Meno-belly going...going...gone!

Yale discovery helps women like Dee fix worn-out nerves that rap fat around midlife middles—so you’ll drop up to 2 lbs a day

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“What would I do without you?” asked Dee Pauletig’s friend Ann, as Dee tucked a blanket around her. Ann was battling end-stage kidney cancer, and Dee had become her caregiver. It was a privilege to help—yet watching her beautiful friend fade away…it often sent Dee’s mind to dark places. In that moment, Dee began fixating on her own poor health: her ever-climbing blood pressure, cholesterol, weight. Joints that ached, swelled and sometimes gave out. Yesterday, she’d tried to sing along to a favorite Whitney Houston song and had to stop, unable to catch her breath. Dee glanced at Ann, and it hit her hard: I should make changes while I still can.

Dee had long juggled a busy family life, friends, a fast-paced insur-ance job, volunteer work, hobbies. She’d once had plenty of energy. But not anymore. With each passing year, she was more exhausted, more stressed, more prone to reaching for comfort food. Chips, wings and sandwiches—they packed on pounds and made matters worse.

“You’re getting older. It’s normal,” her husband, Fred, would say as she struggled to walk up stairs. And maybe he was right. But I can do better, she told herself. I should at least try. Of course, the many diets she’d tried hadn’t helped. I won’t keep doing the same over and over. I’ ll find something new.

Getting off to a gentle start