It seems I am finished with all the things that come with menopause while still in my 40's. I had one Hell of a Peri-menopause that lasted almost ten years and I just had about three years of awful menopause, with the flashes to the weight gain.

I seem to be losing the weight at a record speed! My metabolism seems to be working as it did again and my appetite went back to as it was before as did my retention of water! It turns out it was largely water that was making me heavier.

I was not BIG at all though, I just had gained twently pounds I didn't want. Being a dancer and being thin all my life, the weight set me wayyyy off balance.

I am thrilled to see it peeling off as I make no effort! Some of this has to do with cutting back on a medication as well.

Menopause CAN end! I thought that after my awful, awful perimenopause that I would have ten years of menopause to deal with too. This was not true, all my symptoms are gone and I feel so much better, and my spirits are lighter, but I am a bit wiser than I was before all of this started.

I paniced when I started menopause. With my last period came weight gain and hot flashes, moods hard to control and the whole thing. I wanted to share that it DOES end and your body will not always stay in that awful shape it can get when one is experiencing menopause!

There is hope ladies. I need a new wardrobe faster than I can buy it and I needed a new one when I started menopause.

My complete menopause experience was about 2 and a half years.

Oh, and there is a certain new frame of mind one gets when it is over. I can't explain it but I feel free and open and able to leap tall buildings.

I'm also more likely to leap those buildings.

The greatest thing is that as the weight started to fall off I started to dance automatically. It was as if my body memory started to kick in and I felt like doing moves all of the sudden in fits. I am thrilled about this.

I just thought I'd tell everyone that there is light at the end of that awful tunnel.

I used no hormone replacement medication. I used no herbs. I went through it naturally without any aid, in case anyone wonders.

Dancer, free at last, and a couple plie, grande jete's to everyone.