Thought I should also point out that as many women get older they tend to thicken up through the torso and develop a less defined waist. This has happened to me, much to my chagrin. And if you take a good look at Madonna's photos (to use someone highly visible and highly fit) through the years you will see that the same thing has happened to her.

This, along with the baby fat deposit, has nothing to do with lack of control in diet or exercise and everything to do with the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone and their fluctuations in the decade to twenty years before menopause.

So some things ARE a little bit beyond our control. Which is extremely frustrating as doing the right work is supposed to guarantee a specific result.