“Almost a year,” says the new mom, sheepishly. “And I’m still struggling with these pregnancy pounds.” “Me too,” sighs the woman. “Trouble is, my little one’s starting graduate school!” That could have been me! Thankfully, my wake-up call came on my daughter’s 10th birthday, when I realized that she’d lost her baby fat, but I hadn’t. Despite years of minding my diet and exercising faithfully, 10 lb still stuck to me like Velcro. That’s when I decided to consult an exercise specialist. Fortunately, at the time I worked with several—the fitness editors at Men’s Health magazine (Prevention’s sister publication). I showed them my exercise log, and they diagnosed my problem: I’d been slogging through the same workout for so long that I may as well have been sleepwalking. Then they replaced my old routine with the exercise equivalent of a loud, clangy alarm clock. In six months, those 10 lb were gone, and I have the firmest, leanest body of my adult life. I could see that I had stopped losing inches and pounds. But I was completely blinded to a far more serious health problem looming on the horizon. “As women age, loss of muscle mass is one of the greatest threats they face,” warns William Kraemer, PhD, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Connecticut. Women in midlife trade up to 1 lb of neglected muscle for up to 2 lb of fat every year. That means there could be up to one less pound of lean body mass around to increase your metabolic rate, your body’s ability to burn calories, which explains why losing weight gets tougher as you get older. This muscle-for-fat swap—called “creeping obesity”—is common as we grow older, says Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. And extra fat puts you at more risk for deadly diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer. But a growing body of research shows that it doesn’t have to happen. More from Prevention: Foods That Rev Your Metabolism[pagebreak]
The Cure: A Wake-Up Call for Your Muscles
If you want to change your body for the better, change your workout. Often. That’s the core principle of periodization training. Vary the exercises you do and the order in which you do them; the weight you use and the number of repetitions you lift; even how often you exercise and how frequently you rest, and your muscles will soon thank you with increased strength and shape. “A periodized resistance program keeps new stimulus in steady supply and steers you clear of plateaus,” says former Men’s Health exercise advisor Michael Mejia, a certified strength and conditioning specialist in New York City. Penn State researchers followed 24 women through a 6-month resistance training program. The multiple-set, periodized group lost 7% of their body fat and gained more than 7 lb of muscle. (This is a good thing!) That was more than double the results of women doing a single-set routine. If all this talk of gaining pounds of muscle is making you nervous, relax. You’ve been losing muscle for years now, so in most cases, you’re just replacing what was once there (back when you were younger and slimmer). Muscle is much more compact than fat, so those extra pounds will look sleeker, smaller, and firmer. And you won’t bulk up. Your hormones won’t let that happen. “Unless a woman eats an extra 500 calories a day and trains like an Olympian, she won’t develop huge muscles,” says Mejia, whose clients include women as well as men. Mere mortal women will lose fat and get firm. Better fat burning isn’t the only benefit of a periodized resistance plan. “Most people have enough muscle mass to live an active life well into their 50s,” notes James Marx, PhD, an exercise researcher at Penn State. “Preserve that muscle with a periodized program, and you can maintain its healthy function for decades to come—even if you start training when you’re 55.” More from Prevention: The Essential Over 40 Workout
