{"id":204941,"date":"2025-12-26T12:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T12:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/204941\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T12:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T12:53:10","slug":"how-to-fight-middle-age-spread-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/204941\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fight ‘Middle-Age Spread’ | Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Key Takeaways<\/p>\n

In midlife, most Americans start packing on the pounds<\/p>\n

It’s a natural consequence of aging, which causes the metabolism to slow down<\/p>\n

Changes in diet and exercise habits can help fight it<\/p>\n

FRIDAY, Dec. 26, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 A steady uptick on your scale is a nasty side effect of middle age.<\/p>\n

Most adults in the U.S. put on 10 to 25 pounds between their 20s and their 40s \u2014 and there\u2019s more bad news about this “middle-age spread.”<\/p>\n

As you age, it gets harder and harder to do much about it.<\/p>\n

“Your metabolism tends to slow down as you get older, but your appetite and your food intake do not,” said Rafael de Cabo<\/a>, an expert on aging at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The result: “You have a steady increase of body weight with age.”<\/p>\n

The consequences go beyond needing bigger, baggier clothes. As you age, your risk for heart disease<\/a>, diabetes and neurodegenerative disease rises \u2014 and excess weight intensifies the risk.<\/p>\n

So what causes this insidious gain and what can you do about it?<\/p>\n

Understanding some basic biology may help. Much of this added weight is, not surprisingly, fat tissue, and that fat tissue begins to shift.<\/p>\n

By middle age, there\u2019s less under your skin and more around internal organs, replacing lean muscle. If you have a desk job or tend to be inactive, more muscle will be lost and more fat gained.<\/p>\n

“The key is to maintain an active lifestyle,” de Cabo told NIH News in Health.<\/p>\n

Make it point to take a walk every day or go to the gym. Get a standup desk if you have an office job and spend a few hours every day standing instead of sitting.<\/p>\n

“Small doses of exercise throughout the day will help tremendously,” said de Cabo, who studies the effects of diet changes on health and longevity.<\/p>\n

One strategy he suggests is intermittent fasting, in which meals are interspersed with long periods without eating.<\/p>\n

One way: Limit food intake to eight hours a day.<\/p>\n

It works for mice in de Cabo\u2019s lab. He\u2019s shown that the critters live longer and stay healthier with long periods between meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s proved true even when the mice eat the same amount and types of food as usual.<\/p>\n

To help fight middle-age spread, the NIH recommends:<\/p>\n

Eat healthy: Go for fresh veggies, fruits, whole grains, eggs, seafood, lean meats, legumes, nuts and seeds.<\/p>\n

Hydrate: Drink plenty of water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t smoke or drink: Avoid tobacco and alcohol.<\/p>\n

Get moving: Try to log at least 150 minutes of moderate activity every week. Add walking breaks to your day and take the stairs.<\/p>\n

Sack out: Get plenty of sleep.<\/p>\n

See your doctor: A regular physical will help identify health problems early on when they are easier to treat.<\/p>\n

More information<\/p>\n

For tips to manage midlife weight struggles, visit UCLA Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: National Institutes of Health, News in Health, October 2025<\/p>\n

What This Means For You<\/p>\n

Middle-age spread is almost inevitable, but you can fight back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Takeaways In midlife, most Americans start packing on the pounds It’s a natural consequence of aging, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[113524,29326,3853,34969,3476,34971,3862,15699,34973,1372,24613,453,163,34972,85,25131,46,27209,3865,543,34959,24985,591,111653,114976],"class_list":["post-204941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-adipose-tissue","tag-ageing","tag-consumer-news","tag-determinants-of-health","tag-diabetes","tag-dieting","tag-diseases-and-disorders","tag-eating","tag-eating-behaviors-of-humans","tag-exercise","tag-fat","tag-food","tag-health","tag-health-promotion","tag-il","tag-intermittent-fasting","tag-israel","tag-meal","tag-medical-specialties","tag-nutrition","tag-self-care","tag-tncen","tag-weight-loss","tag-wellness-library","tag-wtc_weight-control"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}