Lifting weights helps control belly fat in women

DALLAS — By just lifting weights twice a week for an hour, women can battle the buildup of tummy fat that often takes hold with aging, a new study suggests.And they didn’t even diet.The study focused on intra-abdominal fat, the deep fat that wraps itself around organs and is the most unhealthy because it’s linked with heart disease.”One of the most common complaints in women, especially as we continue to age, especially as we go through menopause, the No. 1 complaint is abdominal growth,” said Dr. Tracy Stevens, a cardiologist who directs the women’s heart center at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.”It’s the apple-shaped person I’m most worried about,” said Stevens, who was not involved in the study. “The more central the fat, the more it’s laid down in the arteries.”The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and is being presented Friday at an American Heart Association conference in Phoenix.

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