Introduction<br > Staying lean pays off big re，，llell it comes to a long，<br > hea/th~， lift，.<br > When we re 18 or 25 or even 35， we have lots<br >of motivation to stay slim and trim. We want to<br >squeeze into our skin-tight jeans， get ogled at the<br >beach， admire what we see when we look in the<br >mirror. In other words， we want to look good to at-<br >tract mates. That s our biological imperative， and<br >whether we like it or not， in our society， for most<br >people， sexual attraction is equated with physical at-<br >traotion. And physical attraction is equated with<br >slimness. Some of us go to extremes to achieve<br >shapes society considers attractive.<br > ~o what happens when we get older， get married，<br >get comfortable and， hopefully， become more ac-<br >cepting of ourselves file way we are? For most peo-<br >ple， the motivation to lose weight drops off， and the<br >ponnds creep on. When we do diet， tile weight we<br >lose always seems to find its way back.<br > That wouldn t be so bad if we could be fat and<br >happy--and healthy. But eventually， those pounds<br >catch up with many of us. We all know that being<br >overweight contributes to the development of heart<br >disease， but researchers have discovered that people<br >who are overweight also have a higher-than-normal<br >risk of a long list of aihnents. Some--like diabetes，<br > xl<br >