Banish Belly Fat With The Right Kind of Diet & Exercise

Among the top complaints about the menopause transition – besides sleep deprivation… and hot flashes… and foggy brain –  is weight gain and belly fat (aka “muffin top”).  But it seems to be a concern shared by women of all ages, if magazine covers and book sales are any indication.  Thirteen of the top 16 best-selling women’s health books on Amazon are about how to lose belly fat including the Flat Belly! Diet series of books which have claimed the top three spots on the list.

Despite my own quest for a slim torso, I haven’t read this book. But I have read and recommend the one that comes in at # 10 on Amazon’s list, The Abs Diet for Women: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Belly and Firm Up Your Body for Life.  Like the Flat Belly! series, this book has its own franchise of books, DVDs and  handbooks by the author, David Zinczenko, editor in chief of Men’s Health.

What I like about this book is his explanation and guidance for a high-protein diet of six small meals each day (3 main meals with 3 balanced snacks) and a workout program that aims to “burn fat day and night.” This is accomplished, he says, by emphasizing weight and resistance training over cardio exercise,  though that is important too for weight maintenance and wellness as we age.  He just sees more value and better outcomes from circuit training in the gym over an hour on the treadmill and he includes pictures of core-strengthening and toning exercises that you can do in the gym or at home.

The Abs Diet approach is not unlike the one promoted a decade earlier by Bill Phillips in his excellent book, Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength.  An updated edition for women,  Body-for-LIFE for Women: A Woman’s Plan for Physical and Mental Transformation, was written by Dr. Pamela Peeke, and published this year.

Finally, another book I recommend is From Belly Fat to Belly Flat: How Your Hormones Are Adding Inches to Your Waist and Subtracting Years from Your Life — the Medically Proven Way to Reset Your Metabolism and Reshape Your Body. It is co-written by Genie James and Dr. C.W. Randolph, a physician who specializes in hormone balancing.

What diet or exercise books have you found to be particularly helpful for fighting menopausal weight gain?