Menopausal weight

Most body fat gain is a function of calorie intake. If calorie intake is higher than calorie expenditure, we gain weight, and under most conditions that gained weight will be fat. Exercise doesn't burn as many calories as many people assume: It's way, way easy to eat too many.

I was training pretty hard 6 days most weeks for a dozen years, even competing as an athlete, and stayed class 1 obese. When I started food logging and calorie counting, and tuned in the right number of calories for sensibly gradual weight loss, I lost weight fine. That happened while I was already pretty old (59-60), had been in menopause for almost 15 years (chemotherapy gave me early menopause), and severely hypothyroid (medicated for it). Some people will say any of those things are weight loss doom: I didn't find that to be true. I'm 69 now, still active, still in menopause, still hypothyroid . . . and still at a healthy weight since that loss almost ten years ago. For me, it was definitely all about getting my eating at the right calorie level.

In general, losing belly fat happens when we lose body fat by eating in a calorie deficit. Different people lose weight from different body areas in a different order, but that's mostly genetics: We can't spot reduce specific areas. The one exception is someone who has a large amount of visceral fat, the kind of fat inside the body cavity, within the sheath of bones and muscles, located in and around internal organs.

There are some things that can reduce visceral fat gradually even if staying at a constant weight. But losing weight overall will also tend to reduce visceral fat. Plain old weight loss is probably a good starting point for someone who wants to lose belly fat. Some of the things we commonly do to lose weight - eating nutritiously, exercising, getting good sleep, etc. - also are things that reduce visceral fat. Making sure there's a calorie deficit alongside that will cause loss of visceral and other fat.

I'm betting that if you figure out a sustainable way to eat somewhat fewer calories than you burn in all ways - just being alive, doing daily life stuff like job and chores, plus exercise - then you can lose weight.

Best wishes!