BELLY FAT AND BACK FAT

I've never had a really really flat belly, even as a young chick. Whenever I felt bloated, my tummy stuck out. Whenever I put on the minutest amount of weight, it ended up on my tummy. I used to be envious of women who put weight on their bum and never on their tum.

Wind the clock forward to menopause and post HRT, the fat has been accumulating on the upper and lower abdomen, the waist, the back and the boobs. I try my best to camouflage it with appropriate clothing, but often when I look at myself in photos I can see the barrel shape getting worse. I often despair about this situation as I have always been regarded as a relatively skinny person. I wouldn't be called fat, because my apple-shaped body gets cleverly covered with appropriate clothing to hide all the imperfections.

Have tried dieting, exercising, keto, 5:2 diets, but nothing works.

I was on HRT for around 20 years and felt good. I only went off it because my doc said I'd been on it for too long and there was a risk of breast cancer. In addition, with COVID around there were shortages in supply and sometimes it was totally unavailable.

After much soul and internet searching I found an organisation called the Australian Menopause Centre which empathised with my situation and offered help in these areas. I have been put back on hormones (albeit body-identical hormones which are proven to be much safer than synthetic hormone treatments). Apparently, 'recent studies have shown that menopausal women on hormone therapy tend to have less body fat, especially visceral belly fat. Because estrogen affects how your body distributes fat, low estrogen levels can contribute to gaining fat in your belly area.'

Anyway, I'm about to try it out, so I'll keep you posted.

PS: Have now been on the new HRT for a couple of months and am feeling much better. No more hot flushes and my sleep is improving. Still struggling to lose the fat though.