Paunch got you feeling punchy?

Last week a reader presented me with a common problem in an uncommon context. She's nearly 6 feet tall, 120 pounds, hasn't gained an ounce in 35 years and never had kids. Yet at 53, her flat belly is suddenly getting a pouch. She's illustrative of all women who seemingly face the same fate once menopause creeps into our lives. So, what to do? First, be realistic. Second, get busy.

Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen, authors of "You: The Owner's Manual" and "You: On a Diet," note that women who bear large babies are often left with weak or separated abdominal muscles. "No number of crunches will fix that appearance," they write. But for our reader and the rest of us, options do exist.

Women entering middle age begin to store more fat on their hips and/or abdomen. For men, it's the stomach. There's a reason for that. There's a slab of fat called the "omentum" that sits protectively over our abdominal organs. Gain a lot of weight and that omentum swells up. Enter the dreaded paunch! Lose weight and guess what -- smaller paunch. Think of it as first fat on, first fat off.

That's fat. Now, let's talk muscle. Untrained core muscles lead to weakness, protruding butts and bellies and lousy posture. So get to work. Our goal? To strengthen four key ab muscles: that vertical "six pack" known as your rectus abdominis, the deep and horizontal rubber band called a transversus abdominis and those diagonally running side obliques.

Kneel and roll forward using an ab wheel or fitness ball for 15 reps for one heck of an ab (and back) strengthener. Too strenuous? No worries.

One trainer's guide, "The Anatomy of Exercise by Pat Manocchia," suggests sitting on a fitness ball with hands on waist and spine tall. Inhale while pushing your navel out. Exhale while sucking abs in and up toward your ribs. That helps strengthen the pelvic girdle, an area we often find weak. In a slight variation, try ab crunches. But make sure you: 1) Exhale and suck your navel toward your spine during the lift; and then 2) pull up your lower pelvic muscles the same way you do when you're trying to hold in your urine or snuggle into tight jeans.

With proper breathing, both sets of exercises strengthen the often neglected lower core. Build up to 30 reps.

For the plank, lie on your belly, then hoist yourself up on your forearms and toes. Think of your body as a long, flat plank, hovering parallel to the floor. Keep your tailbone down. "Carve out the belly, pulling it in toward your spine, and feel an ignition of all of the abdominal muscles," Arnold said. "We hold this pose for a minute."

In our gym at the Strib, we do three sets of planks with a minute of pushups in between. Sometimes we do the plank on just one leg for 30 seconds and then the other. Try it. It's one tool guaranteed to help punch that paunch.