Perimenopause: can it change your body TYPE? Ie pear/hourglass etc

My weight goes to my middle but I can shift it if I watch what I eat.
I still have slim hips and legs, which I'm pleased about as I can wear leggings, tunic tops and ankle boots and feel comfortable and fashionable.
In Summer I wear pedal pushers most of the time with lovely cotton tops.
But at the end of the day, we are, what we are! Put a lovely smile on your face and what does it matter?

Nanna58..? that made me laugh!.. these lucky men..just straight up and down most of them!.. shame we can't take the best of both apple and pear shaped.. I'd probably end up like a watermelon...lol!

Thank you ladies, I will make an appointment to see a GP ?

Toots , don’t envy us apples, yes I have no hips and my legs are very slim, and so are my arms, bur I’ve got this dreadful blocky’ middle. My dear old dad used to describe me as a cheese and pineapple cube with four cocktail sticks ! ??

I used to have an hour glass figure , now I'm like Big Ben .

I had one skinny pregnancy and one fat one...so where does that leave me?

There was an article in the papers today linking overweight in middle age with how much weight the individual put on during their pregnancies. If you put on a lot of extra weight in pregnancy this could reprogramme your body to automatically lay down more fat in middle age.

I couldn't have put on excess weight in pregnancy even if I had wanted to. I suffered from 24/7 morning sickness from week 6 to week 40. After DS was born I weighed a stone less than I did at the start of my pregnancy and I wasn't overweight then either.

Still it is good to know that severe morning sickness has its advantages.

Still an hourglass - just a larger one

Is it entirely due to nature or has our metabolism slowed down with a combination of moving about less and eating more of what we enjoy to cheer ourselves up?

No that's not what I mean. Its not that Ive gained weight its that when I do it DOESNT go where it used to go, and instead has gone where it never used to go.

I am still within my normal range of fluxuation, its my shape that changed

I only started having hot flushes and then all the horrible menopausal symptoms a year ago at 58 . This was followed by a sudden weight gain which all went to my waist / stomach . I joined slimming world and lost 9 pounds which was enough to return to my previous shape . ( hourglass ) . I was ill over Christmas and actually gained weight through not moving enough . A few weeks of extra moving and healthy eating will sort it . Also hoping to start HRT this week . I read somewhere that menopause can add 5 pounds .

Is it entirely due to nature or has our metabolism slowed down with a combination of moving about less and eating more of what we enjoy to cheer ourselves up?
I think it's all of those with me.
I used to be an inverted pear shape but now I'm a blob. Waist thicker and tummy rounder.
I've still got beautiful little hands though!

Had a good laugh about all the comments. I also have a few extra pads of fat on the onside thighs and the boobs seem to be getting a bit bigger...such is life...

I only joined Gransnet for a comp-been on mumsnet for over 10 years and have fallen into this interesting thread! Oh the joys of being a woman.

I've never minded being pear shaped, but having always struggled with my weight I do envy apple shaped ladies, because most of you have lovely slim legs and can still wear shorts when it's hot...something I've never been able to do...well, except when I was a teenager!.. but I do agree, your shape changes from at least having some shape I now resemble the wardrobe I keep my clothes in... ? ya gotta laugh...

I haven't really changed shape since puberty, except when I was pregnant. I have a somewhat lumpy tummy as a result of two lots of life-saving surgery some twenty something years apart. The boobs have dropped/drooped a bit, but I am still a size eight in jeans and skirts and a size 12 in dresses and tops. What I am relieved about is that I haven't started shrinking yet, as I understand osteoporosis is painful; still 5 ft 9 inches and holding up straight. However, I don't think my feet have ever recovered from endless pushing a pram or buggy while wearing flat shoes all those decades ago; what were once slim and elegant have become rather splayed. I also think I can detect signs of arthritis in my hands.

I'm glad..

Stop it Miss A I've got the giggles now.

Some of our kitchen cupboards have doors which rise up. I've always managed to reach up- on tiptoes- to close it but recently have struggled and now can't reach handle to pull it closed. I've shrunk!! What can I do about it? Is it worth going to doctor??

That's interesting because I HAVE shrunk I am half an inch shorter than I used to be. But its not just that my fat distribution has changed. Its very odd to be a different shape!

Wish my fat would gravitate to my behind. It has all but disappeared. Makes sitting on bony chairs very uncomfortable. Likewise my formerly muscular arms and thighs have gone puny. Fat belly is there and growing, though. Bad.

I was just thinking the other day that my boobs have shrunk.
So, now I'm like a flat chested space hopper.

its not actually menopause, as we get older we shrink. and the extra bits of us settle on the hips and bum. take me i was 5ft 8ins in just over 2 years i am know 5ft 7 ins and got a lot of weight on my hips and now classed as obese..isnt life wonderful....

I too had bleeding for 16 months after no bleeding for 2 years. All of 2017 and 4 months of 2018 it carried on. . I went back and forth to gp asking for help. Told to keep a diary. I didn't need a diary...l was bleeding every day and huge clots at that! So gave up seeing my female gp and saw a male gp. Within weeks was at hospital seeing gynaecology...had scans and biopsy ( no anaesthetic..painful) and a smear..no cancer...phew.....was told it happens...hmmm...would l like a coil..No Thanks...anyway...since then...I am every 4 months for 2 weeks at at time. I have been told l have NOT been through the menopause...l am nearly 59!!!!

Purplepoppies See your GP. It has been many years since my p's finished but around two years from the last one I had what you have experienced. Went to GP and I was referred to gyno where under anaesthetic a procedure was carried out which in those days??? was known as a scrape ! I was informed it was 'debris'??and nothing to be concerned over.Better to be safe than sorry.

Another odd menopausal thing, my hair used to be straight and now has a very definate wave, have had to change my hairstyle a bob is impossible to tame