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Since I am an apple and prone to putting on the belly and upper body fat, I've tried to do a lot of reading about body shape and what factors contribute to areas of fat accumulation. Two useful books I found were Apples vs Pears and How to Defeat Your Shape. Both indicated that women who had been hourglass shaped in their earlier years can adopt the characteristics of apple shape as they get close to enter menopause. Presumably this is because the ratio of estrogen to testosterone in the body changes.
In my case I now realize that I have always been an apple waiting to ripen. I never had an hourglass figure at any weight. The closest I got was in my mid-twenties when I starved myself down to 116 lbs and was skin and bones with big boobs.
My experience is that my belly fat does seem to respond to reducing the high glycemic foods in my diet. This is why I am sticking with FitDay rather than going for the pyramid/servings plan. If ate the # of servings of grains (even whole grains) that the dietitician recommends, I would be still ballooning. I seem to do better with green veggies, limiting fruits, small amount of whole grains, and more protein.
Doesn't help that my hubby is one of those tall stringbean guys who can and do eat everything and anything without gaining an once. In 27 years of marriage he his weight has varied no more than 5 lbs in any direction. Boo hoo.....
Souzan
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