You will have noticed that men tend to have fat above the waistband, and on the whole women are fat round the bum. Male pattern fat is also called visceral fat, and it is metabolically active, and is one of the causes of hypertension, adult onset type 2 diabetes and other unpleasant illnesses.

This kind of fat is the muffin-top. Exercise is very helpful in dealing with the problems this kind of fat causes. Even just walking a few more hundred yards a day will help. Get a pedometer and see if you can add 2,000 stops a day to your normal routine.

Muffin top often occurs during and after the menopause, as some of the female hormones are reduced. We all have the male hormone testosterone, but in women at menopause, it is allowed to run free, thus triggering visceral fat deposits.

So, fat around the backside may not look lovely but it is not unhealthy. If you have a muffin top, see what sort of exercise you can include in your daily schedule?