Your metabolism slows down 5 percent each decade, Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom, director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, tells "Good Housekeeping" magazine. This explains why, after you turn 35 or 40, it's harder to lose weight and you now have excess fat in your midsection. To trim fat from your stomach and elsewhere, you need a combination of the right exercise and healthy eating habits.
Step 1
Avoid fad diets, crash diets and low-calorie diets. A diet that asks you to avoid an entire food group or to eat only one type of food can starve your body of vital nutrition. According to "Good Housekeeping," eater fewer than 900 calories a day causes your body to burn muscle tissue instead of body fat, which slows down your metabolism --- which can, in turn, slow weight loss or even trigger weight gain.
Step 2
Reduce your calorie intake to around 1,200 to 1,500 calories daily, with the calories coming from healthy, nutritious foods. This type of diet helps you to slowly lose weight and burn mostly body fat. Use the nutrition labeling on food products to determine how many calories are in each serving --- and follow the serving amounts when eating.
Step 3
Eat a hearty breakfast each day instead of skipping breakfast or only eating a small meal. Eating a bigger meal in the morning can help you eat 100 to 200 fewer calories over the course of the day, "Good Housekeeping" reports. Mix up your meals and snacks with healthy food choices. Choose among fruits, dark green and orange vegetables, low-fat and calcium-rich foods, whole grains and lean protein. Lean protein comes from baked, broiled and grilled fish, skinless poultry and turkey.
Step 4
Perform 30 to 60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise five to seven days a week. Work at a moderately fast pace for the entire workout. You should feel challenged but not overwhelmed by the speed you choose.
Step 5
Complete two to three full-body strength training sessions each week to improve your muscle composition and boost your metabolism. Complete at least one set of eight to 12 repetitions for each exercise you select. Work for 30 minutes or until you perform eight to 10 exercises during each session. Include exercises for your arms, legs, stomach, back and chest. Do not work the same muscles on consecutive days.
Step 6
Add variety to your workouts. If you do the same exercises over and over, your body will eventually adapt to the activity and you will hit a weight-loss plateau. Change the exercises you perform, include high-intensity intervals in your workouts or work on a different surface. For example, instead of running on a treadmill, try swimming, cycling or running outdoors on an incline, or change the types of strength-training exercises you perform.
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