Oh! this great fat belly.

Mmm...I'm intrigued as to why middle age spread is inevitable. Is it, really?

You get to a certain age and get the middle age spread.
I have always been a skinny minny and still am except around my middle.
I don't think it will ever go away. We just have to live with it I'm afraid.

Diddy does he know you think he needs to lose weight?

jings at least you can rule it out now.

heckter it's my understanding that without surgery the problem can't be completely solved, although certain exercises can improve the situation.

My Mum is 76 with a tummy, otherwise she's slim. I find it sad she's still dieting trying to lose the tummy. She looks fantastic now.

This is not about ladies tummy fat, its my Husband, he does rather resemble Buddha these days, he has a huge tummy, not attractive one bit, he says he is watching his weight, and has started walking daily, he eats loads of peanuts while watching TV! and eats everything put in front of him, until nothing left. Oddly he struts around at times, almost proud of his figure, which I am afraid is quite repulsive, I have to admit, not attractive at all. Has anyone any suggestion as how to help me to help him, before he has a heart attack, grateful for any help or suggestions you can give please.

I have a massively fat belly.

Bloated at times but also excess stomach fat.

Low oestrogen levels make the body produce more abdominal fat as these fat cells will produce the hormone oestrogen, which at peri and menopause drop dramatically.Progesterone is a precursor to oestrogen however so some women may find using a biodentical cream helps with this...its a bit of trial and error. Wellsprings has a graet amount of info on theses issues. I use their cream.

Stress can trigger over release of cortisol which will cause abdominal fat to be lain down just like if you are on steroid medication from the gp. Steroids affect the glucose mechanisms and storage in the body. That's why loosing abdo fat can reverse some types of diabetes.

chillies are good to speed up metabolism the more the better if you can tolerate them.great in most cooking

Try Yogi or Pukka teas....cinnamon, ginger cardamonn and turmeric all have anti inflammatory and healthy digestive properties. They make these herbal teas you see.

In Asia these are used in tea as a medicine and its the synergistic effect of all the spices heated or cooked together that give the powerful medicinal and healing effects.

Regular 30mins -1 hour daily walks including hilly areas will burn stomach fat off.

Hope this is of interest and may be helpful.

Excercise and good posture are the keys to hiding the belly fat.

I swear by my post natal tummy exercise which I have done since I had my first child 27 years ago. On getting up in the morning I lie flat on my back, draw my knees up and make them touch the floor each side. You can tell it's working as the stomach muscles pull. At the same time suck your stomach in. I do this for five minutes (very boring, read or check texts) and then do 25 pelvic floor scrunches before I get up. Getting up is tricky but swing sideways, sit up and then use your knees to take the strain.

I once heard a talk by a consultant who said that all our spines shrink as we age, and our tums have nowhere to go but out. His advice was "Let it hang out, Ladies". Having said that, my mother wore corsets all her life and never had a tum even at 82. Do you think that now we don't wear them this might be the cause?

jings I had a hump. I hated it but I told myself it was a postural problem and I took after my mother. I was quite wrong. I lost weight doing 5:2 and the hump went away. I will never allow it back again.

Whoops, meant DON'T worry about it!

Please don't try to worry about it. I have a belly, and I'm tall and slim, apart from that. Aren't women supposed to have bellies? Look at Renaissance art instead of shop windows. Sounds like you are doing a lot of exercise anyway. Swimming is good for all areas, as is yoga, and water aerobics is fun and you're hidden from the instructor when you want to fake and have a rest. Try to engage your tummy muscles when you can remember! Have normal meals, just on a smaller plate, but don't deny yourself. Snacks are good as they keep the metabolism going and your body doesn't go into starvation mode.

Don't know why you worry about it. We are grans not teenagers. We had children and we we got older and not as fit as we once were. A fat tum goes with the territory.If you have a hubby I guess he will not be in the best shape,if like me you are a widow then why worry, I am not trying to impress anyone just glad I can still keep my house clean, walk my dog, and care for my grand children when needed.

It's all about aging - not a popular subject, I know, but awareness helps. I have attended at least 4 fitness courses, including Pilates, focused on the older adult, with course content put together by youngsters, and taught by youngsters. None of them have a clue about being older, basically.

Over the years of teaching Pilates, I have noticed that even the skinny ones developing a spare tyre. This is a combination of loss of muscle tone and collapse of connective tissue: that wrinkly, lumpy stuff that used to be smooth! I work daily at maintaining muscle tone, but nothing can be done about connective tissue collapse. So although I do a lot of abdominal exercises - none of them sit ups ( a waste of time, ineffective and inappropriate for older people, and a complete no-no for those with osteoporosis) and I do have a strong core, my waist is ever-widening.

Another factor is that you cannot spot reduce: the only way is to lose weight, so you will lose the weight noticeably from your face: that's life! Really the only way to lose fat, besides watching food intake, is with cardiovascular exercise.

Remember we are all different, and our fat distribution is different. Another age factor is the distribution of fat changes as you age: if you had not much of waist in your youth, ie apple shape, post-menopause the fat will sit around your waist.

As for ab separation, there is still a well-known fitness/Pilates instructor, post three children, who has never managed to get them to meet again, as it is connective tissue, not muscle that separate. The exercise I recommend people with this problem, and anyone with a large ribcage, which also happens with childbirth, is seated spine twist which you can check out on Youtube.

There are loads of inner core exercises that can be done in Pilates without a single ab curl, or a plank.

I should have had a pee before I started doing that.

I've got a two finger gap. Felt weird.

Not sure if I can feel anything through my flab though!

Thank you Wilma. Will read and look.

jings this website tells you how to check and gives you some exercises to help with the problem

Diastasis recti

There's lots of videos on YouTube too.

Eating bread causes my tummy to swell; when I cut it out of my diet my stomach visibly goes down. Unfortunately, after a while I cave in and eat it again.

Reading back over my posts I would just like to mention I am not Quasimodo-ish.

How can you tell if you've got that abdominal separation thing? I had my third child at 39. I blame him that.

my grandmother had a hump. Not a 'hmm'

sticking out

Your spine can make your stomach protrude. I have a bit of a hump possibly due to a back injury. Although a sticking tummy runs in our family and my grandmother had a hmm.

Of course, it could be just inner fatness.

I call it my Mummy Tummy.
I now have a mental talk to myself = sit up tall and brush hair, take off glasses for all photos.