintain healthy weight. And not go up a clothes size!