Motivation

I don't understand it. I've been exercising regularly for the last 10 years but in the past few years, I've put on an extra 10 pounds that I can't seem to lose. My diet hasn't changed and I'm doing the same 4 classes that I've always done. Nothing's changed so what am I doing wrong??? 

You are experiencing a very common scenario that most athletes and exercise enthusiasts are faced with as they get older. In order to maintain your body weight, your caloric intake (food) must equal your caloric output (metabolism, exercise and daily activity). As you get older, this balance tends to tip in the favor of fat storage especially in the hip, thigh and abdominal area. There are a few things you can do to offset this trend: 

1. If you want to change something, you've got to change something. Makes sense, doesn't it? But you said it - "nothing's changed". That's what you're doing wrong! You've been doing the same 4 fitness classes for the last 10 years. Your body has adapted to this workout program. You need to do something different! This is the principle of Overload that all personal trainers follow when designing personalized exercise programs. It simply states that in order for your body to experience results, it needs to be challenged slightly more than it's used to. If not, your body will plateau and will no longer continue to progress.
   
   This means changing your program every 4-8 weeks! That's the whole benefit of cross-training - not to mention that all the new activities help to minimize boredom, enhance motivation and increase exercise adherence. Next workout, try the stair master, bike or rowing machine. Go outside for a power walk, run, hike or inline skate. Try a class you've never done before - boxing, indoor group stationary cycling, funk or hip hop. 
    
2. It sounds like your consistency is not a problem at all. You've stuck to your program for 10 years! Good for you! But you could be just going through the motions and not really challenging yourself to the level where you'll continue to experience good results. Perhaps in your next class incorporate a few work intervals. Watch the clock and for 1 minute work really hard. Then allow yourself to drop the intensity back to your normal working level for 2 minutes. Repeat this circuit throughout the entire cardio section. You may find you haven't been exercising at your optimal conditioning level. 
    
3. As we get older, our metabolism, the amount of calories we burn at rest, and our muscle mass tends to decrease. In fact, we can expect a 33% reduction in the number of muscle fibers as we age and one study found, that 66% of females over the age of 74 couldn't even lift 10 pounds. Many studies have found that because muscle activity contributes 25% to our basal metabolic rate, by maintaining muscle mass, one can slow down this rate of decline in metabolism. In fact, one pound of muscle expends an additional 30-40kcal per day. Muscle is an energy burning tissue and the more of it we have, the easier it is to keep excess fat off our bodies.
   
   After an 8-12 week resistance training program you could feasibly gain 3-4 pounds of lean muscle tissue. That's a whole lot of extra calories being burned both during rest and exercise! So, you must take up resistance training if fat loss is your goal. A structured muscle-conditioning program 2x/week is probably just what you need to jump-start your workouts and rev your metabolism.