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"If you&amp;#039;re like me, you hit perimenopause and suddenly fat starts to accumulate around your middle. One of the most common complaints among my friends is that seemingly overnight, they wake up to an extra 5 or 10 pounds around the belly. Mere calories restricting doesn&amp;#039;t seem to do the trick. Nor, with a slowing metabolism, does exercise work the way it used to.  I&amp;#039;m not immune. After 10 days of eating pretty much without a caloric thought in the world \u2013 from homemade potato chips to blueberry pie \u2013 I can see where all the extra calories went: directly to my waist. But where it was once easy to lose a few pounds, these days it takes more vigilance, and even then, it&amp;#039;s not easy. Now there&amp;#039;s new research about how to lose some of that midlife spread. In a word? Protein. Researchers at the University of Illinois found that when they divided 31 postmenopausal women (not a large study sample, I know) into two groups and put them on a 1400-calorie diet, those who were given extra protein (in powder form) lost 3.9% more weight and gained 5.8% more muscle than those who ate more carbohydrates. It makes sense. Restricting calories too much can affect your strength and balance as you age, say researchers. While eating protein protects your muscles. So starting this week, I&amp;#039;m not dieting, which is a word I don&amp;#039;t have in my vocabulary. I&amp;#039;m substituting protein for carbohydrates. Cheese without crackers. Peanut butter without jelly. That shouldn&amp;#039;t be too hard. Anyone want to join me? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a42615/midlife-spread-12736/?src=shelter_footer>