Leo Dimilo
Tonya Lachey
Denise Gabbard
Dianna GWhy Losing Weight is Harder as We Age
April 15th 2010 16:12
Suddenly, those Big Macs....that Taco Bell "4th meal" and all you can eat pancakes at IHOP had caught up to me. I was getting older and my "lifestyle" diet was not working out the way I thought it would be. So why do we gain weight as we grow older and why is losing that weight that we put on much harder to lose?
The reason as to why we gain weight is simple. If you fail to burn the calories that you put into your body, the calories will have to go somewhere (and in my case it was the tire around my midsection).
But weight loss for people after 40 and beyond becomes more complicated than simply dieting because as many can attest, even if you lower your calories, you still may not lose weight.
Why is that? What factors play in midlife weight loss?
Insulin is a major factor. As we age, our ability to become insulin resistant grows. Insulin plays a huge part in how we metabolize energy. Excess insulin means that you won't burn off the energy as efficiently.
The cure for this is to drop calories down to around 1,500-1,800 calories.
You Resting Metabolic Rate drops....
Another factor that comes into play as we age is that our resting metabolic rate drops as the years pass. This poses a problem because when our resting metabolic rate drops, we should eat less to accommodate the change. What results is that our bodies may have an extra 120-180 extra calories to deal with....
This is despite the fact that you are eating the same diet.
Some quick solutions (other than dreaded exercise) include drinking green tea which has shown to increase your resting metabolic rate as well as take some fish caplets (omega 3's and 6's do more than help you lose weight though).
Another solution to increasing your RMR is to eat spicy foods loaded with Capsaicin. Red Pepper and spicy foods raise body temperature which in turns motivates thermo-genesis. That is fancy talk for your body will burn more calories, by the way.
Of course, your diet plays a significant part to losing weight as well as exercise but sometimes as we get older, even that isn't enough. And I can say that many aging men and women can attest that sometimes no matter how hard you try and no matter how many episodes of the biggest loser you watch, you can't help to wonder why the weight doesn't want to come off....
And now you know.....
If you like this, you may like my take on the paleo diet as well....
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