Aging gracefully is something we all have a shot at, if we take action now.

You’re an adult now and have a the power to think for yourself and make choices for yourself.

And these choices will affect not only how long you live, but, the quality of life you live down the road.

Because eating healthy and regular exercise, like a walking or running plan, can help you lose weight and reduce the risk of all kinds of chronic disease in your future.

This lifestyle change now could mean the difference between spending your last years in a nursing home, or spending them traveling, enjoying your family-friends and continuing playing recreational sports.

But if you’re like most of us, you’ve been a bit negligent and packed on more than your share of excess fat since becoming an adult.

And here's the real deal. There's no magic formula, pill or powder for avoiding more weight gain as you get older. It's just the nature of things.

But it’s never to late to take matters into your own hands and start the process to reverse your weight gain. The key at any age is the same: Get your body moving and watch what you eat.

1. Increase your physical activity. Cardio exercise ( we love running and walking) boosts your metabolism and helps you burn fat. A regular exercise plan will increase muscle mass, boost your metabolism and strengthen your bones.

But, you can become more physically active even without starting a formal exercise program. Just spend more time doing the things you love that also get you moving.

Do more gardening, dancing or take up tennis. Go for longer walks or get a bike. And take the stars and skip the escalator when ever possible. Make it your goal to seek out ways to be active for a total of at least 30 minutes or more a day on most days.

Increased physical activity may be the single most important factor for maintaining a healthy body composition as you grow older (meaning more lean muscle mass and less body fat).

2. Reduce calories. Pay attention to the foods you're eating and slightly reduce the amount of calories you consume each day. By choosing a varied diet composed mainly of fruits and vegetables, you can safely cut back on calories and lose weight.

Be careful not to cut back too drastically on calorie intake, (no fasting to lose weight, it always backfires and you end up gaining all the weight back plus some).

Your body responds to starving automatically (it goes into starvation mode) by conserving energy, making extra pounds harder to shed. So don’t do it.

FYI: It’s important to understand, because your metabolism slows as you get older, you need about 200 fewer calories a day to maintain your weight as you near and go into your 40’s.

This shouldn't be a problem if you eat only when hungry and only enough to satisfy your hunger. This means no recreational eating or destroying a bag of cookies to relieve stress.

Also decrease dietary fat. Eating large amounts of high-fat foods ads excess calories, which can lead to weight gain and obesity. Limit fat to 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories. Emphasize fats from healthier sources, such as nuts and olive, canola and peanut oils.

The aging gracefully bottom line is, the more you increase your intake of fruits and veggies over the coming years, the less likely you are to continue gaining weight and become obese.

So go fix yourself a big salad and a veggie burger. Eating more fruits and vegetables will keep you from turning into a double wide in middle age.

Moreover, unlike drugs, which are not about aging gracefully, there's pretty much no downside from loading up on this food group.

Our last words on aging gracefully, it’s never too late to start exercising, eating healthy and losing weight.

At any age it helps reduce blood pressure, your cholesterol and here’s the big bonus; reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease by 50%.

So get out there and start taking care of your body, the benefits of aging gracefully are huge.

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