Women's Health Community

Dear bagnes: I can address one of your concerns from both my professional, and personal experience. As we move into our late 40's and certainly into our 60's body shape can change even without any overt weight gain. There is a tendency to have increased central/abdominal fat. Whether this is related to increased insulin resistance/abnormal cholesterol profile or what has been described as an evolutionary protection for the abdominal organs--I do not know. But the "apple shape" becomes more common in women after menopause, and as they age.

Here is one of 196 citations from the National Library of Medicine site on this topic:

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2000 May;904:502-6.
Menopause-related changes in body fat distribution.
Toth MJ, Tchernof A, Sites CK, Poehlman ET.
Source

Department of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405, USA. mtoth@zoo.uvm.ed
Abstract

Menopause-related changes in body fat distribution may partially explain the greater risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease during the postmenopausal years. To date, however, the effect of the menopause transition on body fat distribution remains unclear. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using waist circumference or the waist-to-hip ratio show no effect of menopause on body fat distribution. By contrast, studies using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry showed increased trunk fat in postmenopausal women. Moreover, studies using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) show that postmenopausal women have greater amounts of intra-abdominal fat compared to premenopausal women. Collectively, these studies suggest that the menopause transition is associated with an accumulation of central fat and, in particular, intra-abdominal fat. Whether menopause-related differences in trunk or intra-abdominal fat are independent of age and/or adiposity, however, is unclear. Thus, we recently examined the effect of menopausal status on body composition and abdominal fat distribution in 53 middle-aged, premenopausal women (47 /- 3 years) and 28 early postmenopausal women (51 /- 4 years). Postmenopausal women had 36% more trunk fat (p < 0.01), 49% greater intra-abdominal fat area (p < 0.01), and 22% greater subcutaneous abdominal fat area (p < 0.05) than premenopausal women. The menopause-related difference in intra-abdominal fat persisted (p < 0.05) after statistical adjustment for age and fat mass, whereas no differences were noted in trunk or abdominal subcutaneous fat. A similar pattern of differences in trunk, subcutaneous, and intra-abdominal fat was observed in subsamples of pre- and postmenopausal women matched for age or fat mass. Our data and that of others suggest that early postmenopausal status is associated with a preferential increase in intra-abdominal fat that is independent of age and total adiposity. Thus, CT and MRI should be used when examining menopause-related changes in body fat distribution.

Bagnes, when a 20 pound weight gain is added to the mix, some of it is sure to go to the abdomen!

Alas, I do not know what is prompting your sensation of "baby movement". My best GUESS is motility and peristaltic muscular contraction of the smooth muscles in the large intestine (located across the stomach slightly below the belly button).

Yours,
Jane

Thanks for the info on abdominal fat in older women. I went thru memopause when I was 39 and I just started with the big stomach almost a year ago. Before that I just had a small pouch of loose skin from having my 2 children that never went away. Now I look like I am six months pregnant and feeling all these baby like movements from the belly button up to my rib cage right under my breast. I have never heard of anyone having this before and it concerns me. Most of the women that have been on this discussion seems to have their movement feelings from the waist down to pelvic area. If this was a common normal thing that happens to women why haven't we heard of it before? I just want to know for sure what this movement is and what is causing it.

Dear bagnes: If you were my patient I would likely do a thorough abdominal exam and then order some imaging studies. There is a distant possibility that something occupying space in the lower abdomen is pushing up your intestines into the upper part of the abdomen.

This is, in fact, what happens in pregnancy. If a woman has to have her appendix removed later in pregnancy, her scar can be at waist level rather than down in the right groin.

Hopefully this is not the case with you given that blood work and exams have not shown abnormal results. Still, if you are having symptoms it is worth checking out...If you do get a definitive answer would you kindly write us back so your experience could be shared?

In Gratitude,
Jane

Thanks for the all the info Jane. Will be glad to keep you posted on any answers I get from my Dr. regarding my condition.