Bet you never gave much thought to menopause and all the fun (not) experiences it brings with it. There are the night sweats, power surges (as my sis calls them), and don't forget the belly fat that seemed to adhere itself to your middle overnight.

Did you imagine that math would become so complicated when you were in school? As your age increases, your metabolism decreases. As the birthdays are added, so are the pounds. As the calories are subtracted, the scale continues to rise. In what math class did these problems make sense?

Fortunately, there are solutions. If you've found that eating the same amount (or less) than you always did doesn't seem to have the weight loss results that it used to, then you need to take a look at your old habits and re-tool them to operate in your new set of circumstances. You no longer have the luxury of making generalized assumptions about your calorie intake and energy output - obviously, what used to work just doesn't . . . not anymore.

Don't fret, help is here! Read on to get some common sense tips to help you get rid of menopause belly fat.

Enter Strip That Fat.

Strictly speaking, it's not a diet at all. There's no calorie counting, no pre-packaged foods, no emphasis on one food group over another, no limits on how much food you can eat.

You may call it a weight loss program, because following it does result in a very encouraging melting of poundage, but really, the emphasis with this program is healthy, well-balanced lifestyle changes that give you the fitness results you're looking for in the easiest, most sensible and most motivating way.

You know yourself well enough to know that you can't be expected to stick to a program that works against your preferences and instincts. The people at Strip That Fat know it, too. They've created a program that works with you, not against you.

It's not about depriving yourself, it's about healthy living solutions

With over 40,000 diet combinations, it's so flexible and customizable that anyone can find plenty of variety and familiarity in their meal plan.

Their emphasis is on long-term healthy living solutions, and so it promotes a diet full of fruit, vegetables, protein and grain, lots of easy and fun exercise, and portion control - not calorie counting or food elimination.

Starving yourself only results in your body cannibalizing its own lean muscle tissue for energy, which you definitely don't want!

Strip That Fat tells you that you can lose up to 2 pounds per week, and not just water weight, although the first week or so that's probably what is actually happening.

But the smaller yet more frequent meals are actually boosting your metabolism, the very thing that menopausal women need, and a charged metabolism will burn more calories.

Remember that nasty equation we mentioned before - how eating less resulted in gaining weight? Well, as little sense as that seems to make, it's probably your reality right now. So while it seems to make no more sense to think that eating more will result in losing weight, it's equally true, and Strip That Fat teaches you how to do it.

You know that food intake in and of itself is not enough to give your metabolism a leg up and make it burn fat.

Exercise is a vital ingredient to your overall health, and it's an integral component of the Strip That Fat program. They teach you how to exercise in the correct way, allowing your body to burn more calories by increasing your metabolism.

Belly fat can be reduced with some of these tips from Strip That Fat. Finding the combination of foods and the right amount of exercise will help to get you back on track and burning calories.

Taking these measures will certainly help you reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease. It's not just a matter of wanting to look good, it's better for your health.