A common question that is asked is how aging will affect our ability to manage our weight.
It is inevitable that most of us will experience weight gain as we age.
Many of you may be carrying on with your usual routine, year after year, then suddenly you realize you are beginning to gain weight and experience changes in your overall physical appearance. This tends to occur despite living the same lifestyle that you did when you were younger. It may become more apparent as you live beyond 30 years of age, despite living the same lifestyle, same workouts, and eating the same amount and type of foods.
The principle causes of weight gain, as we age, are genetics, decrease in metabolism, and decrease in our activity level.
There is not much you can do to alter your genetics. However, you can alter your metabolic rate, caloric intake and activity level to help you maintain your current weight or even lose weight.
Being attentive to these issues is important to properly optimize your health and fitness.
The following are strategies you can use to help you maintain and improve your health and fitness as you get older.
1. Increase your metabolic rate-as we age we experience a decrease in resting metabolic rate, which contributes to weight gain if we continue to eat the same amount and type of foods. When you are younger your metabolic rate is more active, so many people find they are able to maintain or lose weight with minimal activity. Some people seem to burn off all the calories that are consumed when they are young. It is easy to let hunger dictate your eating decisions and some people can get away with this when they are young. As you get older it becomes more important to watch your food intake and not let hunger dictate when and how much you eat.
Try eating multiple small meals per day to help curb your appetite and boost your metabolism.
2. Reduce caloric intake- as we age our overall body size tends to diminish, due to a loss of muscle mass and skeletal changes. We may experience an increase in body weight or no changes in weight as muscle mass is replaced with increased body fat. These changes tend to start becoming apparent after age thirty. We also begin to experience a loss of size in many of our organs, such as the brain after we live past age forty. This results in your body needing less calories to maintain your routine body weight. If you continue to eat more than what your body needs, you will experience weight gain.
A good rule of thumb is to reduce your caloric intake 500 calories per day to loose one pound per week. You should also be performing some type of exercise. If you burn 250 calories per day and decrease your caloric intake 250 calories you will also loose one pound per week.
3. Increase your activity level- you do not have to start running marathons or engaging in workouts for hours at a time to manage your weight. Make it a point to look at your overall activity level and make adjustments to keep you active and burning calories. Instead of sitting in front of the television at night, take a short walk. Try taking the stairs at work at least once during the day or parking 1-2 blocks from your work place.
These may all seem like small, insignificant changes that could not possibly help you lose or maintain your weight; however, if performed routinely, you should see progress over a period of time.
It is possible to maintain your appropriate body weight, as you age, by being attentive to your caloric intake, boosting your metabolism, and increasing your activity level.
It is imperative that you commit to engaging in some form of exercise regularly to help boost your metabolic rate and burn calories. Small changes in those 3 things will help you maintain optimal fitness and health as you age.
Start taking the proper steps now to ensure that you are doing what is necessary to maintain optimal health throughout the remainder of your life.
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