Vanity of Age: The "Meno-Belly"

Tripe (stomach). Istanbul market, Turkey. July 2012. Credit: Mzuriana.

This "meno-belly" (aka "meno-pot") business has only just come to my attention. 

When I arrived at my healthy body weight (overall, a 150-pound weight loss over the course of some years), I had what they call an "apron," which is loose skin that hangs down a bit from the abdomen. 

But more recently, I have acquired the proverbial spare tire around my middle. "Recently" meaning: In the last two years, maybe a bit longer. 

I blamed it on these two things, in chronological order: 

1. Moved from a dance-intensive area to an area where there is not much of a dance community, so I lost that good workout; and
2. COVID, of course 

I had gotten a little loosey-goosey on my caloric intake, too, not much, but over time, enough sloppiness to spill over into some weight gain. 

So I've tightened up the daily caloric envelope to see what happens. 

You'd think an esteemed institution such as the Cleveland Clinic would have something insightful to offer here, but it doesn't. Just the usual stuff: Weight, exercise, diet, blah, blah, blah. I can get that in a so-called "women's" magazine. Or The Enquirer. The Mayo Clinic isn't much better. 

However, there is a possible tiny hint of what might have contributed to my meno-belly - which by the way - did not emerge until well after I'd passed through menopause: 

1. A reference to sleep apnea in the Cleveland Clinic's article; and
2. A reference to breathing problems in the Mayo Clinic's article. 

Because "breathing problems" are a function of sleep apnea, it's possible that as the treatment of my sleep apnea progresses, my meno-belly might contract. 

I wonder about this possibility because I noticed a change in my sleep patterns after I moved to Tucson. And it was during my Tucson sojourn that I began to notice the belly change. 

We'll see.