Tips To Drop Stubborn Pounds

Your body may be working against you.

- Nichole Owens

Your back hurts, your knees ache, and you just don’t move around as easily as you used to. If you could just lose a few pounds (and keep them off!), you’d be able to be more active and feel so much better. But no matter how many sweets you give up and how many miles you walk, those pounds just aren’t going anywhere. It might seem as though your body has its own mind, and in a way, it does. Here are some ways your body might be working against you, and what you can do to win the battle.

Changes in Your Body

As we age, we lose muscle mass and gain fat mass. “Muscles use more energy or calories than fat mass [does],” says registered dietitian Lauren Fialkoff, a clinical bariatric dietitian at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “The more fat and less muscle mass someone has on their body may mean that they are burning fewer calories at rest,” she says.

SOLUTION: Increase strength training. Include free weights, resistance bands and exercises that use your own bodyweight. If weights aren’t your thing, try yoga or Pilates.