I'm still 5 + years away, but best I got is:
Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Exercize daily. Have variety. Do intervals.
Specifically-Pilates, and anything balance related works the core.

Ultimately though, the most important thing is to love our bodies for what they can do-6 pack abs or no. We should have gratitude for all the ways we can move, not having pain, not having illness-because we (self included) take that for granted, until we do have health issues.
Also, I suspect the weight probably serves a protective function, in case we have falls. Not looking forward to it and will probably gripe about it though!

Not surrendering to drape just yet. But maybe will change my mind when I hit the menopause. It could be any day now, will be 50 in July.

@April, I’m 54 and am right there with you. Still no sign of menopause. I get asked the same question. Last year my Ob. Gym told me it can be normal to go until you are 58! There is a range, and I guess we are at the tail end. No worries!

I don’t know why I remember this. Maybe it impressed me or maybe it’s just because I thought it was odd that a woman in Italy had the same name as someone our family knew, but the Guiness book of world records my parents had on the shelf then said that the oldest woman to ever give birth was 54.

LOL, Fashintern, I think it may be older than that. My Ob. Gyn. gave me the age range for a reason!

Well darn it, now you made me go and look it up. This is from about 30 years after the time I was growing up. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne.....other.html In the meantime, life expectancies have increased in many places, so it makes sense that fecundity would go later. Then again, it’s entirely possible that the Guiness corporation in the 1970s wasn’t exactly multi-culti; while they exoticised people from around the world, I could entirely believe there may have been non-Western people who gave birth later who the book didn’t recognize.
Anyway, whether 50s or 70s are the natural cutoff, watch out, unless you want to be granny with the baby lol.

Ps—not questioning the age range of menstruation your gyno gave you—but don’t most women slowly lose fertility as menopause approaches?

Yes, FI -- you're quite right, there is no fertility going on here. That has been confirmed via labs. It's just the darned "peri" phase that's going on and on and on...

Hahaha!

LOL!
I still like slim shapes and silhouettes, but it is true, I am becoming a draper. No matter my age, I intend to stay healthy, love my shape and embrace the drape. Admittedly, I would not complain if my waist decided to whittle itself a little!

April, ugh. I started the “peri” bit in my 30s.