Another poster wrote: “Up until I started having kids, people would ask how I did it. I ate total crap — tons of sugar, fat, and fast food, but never gained weight, and looked very athletic. That all changed once I started getting pregnant. The hormones caused some sort of shift in my body, and it’s never been the same since.”

True, time and hormones cause female bodies to lose muscle and gain fat. To combat my middle-age bulge I started following an clean eating diet a few months ago and with only 75% adherence to clean eating principles and by adding only 2 strenuous weekly weight routines to my already sufficient aerobic schedule, I have lost several pounds and considerable fat % without dieting or feeling hungry. I try to eat 3 small meals and 3 snacks daily. Alcohol and sugar consumption have been cut in half.

Is eating clean always easy and fun? No! It takes discipline to cook those steel cut oats instead of eating a muffin, and to pack healthy snacks in a cooler instead of getting a pretzel at the mall. Is it worth it? Definitely, specially when I realize the fat is dropping off and the muscle is increasing.

I follow (albeit imperfectly) the eating plan in Tosca Reno’s book “The Eat Clean Diet Recharged” and the results are evident.