The path to better health and a leaner body is pretty old-fashioned: Eating properly and exercising to build muscle.
The more muscle you build, the more you perk up your metabolism to burn more calories. For each pound of muscle, you burn an extra 12,000 calories a year. Nutritionist and author Miriam Nelson says muscle burns more calories when you walk, when you exercise, and even when you sleep.
People lose about a fourth of a pound of muscle per year and replace it with fat. That means that during a 12-year period of middle life, the average person will lose three pounds of good, solid muscle. How can they get it back?
Researchers at the University of Arizona at Tucson say strength training is one of the best ways to build muscle and preserve bone health as well. Their studies back up findings from the Nurse's Health Study, which shows that women who walked at least four hours per week lowered their risk of hip fracture by about 40 percent.
Strength training can be done with hand weights, exercise bands and even your own body weight when you do pushups or squats.
