Are you finding it more and more challenging to lose weight? That’s because your metabolism slows down as you age.
When you were younger, it was natural to snack on candy bars and fast food meals. You could even eat a couple of pizza slices without giving it a second thought. You weren’t mindful of how all unhealthy food would impact your weight.
Now that you’re getting older, you’re becoming more conscious about what you eat. Even more, you’re struggling to shed off those extra pounds. Why is this happening?
Understanding how your body burns energy
Experts measure the body’s resting metabolic rate based on how much energy you burn when at rest, meaning when your body is idle. Several factors can affect a person’s resting metabolic rate, including height, genes, and sex. And it changes as you continue to age.
For example, when you reach your late twenties, you noticed that you can’t eat the same amount of food as you used to without gaining weight. This is assuming you don’t have a fitness routine, or you don’t count your daily caloric intake.
As you lose your muscles, your body’s natural calorie-burning ability starts to slow down even more. Soon, fat can develop into the lost tissues and cause you to gain weight. Also, people who are in their thirties no longer produce the same number of human growth hormone as before, which also affects the metabolic rate.
How do you then control your weight gain? You have two options: exercise or cosmetic surgery. As many men and women your age would attest, the first option is harder to do. That’s why a lot of people spend money for a body contouring procedure in LA or a tummy tuck in Utah. And cosmetic procedures are not a bad thing, you want to look your best and care about your body.
Start getting active
Whatever your body’s metabolic rate, however, it’s also true that you become less active as you age. You want to keep things slow and have more time to relax. But relaxing is different from stagnation. You can regain your body’s natural ability to burn fats by staying active.
Strength training will help you recover the muscles that you lost, and your body can produce more growth hormones. Keeping an active lifestyle also keeps your metabolism busy as if you were in your 20s.
Simple activities such as taking the stairs or even walking away from your desk to get a cup of coffee help. You can also do daily short runs or do yoga. After a workout, your body continues to burn calories even while you’re at rest. Experts call it excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. If you want to manage yimgour weight gain, try to burn as many calories as you can throughout the day. You can do it by increasing your activities, if possible.
Be careful with what you eat
Experts say that aside from getting less activity, you also become less receptive to the nutritional needs of your body. It becomes harder to control your appetite, which makes you more prone to cravings. One way to take control is by eating smaller meals and only have more when you’re hungry.
It also helps to switch to healthier choices. More fiber and natural food would do you good and give you more energy.
Staying active while being mindful of what you eat will help you control your weight. You’ll need a lot of help, so start a fitness routine or grab that discount gym membership someone offered you last week. Your body will thank you for it.
