Metabolism is a reflection of your body's internal furnace. The faster your metabolism the better your furnace is operating and burning calories. It's important to understand here that the types of foods consumed also have an effect on the furnace and the calories it can turn into energy. If it isn't working well, or slows down, you don't burn as many calories. End result is, you gain weight.

So now you're over 50 and everything seems to be slowing down and getting bigger. The truth is it probably is.

You may remember from school a particular law of physics. I believe it is one of Newtons' three laws that states, "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

It may seem unusual but for the purpose of this discussion, let's apply that law. As the metabolism slows down (action), without adding any other factors into the equation, then you gain weight (reaction).

As we age, our body is affected in many ways. For women, there is the rite of passage called menopause. This phase of a women's life negatively impacts our fat burning furnace. The decrease of certain hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and progesterone, affects metabolism. Due to the lack of these hormones which once helped our furnace; they have now slowed down our fat burning process. Our muscles begin to weaken and get smaller.

This is why it's so important to add exercise to your daily routine and more importantly, strength or resistance training. Don't worry, unless you are taking illegal steroids you are not going to bulk up! But because muscle cells burn more energy than other cells, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn even when you are resting.

So now your metabolism is slowing down, the muscles are getting smaller, and your hormone levels have dropped. Still wondering why your dress sizes has gone up? Chances are you aren't doing anything differently than you were in your 30's and 40's.

Critics and health experts might agree. They would say that all of the above is true. If your muscles are smaller, your daily activities have slowed down, you are not exercising at all and you continue to eat as before, then it stands to reason that weight gain is the end result.

Oh, if only the appetite would decrease along with the hormones and muscle mass!

The experts are not going to let you off the hook by blaming it on age. No, they think it's time to step up to the plate (not dinner plate) and increase your activity. Add walking or walking more to your daily routine. Begin lifting weights. Instead of opening the cans of food, lift them and use them as dumbbells!

After working hard all these years you'd think we could be rewarded by taking it easy without having to pay the piper in fat cells. Remember this; even two to three 10-minute walks per day is better than nothing!