Staying fit becomes more and more difficult as you get older. Without regular, focused exercise, you lose muscle every year after about age 30, according to the Mayo Clinic. This means that even if your body composition stays the same, your muscle-to-fat ratio will decline. This decline accelerates as you get older. There are three main approaches to losing weight in middle age--reducing calorie intake, burning calories through exercise, and increasing your body's metabolism.
Step 1
Eat a healthy breakfast every day, advises Vanderbilt University. Eating a good breakfast will tend to reduce your overall calorie intake by controlling your hunger later in the day.
Step 2
Cut sweets and fatty foods from your diet. Eating is not like smoking because although you can quit smoking, you can't quit eating. You can, however, eliminate entire categories of foods from your diet. Fried foods and fast food tend to be particularly high in fat.
Step 3
Replace sweets and fatty foods with an equivalent volume of fruit and vegetables. In this way, you are less likely to feel hunger pangs that would cause you to break your diet. Aim for healthy long-term eating habits rather than unsustainable starvation diets that result in dramatic but temporary weight loss.
Step 4
Perform aerobic exercise for a total of 2.5 hours a week, recommends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. Your exercise is aerobic if it causes your heart to beat at between 60 to 80 percent of its maximum rate--220 minus your age. At 54 years old, your maximum heart rate is about 166 beats per minute, which means your "aerobics zone" is between 100 and 133 beats per minute. Many gyms offer equipment that will allow you to monitor your heart rate while exercising.
Step 5
Lift weights two or three times a week for 20 to 30 minutes each session, counsels the Mayo Clinic. Use weights that you can lift 8 to 12 times before exhaustion, and increase your weight as soon as you can lift it 12 times in a row. Weightlifting will replace the muscle mass you lose as you get older, and will increase your body's metabolism. An increased metabolism will cause your body to burn more calories day and night.
Step 6
Record your progress in a permanent training log. Make sure this log is detailed. You should record every mile you run, every weight lifted and every pound lost. Keeping a permanent record will help train your mind to develop a long-term commitment to a healthy lifestyle.
Tips and Warnings
- Find like-minded friends of the same age to exercise with. This will provide you with emotional support.
- Consult with your doctor before starting an exercise program, particularly if you have known health problems.
Things You'll Need
- Training log
Member Comments