Fat distribution years out?

I am curious if people still find this an issue years out? I am almost 5 years out and maintaining well below goal, sometimes too low.

But as I try to put on weight and keep things stable I find that my top gets smaller and smaller and my legs are getting more of the melted candle look. My weight is slowly sliding down my body! Ugh.

Maybe it's age? Does this happen with menopause? Lack of exercise?

Thoughts, experiences and opinions appreciated!

Most of this has to do with exercise. I go to a gym where there are mostly senior citizens. It is amazing what happens to their body with simple, weight bearing exercise. My oldest cousin is 87. He is at the gym five days a week at 7:30 AM. He wears 30" waist jeans that would look awesome on a teenager.

A friend is 74. She never misses her gym time. Her body is amazingly tight and slim. She spends an hour on the treadmill reading a book. That is after an hour of working out on the machines. The secret is consistency. They consider the gym a playground, not a workplace.

They wear cute outfits, with matching shoes. The women show up with their hair nicely styled. Nobody works up a sweat or ruins their makeup. They do what they can. The chair yoga classes are packed. The program is associated with a hospital and the trainers are awesome.

Many of their people started after things like heart attacks and made up their mind to change their life because if they don't they will not longer have a life. I watch people go from overweight and out of shape to trim, healthy and full of energy. It is not an overnight process, but it can be done at any age with consistency.

This is a fabulous story - I so want to be like you and your friends when I am in the other side of 50!

I am so afraid of the gym since it triggered so many of my current complications and issues but perhaps I should revisit it after my next surgery and once I am back in Europe.

I can clearly see in my legs how my muscles are shrinking and the skin just hangs. I walk so much in Tokyo but that really doesn't seem to change anything.

I am just surprised at how my body is changing shape, yet my weight remains the same.

Thanks WD. It's good to see you back and posting!

I think part is genetics and ourr body type, but I think that part is due to type of activities we have/Do

For a long time my main exercise was just walking.

When one year I had DEXA can done - it show more muscle mass and stronger bones in the bottom part of my body. My upper part - body fat%, bone density and even muscles mass were very low (very low for me).

When I lost an additional 12 lbs from that, my upper body was just skin and bones. My body "used" the part of me I did not "use much" but the part that I was using (for walking)

I had no upper body strength.

That is super interesting. Because I she. Been trying to get to 130 lbs - my doctors recommended weight for a much needed surgery- and also because I have discouraged from formal weight traininndue to hernias- I have lost a lot of muscle tone. I am at a low weight, but likely I am not very toned. I walk a bunch - Tokyo lifestyle demands it - but I completely off any kind of formal weight training.

i feel like all my weight is slowly but surely sliding down! Hmm. Once I have my surgery I guess I will need to get back into a gym! Thanks HALA

Since I have stopped walking my legs are bigger than they were.

yi am going to start walking again. My muscle tone went away and I want it back

I do almost all of my exercise in a swimming pool. Swimming, water aerobics with weights, and walking in the water. It keeps me very toned and I don't get sore muscles.

I have exactly the same issue.

I am much smaller on the top part of my body than the lower half -- and like you, my hernia repairs limit the type of exercise I am supposed to do. Couple that with abhorring any real workout routine ...

Maintaining the same weight (ironically at where you want to be: in the 130's) my neck now measures under 11 inches, bra band is 30" and my waist has gone down to 26.5. However, go below that, and it's like I used a boppy pillow an ass implant or something.

Boppy pillow! Yes exactly. I could go braless, my boobs have shrunk down to preteen year size, my chest is like a ladder showing every rib, yet my thighs look like any ounce of fat left has slid down to join the rest in a slinky effect of skin.