Spare tires don't only come on cars

Bleck! That's the only way I can describe my mid-section now that I am BFF's (NOT!) with Menopause.

I used to have a waist. Really. It dented in and everything! My pants buttoned without straining in agony and looking they were going to rend at the seams; my skirts clasped in the back without closing off the circulation to my abdominal area; and when I wore a fitted shirt - it did! Not anymore. No, now I've got an actual roll - and I don't mean bread, although it is doughy - around the area I used to fondly refer to as my waist.

When I was a kid I  heard references to "middle aged spread" and didn't understand the term. Now, I have a first hand view of what it means.

The experts will tell you it occurs because of the hormone changes. Your body tends to store fat more when your female hormones go wonky. Conventional wisdom might tell you to stop eating fattening foods and the spare tire won't happen. I'm here to tell you NO! NOPE! Won't do a thing. I starve STARVE myself most days and it's still there, happy and flabby. ( Sounds like 2 of Snow White's dwarves).

Some nutritionists say it occurs because our body's metabolism slows down and we tend to not be able to burn as easily as we once did.  Okay, maybe. But I'm eating energy burning foods, not storage ones - no difference.

Other's blame the hormone cortisol.  When it goes up or down stuff happens in our body that I don't understand. 

Still other theories accuse of us being more sedentary when we reach this age. Another No! NOPE!. I exercise more now than I did in my 20's and 30's and I'm fatter than ever. Most of the women I know exercise heaps more than then did as younger gals - same results. Still chubby in the midsection. I could do sit-ups until the proverbial cows came home and I'd still have this mound of mush in my midsection.

Whatever the reason, I hatehatehate the fact that my pants don't close, my skirts don't clasp, I'm forced to wear unattractive elastic waisted garments and muumuus so that "my roll" isn't on display.
Sometimes I really wish men would have to go through this...then there'd really be a cure!


when I'm not bemoaning my chubbiness, you can find me here in my other life of romance writer: Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triber// Book Me

Comments

  1. I hear you. When I was in perimenopause I stopped wearing the dresses that hugged me nicely before. One day, postmenopausal, my partner asked why I wasn't wearing a particular dress, and I told him I looked misshapen and ugly in it. Secretly I tried it on again-it didn't look as bad as a few years before. I realized that the core exercises I had been doing to get stronger also thinned my middle (a little), enough to look less barrel-shaped and to brave my slim dress for one romantic night with my lover. It's hard, but with wholesome diet and exercise (targeting the core- planks and abs) I got rid of some of my muffin top. Try it. Teresa

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