This affects your metabolism and ability to get rid of body fat. With age, your bones also become weaker, especially if you're post-menopausal, which is due to lower estrogen levels—the hormones responsible for maintaining bone mass. But by creating pressure on your joints through weight-bearing exercises, you can actually help build stronger, healthier bones.
So instead of focusing on what the scale says, turn your energy and attention into adopting a new strength training routine, which brings us to our next point. Muscle loss equals a slower metabolism , which explains why you're more likely to put on—and hold on to—those extra pounds. But lifting weights can help rev up your metabolism by building muscle mass. If you don't have a consistent weight training regimen, you'll want to start slowly. It's also worth working with a personal trainer who provide a personalized strength training plan.
By easing into a new plan, it will give your body time to adapt without placing too much strain on your muscles or joints and help you avoid injury, says Dr. But don't get too comfortable with an easy resistance-training program. It's important to gradually increase the amount of weight you lift. Once you can do 10 to 12 reps with a five-pound dumbbell and feel like you could keep going, it's time to upgrade to an eight-pound weight, and so forth.
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Of course, this is a tip for anyone trying to lose weight and boost her overall health, but it's especially important as we get older. That's because as we age, the hypothalamus, which controls our hunger and thirst, becomes desensitized, dulling our thirst signals, says Matt Essex, founder of ActiveRx Aging Centers in Arizona. Since water is key for digestion and metabolism, it's important to make sure you're getting enough.
Our bodies can easily mistake thirst for hunger, which causes us to eat more than we actually need. Consider purchasing a water bottle with a timeline tracker to remind you when you need to take swigs throughout the day. If ever there was a time to focus on getting enough lean protein , it's now.
4 Ways to Lose Weight As a Teenager - wikiHow
Aim to get roughly 30 grams of protein at each meal, and more if you tend to crave carb-rich foods. Not only does adequate protein help support muscle growth and repair, but it's also more satiating than carbs and fats, meaning you'll be less likely to reach for unhealthy snacks, Bowerman says. In your teens and twenties, you're in peak condition and it's the perfect time to start exercising. Cut to 20 years later and, if you didn't start exercising, you probably wish you had since there's something we all start to experience in our 40's—weight gain.
What happens to our bodies after 40 is a trifecta of weight gain: Our hormones change, our metabolism starts to slow down and if we're not lifting weights, we start to lose just a little more muscle every year. That muscle can help protect us from gaining weight because it's more metabolically active. When we lose that muscle, our metabolisms drop even more. If you're genetically predisposed to gain weight easily, that may be another strike against you.
Even if you don't actually gain weight, you may still gain inches around the waist. This weight gain can be so frustrating, it's easy to become obsessed with losing it, starving yourself or exercising too much or maybe even looking into the latest plastic surgery procedure. But, is that really necessary? Isn't there something we can do about gaining weight after 40? There is and it starts with understanding just what's going on with your body. We can't control everything about our bodies, but the more we know what's going on, the easier it is to find some acceptance for what's happening.
There is a multitude of reasons for weight gain after age Some are genetic, some are the natural course of things, and some are due to lifestyle choices. The four most important contributors to weight gain include hormones, heredity, lower metabolism, and loss of muscle.
One of the main culprits for weight gain is, of course, our hormones, which start to change right around the mids and into the 40s. That's one reason you may get a little fluffier around the middle while other parts of you actually get smaller. Scientists have found the specific genes that determine how many fat cells we have and where they're stored. There are a couple of things that happen to your metabolism after the age of If you sit more, eat more, exercise less, and deal with more stress throughout that decade, you'll probably need even fewer calories than that.
Add that to the fact that you burn fewer calories during exercise and you've got yourself an equation for weight gain. Like our metabolisms, we also start to lose muscle when we hit our 40s, experiencing a steady decline each decade. Part of this, scientists believe, is that the motor units that make up our muscles decline as we age and that those motor units don't always fire with the same regularity. However, the important takeaway here is this: The biggest factor in losing muscle is the lack of physical activity, which makes exercise a crucial component when it comes to preventing muscle loss.
If you want to figure out the real deal, enter your information into a calculator to learn how many calories you really need for your age and activity level.
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Of course, just how much each of these contributes to weight gain isn't something we can measure or, often, control. What we can do is take this knowledge and use it to our advantage, working with our bodies rather than fighting them. If you've managed to keep your weight the same over the years with exercise, it can be a rude awakening when you get into your 40s and 50s. It isn't so much that you gain weight, it's more than your weight shifts into different places. Suddenly, the pants you've been wearing for years just don't fit right and you may wonder: What am I doing wrong?
If you exercise and eat right, you're not doing anything wrong, it's just those age-related changes happening. If you already exercise to maintain a healthy weight, you're in a much better position than someone who hits 40 with a weight problem. Even with that, living a healthy lifestyle doesn't protect us entirely from age-related weight changes.
In some respects, it's inevitable that our bodies will change as we age and embracing that is just one way to make the process a little less frustrating. In one study published in The International Journal of Obesity , researchers followed more than 12, runners and found that: "Age-related weight gain occurs even among the most active individuals when exercise is constant. The question is: If you already exercise every day, is there anything you can do to burn more calories?
It's possible, but this comes with a warning: We may need more exercise to manage weight as we get older, but our bodies typically tolerate less strenuous exercise as we get older as well. By our 40s and 50s, many of us are dealing with chronic injuries , stress, fatigue, busy jobs and family life and, perhaps, less time and energy than ever to exercise. As mentioned before, exercise is an important part of losing weight.
But, if you're already working very hard, it's not a great idea to add even more intensity. You still have to take care of your body and give it the rest that it needs to replenish and rejuvenate. Exercise alone isn't going to make the problem go away.
Be Realistic
With that in mind, there are some things you can do to bump your calorie-burn a little, including:. Whatever changes you make, don't overdo. Listen to your body and back off if you start to feel any symptoms of overtraining. So, what if you don't exercise at all?
Or maybe you're a yo-yo exerciser heading into your 40s or 50s and trying to fight age-related weight gain? How can you get into a consistent program to manage your weight? If you're not a consistent exerciser, you may be tempted to do a bunch of crazy workouts to deal with weight gain. Try not to give in to that temptation because, for one, it's easy to injure yourself. There is a paucity of data on effective interventions for obese adolescents; however, assessment and intervention should be undertaken in accordance with evidence-based and best practice guidelines 70 — There is no evidence that commercial weight loss programs are safe or effective for children or teenagers.
Where available, referral to a multidisciplinary paediatric obesity program may be beneficial. The recommendations in this statement do not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or procedure to be followed. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Paediatr Child Health v. Paediatr Child Health. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer.
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Help When You're Over 40 and Can't Lose Weight
Open in a separate window. Physical consequences Dieting is associated with potential negative physical health consequences. Psychological consequences The short- and long-term psychological effects of dieting and food restriction on adolescents is largely unknown. The impact of the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents. Disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in teenaged girls: A school-based study.