I am 47 years old and my last peiod finished on May 7th 2014. I alwas had regular and heavy periods. I have, however, suddenly put on 2kg in the last week. I haven't chaged my eating or drinking patterns at all. Is this normal?

Unfortunately, falling oestrogen can cause a problem with carbohydrate metabolism in some women making it very easy to put on weight and practically impossible to lose, regardless of how little you eat or how much exercise you do!

You may find cutting carbohydrates right down and increasing proteins and vegtables helps here; have a look at the 'Low GL' Diet - for more info on this see Amazon.

Changing hormones can also cause water retention and this can increase weight quickly so you may find drinking dandelion tea or taking dandelion tincture helpful for this.

However, it is also a good idea to get this checked out by your doctor as well - low iron and low thyroid can also be a contributory factor and your doctor can test for these to rule them out.

Eileen Durward