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Dr. Kim Mulvihill ReportingNoticing a little extra tummy fat as the years go by? A new study shows women can reduce abdominal fat by lifting weights twice a week -- no diet involved!
That middle aged spread is bad for your heart, but lifting weights can help keep it down.
A recent study compared overweight and obese women on a twice-a-week weight training program to women who were given a brochure about the benefits of exercise.
Researchers found the weight training group only had a seven percent increase in abdominal fat, while the control group had a twenty-one percent increase.
Women in the weight training group also lost about four percent body fat over two years.
Another big positive -- the women were asked not to change their eating habits, so there was no dieting involved in the study.
Abdominal fat, especially what's deep inside the abdomen, is more closely linked with cardiovascular disease than other fat in the body.
It's more dangerous because it's more metabolically active -- it takes less for these fat cells to release free fatty acids into the blood stream. And a higher level of free fatty acids in the blood is linked to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, insulin insensitivity, heart disease, and even some forms of cancer.
