Have you noticed a few extra pounds padding your waistline? Are you in your 40s or 50s?

Take heart. You’re far from alone.

Experts say many people either gain weight, or they find that maintaining their usual weight has become more difficult during that time. People also find that the weight they gain tends to accumulate around their abdomen rather than their hips and thighs.

“If you’re not willing to change things, middle-age spread is definitely inevitable,” said Diane Pietrocarlo, registered dietitian in Glenville. “You either have to change your intake of food or your output of exercise, preferably both.”

What happens is really pretty simple, said Pietrocarlo.

People’s metabolic rate decreases 5 to 10 percent per decade after you hit 40. We also tend to start to break down lean muscle mass.

“The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism,” said Pietrocarlo. “So if you don’t do something to change how many calories you are taking in or expending, and also build up your lean muscle mass, your body will store fat cells, usually around the abdomen.”

Role of hormones

Hormones also play a role in people storing their fat around their middle, said Lori Houghtaling, registered dietitian at Memorial Hospital in Albany.

For most women, increases and shifts in weight begin in perimenopause, the years leading up to menopause. On average, women gain about a pound a year during this time.

But changing hormone levels associated with menopause aren’t necessarily the only cause of weight gain. Aging and lifestyle factors play a big role in your changing body composition, including exercising less, eating more and burning fewer calories.

“It comes down to the fact that as we get into middle age, we are eating too much, and not as active,” said Houghtaling. “Our metabolism also starts to slow down, and it all catches up to us.”

Genetic factors also play a role in weight gain. If your parents and other close relatives carry extra weight around the abdomen, you may be predisposed to do so, too.

Weight gain can have serious implications for your health. Excess weight around the middle increases your risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Those factors also put you at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Weight gain after menopause also can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for avoiding weight gain as you get older. The strategies for maintaining a healthy weight at any age remain the same: Watch what you eat and get moving.

“You can’t eat the way you did when you were 30 and not exercise and expect your body not to change,” said Pietrocarlo. “It’s going to get fatter.”

Getting going

The first thing Pietrocarlo advises her clients to do is to get moving with regular cardiovascular exercise and resistance or weight training exercises to maintain lean mass.

“You want to stay strong and keep your muscle,” she said.

Then she advises clients to eat more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and lean dairy throughout the day, as well as drinking plenty of water.

“You can still have an occasional treat or go out to dinner,” she said. “You just have to be educated on what the best choices are.”

While Houghtaling said it’s never easy to lose weight, especially once women hit menopause, it’s not impossible.

“If you can avoid that middle age spread before you hit menopause, you’re definitely in better shape,” she said. “Everyone will tell you it’s so much easier to put it on than it is to take it off.”

Houghtaling also suggested keeping a food diary of everything you eat.

“I don’t think many of us realize how many calories we are eating until we see it,” she explained. “Studies show if you keep a food diary, you are more conscious of what you are eating and people are more successful at losing weight.”

Another tool Houghtaling suggests to her clients is taking a 10-inch dinner plate and dividing it in half. Fill half the plate with vegetables. The other half is split between lean meat or fish and a starch such as rice or a small potato.

To keep her own weight in check, Houghtaling said she prefers to eat six small meals a days along with exercise.

She also tries to keep junk food out of her house as much as possible, and while it may cost a bit more, she buys the prepackaged 100-calorie snacks especially for her two children.

“That way, when they come home from school, or they take a snack to school, it’s portioned out,” she said. “I like that.”