When you reach your 50s and decide to lose weight, you might find the pounds don't slide off as easily as they once did. Factors working against you include reduced hormones and less muscle mass, so your body might seem as if it is working against you. However, you can take steps to effectively lose weight in your 50s.
Metabolism Changes
Losing weight in your 50s often has much to do with your metabolism. This term refers to how your body uses the foods and drinks you consume for energy. Even at rest, your body is burning calories to perform everyday functions, such as breathing and regulating heartbeat. If you have taken in excess calories that your metabolism does not need, these calories can be stored as fat in your body. As you age, you begin to lose muscle mass, which burns more calories at rest than the fat in your body. These changes occur gradually, but when you reach your 50s, these metabolic deficits become more apparent, as you're unable to burn calories like you once did.
Hormone Changes
Hormones can take a toll on your weight as you age. For women, estrogen levels drop, so you experience greater testosterone levels, which makes weight gain easier and causes you to gain weight where men typically do: in the abdomen. The stomach is a problematic area for fat gain because the visceral fat that gathers there gives off hormones and affects organ function. At the first signs of extra abdominal fat, you should increase your weight-loss efforts. Gaining more and more stomach fat will make it more difficult to lose weight.
Your Lifestyle
Those in their 50s might not exercise as much as they need to, said Bridgett Aisbitt, a British Nutrition Foundation scientist, in the newspaper "Mail Online." In addition to metabolic changes due to lost muscle, "a lot of middle-age people cut down on exercise, but continue to eat the same amount of food, resulting in weight gain," said Aisbitt. This can indicate why you are having difficulty losing weight: You have cut calories, but the calories you cut have taken you to where you should have been eating in the first place.
Recommendations
After age 45, you should reduce your daily calorie intake by 200 calories a day to maintain your weight. If you want to lose weight, you must cut more calories than this to experience results. Another step you can take is adding resistance training to your weekly exercise sessions. This will help you rebuild lost muscle, which can boost your metabolism and help you lose weight. Don't neglect your cardiovascular sessions either. You should engage in 30 to 45 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio/aerobic exercise most days of the week. If you wish to lose weight, challenge yourself to exercise more intensely or increase the duration of your workouts by 10 to 15 minutes. This doesn't mean you have to do the running you did in your 20s -- instead, try exercises such as walking, using an elliptical machine or riding a bicycle.
References
- "The Gazette"; "Lose Weight After 50"; Feburary 2011
- MayoClinic.com: Menopause Weight Gain -- Stop the Middle-Age Spread
- "Good Housekeeping"; "Boost Metabolism and Prevent Middle-Age Weight Gain"; Sari Harrar
- "Mail Online"; "Middle-Age Spread? It Isn't Just a Big Fat Joke"; Peta Bee; September 2007
- MayoClinic.com: Slow Metabolism -- Is It To Blame for Weight Gain?
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