Menopause Stomach

Lucky you, no stomach till now; I wish I could say the same. You can try putting more phytoestrogens in your diet.

Hi Mama-
My mother went through this a few years ago and a co-worker of mine also had the same issue. For my mother, it was the fact of havign children and while she was pretty thin for most of her life and healthy and active, her body, at 55, started to wear out in certain places. She had a hysterectomy and while they took some stuff out (your body will actually begin to fall out and your stomach gets larger because things are sagging inside and lumping up), they also put in a desolvable webbing and retacked her insides and muscles to it so that they would heal and grow up instead of down. The other lady, my co-worker, was not yet ready for surgery and all of that change, but her middle was swelling up, etc. She told me that (and your doctor will most likely agree) getting older means slower metabolism, less tone, etc. You will have to work out more and eat even healthier. Liquids and dairy you have a fantastic handle on. Now it'stime to look at the solids. Lower your car intake to complex carbs only, and as little bread as possible. Start excercising a little more vigorously. Balance your diet to 90% fruits and veggies, and 10% meats and carbs and dairy.
You should also give yourself a break. You have given birth to 9 babies. That alone gives you the right to some soft body areas. But if you want to harden up and slim down, there are some great things you can do.
Check out "the method". Gwenyth Paltrow uses this workout/trainer for post babies and for the extra slim down. She looks amazing. I also watched some home videos from ladies who had done this- everyday people- and they felt and looked better than ever. Here is a link to see.
http://action.tracyandersonmethod.com/site
Good luck mama! I hope this helps!
-E. M

I think it happens to most women...they may not be "fat" but the middle/waist area thickens during menopause....joy, joy.

I don't know that I have the answer, but I can share what happened at my recent visit to a nutrionist. This lady was MEAN to me (not kidding) - she told me that when I hit menopause, I was going to get very fat and there was nothing I could do about it :) She said it was because I didn't eat within 30 minutes of waking. Now, I was not happy about the whole "fat" thing - I am 5'7" and 129 lbs (I'm 39, turning 40 this year). However, I think in her mean way, she was indicating that when a person hits menopause, they need to change when they eat and that eating in that first 30 minutes would help.

Give it a shot if you want - it certainly isn't going to hurt anything :)