You may have noticed a few extra pounds around your waist recently..

These are the unwelcome signs of midlife expansion — the body changes that beset most women between the ages of  35 and 55.  You may find that your weight increases without any changes in your diet or that weight loss becomes much more difficult. You also discover that the weight you gain tends to accumulate around your stomach, rather than your hips and thighs.

You don't have to accept it as inevitable…

But you don't have to accept weight gain as inevitable.  You can take steps to prevent weight gain before it starts. And if you've already begun adding to your waistline, it's never too late to reverse the process through proper diet and exercise.

Causes of mid-life weight gain…

For most women, increases and shifts in weight begin during the years leading up to the menopause.  But these shifting levels of estrogen aren't the only source of your weight gain.  There are other factors at work which affect men and women equally during the mid-life period

Reduced physical activity - You may be taking less exercise now than when you were younger which can lead to weight gain.

Increased food intake - you may be eating more or about the same - but more of it is being converted to fat

Slowing metabolism - your metabolic rate slows with age and the ratio of fat to muscle increases.  As muscle burns more
calories than fat, the less muscle you have, the fewer calories you burn.  You can speed up your metabolism safely and get added health benefits with

Genetics - you may be genetically programmed to gain weight around your stomach as you age. That means you may have to work even harder to maintain your figure.

Fat actually accelerates the aging process..

According to a research study recently published in London, people who carry more weight age faster than those whose weight is within healthy limits.

By examining cells at the molecular level, the research showed that the more people weigh, the older their cells appear to be.  The cells of obese people appeared to be an average of nine years older than those of people of normal weight.
 

The leader of the study - Dr Tim Spector of St. Thomas Hospital London, said, “We’ve known obesity increases your risk of many diseases and of dying early.  What’s novel here is that it seems that fat itself actually accelerates the aging process.  This may not be apparent because these people may not have as many wrinkles.  But underneath, it looks like they are aging at a faster rate.”

More than two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and half of them are obese.  Obesity levels are also rising rapidly in other wealthy western countries and the new evidence indicates a possible epidemic of weight-related, aging illnesses in store for the future. 

Working out what your correct weight should be.. 

Body Mass Index assesses your body weight relative to height.   BMI is a useful, indirect measure of body composition because it correlates highly with body fat in most people.   To find your BMI you have to divide your weight in kilograms (Kg) by your height in meters squared.  The resulting number is your Body Mass Index

• If your BMI is less than 18.5 then you are considered underweight
• If your BMI is between 18.5 to 24.9 - congratualtions you are considered healthy
• A BMI of 25 to 30 is defined as overweight and if you have a BMI in this range you have an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease.
• Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30  or greater - bringing with it a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Extreme obesity is defined as a BMI of 40 or greater.

Some well-trained people with dense muscle mass may have a high BMI score but very little body fat. For them the waist circumference, the
skinfold or fatfold measurements, or more direct methods of measuring body fat may be more useful measures.

Go for a permanent change in eating habits.. 

Healthy and safe weight loss is about finding a weight management regime that can be maintained throughout life. Crash diets with their following rapid weight loss may seem appealing in the short-term but more often than not that leads to the weight going right back on along with a few extra pounds that weren't there earlier. 

Only a permanent change in eating, drinking and other lifestyle habits can bring about healthy sustainable weight loss.  Don't make drastic changes to start with as most of us just find it too daunting. 

Instead of reducing your calorie intake by 1,000, try reducing it by just 250 during the first week and then decrease a little more as each week passes until you reach your targeted number of calories. Aim for a gradual weight loss of 2-3 pounds per week and remember that crash dieting depresses your immune system so it's very bad for your health. 

It's also important that you don't starve yourself of every food luxury you'd normally enjoy. Sensible, healthy weight loss is about moderation rather than starvation.

Weight loss and exercise go hand in hand..

Cutting down on calories is important but exercise is needed in order to replace some of the lost fat with healthy muscle thus giving you a taut, younger looking body. 

Along with the daily changes you can make (walking instead of driving, taking the stairs, etc), try to find forms of exercise that you think you'll enjoy on a regular basis and make sure you exercise to build strength and muscle mass - key requirements as you get older.  As well as toning and building muscle - you should also take aerobic or cardio exercise for around 20 minutes 3 times a week as a minimum.

Healthy weight loss with green tea..

Weight loss is a simple equation - take in less calorific energy (in the form of food) than you burn (as energy output or exercise) and you will lose weight. 

The problem is that weight loss gets more difficult as you get older as the body burns less fat.  To counteract the changes in your metabolic rate consider a gentle and safe supplement.  Green tea is probably the most useful weight loss supplement you could take. By increasing your metabolic rate, green tea helps to burn calories at a much higher rate and promotes weight loss around the middle part of your body. 

Green tea also has huge health-promoting and anti-aging benefits in its own right so you can get thinner and healthier at the same time.  Our personal recommendation - take green tea as a concentrated extract.  You need to consume quite a lot of green tea to get the fat burning and and health benefits so taking green tea in concentrated powdered form makes much more sense.  You also get the benefit of added flavors which enhance the rather bitter taste of natural green tea in our view.

A permanent change in eating habits..

However keen you are to get your weight down - it has been shown over and over again that crash diets don't work. Once we start eating normally again, the weight piles back on.  Steady weight loss is preferable to fast weight loss.

 

Success is about making small but permanent changes in what you eat and how much exercise you take and sticking with the changes so that they become your new way of life.