How to Banish Belly Fat

Pamela Peeke, MD, the scientist who invented the word “menopot,” tells you how to lose yours.

MORE: How did you think up the term “Menopot”?

PEEKE: When I first came to work at a lab at the National Institutes of Health, I realized that, after a certain age, women were picking up this extra belly fat. I went around to my colleagues, all of whom were male, and I asked them to tell me what’s appearing on women’s mid-sections. The answer I got: “excessive subcutaneous adiposity in the lower abdominal quadrant.” I thought, “Man, that’s just not going to sell to any woman consumer.” But one night, at three in the morning, I woke up out of a deep sleep and thought, “It’s a pot. It’s a Menopot!” The word is supposed to be in either the current or the upcoming edition of Webster’s.

MORE: Why do women develop these Menopots?

PEEKE: There is no question that, no matter who you are, a woman is going to pick up a little bit of a Menopot when you course through menopause. The amount you pick up is relative to your base status. The Menopot itself is the squishy soft fat under the skin that lays on top of your abdominal muscle—it’s the part that you can grab.  It accumulates because of hormonal changes. Up until your early 40s, estrogen receptors in your hips and thighs attract excess weight. But when estrogen begins to decline, excessive weight is deposited preferentially in your abdominal region. None of this is dependent on you’re being super-fat. All sized women will accumulate a Menopot. One day you wake up and find you have some level of a muffin top thing going on.