Author:  Maria Alfano

You always prided yourself on being in shape and yet after 50 you are suddenly sporting a menopause apron belly.  

Looking in the mirror, the image staring back at you is not someone you recognize.  Why did this happen to you!!  How can you get rid of this belly pouch?

It can be disturbing to see the person in the mirror is not someone you recognize.  Your biggest fears have come true.

Menopause gave you the dreaded weight gain – the dreaded overhanging belly.

How do you know what an apron belly looks like?  What can you do about it?

Menopause Apron Belly – Why & How to Get Rid of It

I know what you’re thinking…not another diet plan.

Technically, eating well is a part of any good lifestyle, not only to get rid of that menopause apron belly.

What DOes a Menopausal Tummy Look Like

It’s those darn hormones again playing havoc with your body.  The lack of estrogen and progesterone do wonders for changing the way you look, including the shape of your body.

Estrogen helps to move fat away from the key areas to the waistline.  In its estrogen’s, the fat accumulates in exactly the place you don’t want at your midsection.  Fat from your behind and thighs can transfer to the belly area during menopause.

Your “fairly” flat stomach has started protruding and hanging over your pant waistband.  Thanks to menopause, older women’s bellies tend to stick out.

Even though you may weigh the same, the shift in where your body fat is sitting means you no longer fit into your favorite pair of jeans.

How to Get Rid of Menopause Apron Belly

The true question is can you get rid of your apron belly?  There is the obvious way of getting rid of the extra fluff around your midsection and that is through surgery – a tummy tuck, liposuction, or cool sculpting.

Surgical Procedures

• Tummy tuck – the surgical procedure that literally cuts out the fat and extra skin from your body.  Aside from being painful, your plastic surgeon will charge handsomely for this operation.  While this is supposed to be a permanent solution, changing your eating habits will be helpful to keep it permanent.
• Liposuction – involves a tube being inserted into the fatty areas and vacuuming out the fat in the part of your body.  Lipo works best for small areas of fat deposits.  If you need your thighs or butt suctioned, it will help.
• CoolSculpting –  is less invasive as it is performed on the surface of the skin.  The purpose of this technique is to make the fat cells so cold they are destroyed.  This is meant to be used only when diet and exercise cannot get rid of the final bits of fat left on your body.

Natural Methods

The key factors to menopause apron belly lie within your own body.  Understand these, and you may be able to reverse your unsightly belly pouch without paying a plastic surgeon thousands of dollars for their services.

• Sleep – there is a lot to be said for a good night’s rest.  Your body needs it to heal itself.  Get into the habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour and aim for at least 7 hours of sleep.

• Manage stress – when the phrase “I’m stressed out” became mainstream, the general public laughed it off.  In fact, stress does a lot of damage to your mental and physical health.  Managing your stress means the stress hormones like cortisol are not as prevalent.  Too much cortisol increases the fat deposits in the body.
• Diet – what you eat is super important.  With so many diets out there, picking the right one could be extremely difficult.  Since everyone is different, one food that is good for you, may not be good for someone else.  If you are going to make dietary changes like Keto, carnivore, or veganism, you should plan on committing to it for a minimum of 30 days to see how your body reacts to it.

There are foods that are highly inflammatory that can increase your belly fat and bloat.

• Exercise – you don’t need a gym membership or fancy equipment in your home.  You just need to move your body.  Simply walking for 20 minutes every other day is a great start and it won’t hurt those achy knees of yours.

In Summary – Menopause Apron Belly

While hormone changes can make you cry, overheat you, or cause you to lose hair, the lack of them may also give you the dreaded menopause apron belly. You can help yourself to keep the pooch at bay with some simple natural remedies like reducing stress or having a good night’s sleep.

If you are someone who wants fast results now then you may want to try some of the medical procedures like a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) or liposuction.

We would love to hear from you.  How did you get rid of your apron belly?

 

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