The hips start to spread and the waist thickens. There's not much that can be done about it. What bothers me is that women are still taken to task for this very natural phenomena. They don't have their bodies working against them like women do. Instead of explaining this natural process to women and their spouses, women are made to feel inadequate and out of control.
All female animals go through the same process.
We all see our pets getting heavier while not eating any more than they did before. Weight gain is acceptable for animals but not for humans. I've seen many people blame women for this natural weight gain. Women are told that they don't take care of themselves because they have lost the ability to have babies and that they no longer have any self respect because of that fact. Sounds to me that some of these theories are outdated.