Oh! this great fat belly.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

In my observation most middle aged women, and older ones too, take spectacularly little exercise.There are quite a lot of retired people in my area. There is only one other woman that I see out regularly exercising by walking.
I have some trousers I bought 14 years ago (I remember that it was my sister's 50th when I got them) and they still fit fine. I'm sure they would not if i did not try to get at least 3/4 of an hour energetic walking in most days.

jessm my observation too, about exercise. I'm lazy, and make a real effort, even I I don't like exercise much.

Well done you for getting into those trousers.

I've always done loads of exercise. Walking, bike riding, gardening. Still thickened post menopause. My stomach is exactly as it was when I was five months pregnant with DS. At 39.

diddy Put smaller helpings in front of him, and hide anything left in the pan so that he can't go for seconds. Stop buying peanuts and when he looks for them, tell him there are none left in the cupboard.

Buy him underwear and T-shirts one size too small that will feel too tight.

Talk to him, say you are worried about his heart and you don't want to be a widow.

I've always had a biggish tummy, at the start of my first pregnancy my GP asked if I'd ever had an op because there seemed to be a bit of a gap in my tummy muscles. I'm 5ft 1in and weigh between 8st and 8st 7lb and I walk miles. Over Christmas DH was in hospital so with no-one around knowing what I was up to I ate very little (on purpose) and my tummy went down. Michael Mosely's latest Blood Sugar Diet claims that visceral fat decreases with low or non carb food.

My fitness mad step daughter (her body is her profession) who knows how much exercise I get has told me I need to get more sleep. Apparently I don't get enough and a body that's sleep deprived reacts by storing fat on the stomach.

Don't forget about Water Retention? And look at Lifestyle eating, I have recently done this and found Souper foods help a lot.

Bella ... The day we stop caring about how we look is the day we may as well die ....
I see some stunning Grans out and about ( myself included on a good day)
Why let ourselves go
And me too am struggling with the dreaded muffin top ....

Surgery, don't mess about, "if it affends you cut it off", just don't tell anyone.

My problem, too. I don't mind having put on some weight over the years,except for my huge, wobbly belly, out of proportion to everything else - making dress wearing impossible. Just look eternally pregnant.

I have been told by an expert on human biology, nutrition and body shape that after the menopause we need our belly fat. That's because we still need oestrogen, and once our ovaries have packed up production, some types of body fat will produce oestrogen for us. So it's natural, don't worry about it! What is unnatural and unfair is expecting older women to have the same body shape as younger women.

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Not much belly fat at all now. I even have hip bones. I am on the Low carb high fat way of eating. Reversed my diabetes and gone from a size 18 to a 14. Very easy to do and no calorie counting

Wonderful BB

Well done BBevan on your weight loss my problem is carbs I love bread and potatoes how did you do it did you cut out carbs altogether.

Not altogether. There's carbs in nearly everything, e.g. Milk. But the simple way is to cut out sugars (i.e. cakes, biscuits, fruit juices) bread, potatoes, rice, pasta.

Cut back on fruit and carby vegetables.

Exactly Anya my downfall is fruit. But I limit myself to berries and full fat yogurt for breakfast, and now and again a fig or a peach.

I have a fat tummy; I always have, since I was a skinny child.

I despise my fats stomach, crisscrossed with scars just looks so siy with old lady skinny legs. The only thing it's good for is if I need abreast reconstruction.