Weight Gain With Age: How To Avoid It With Diet?

Time does not only bring experience and wisdom. Over the years it is inevitable that a few extra kilos appear. No matter how healthy your habits were or what mistakes you made in your diet, you will always notice an increase in weight in your body.

If weight has been one of the issues that has occupied your attention during your life, we assure you that from the age of 40 it will play an even more decisive role. In this stage, factors begin to appear that will change, by their very nature, the functioning of your body.

If this issue was never your concern, we tell you that you should pay attention because those extra kilos may take their toll when you least imagine it. If not, the strategies you used before may no longer work. Exercising and eating healthy will no longer be enough.

Older, more complications

A sedentary lifestyle, hormones and the wrong diets that you have practiced throughout your life will make it difficult for you to stay at your ideal weight. After 40 years everything begins to be more difficult.

The American Council on Exercise assures that from this age the metabolism slows down, so you will burn 300 fewer calories than when you were in your youth with only 20 years.

Added to this are the complications of life, the lack of time to dedicate to your personal care, family commitments, the desire to work and, in many cases, the lack of interest in seeking better health.

Therefore, you will have to use other mechanisms in addition to diet to avoid uncontrolled weight gain.

Sarcopenia: less muscle, more fat

There are several reasons why you gain weight with age. We want you to understand that you are not to blame, they are reasons of nature itself. Now, once you know the origins of this condition, we will give you some recommendations that you can apply.

In principle, this occurs because sarcopenia develops over the years. It is a process in which there is a considerable loss of muscle mass, according to this study carried out by the University of Rhode Island.

With this condition, from the age of 30 you can lose between 3 and 5 percent of muscle mass per decade. This will cause that when you are 40 years old you burn 200 fewer calories than when you were 30. And, as you know, the more calories, the more fat and weight gain.

However, there are also other reasons:

Hormonal decline

Hormones regain importance over time. In women and men there is a decrease in hormonal production. In them, menopause comes after the age of 50, and at 35 there is an imbalance between the production of estrogens and progesterone.

• With the first hormone, fat cells are produced and the last one counteracts the process. After age 35, more progesterone is lost than estrogen. This is stated in this study carried out by the Getafe University Hospital (Madrid).
• This produces the imbalance that leads to a high possibility that the woman will gain a few extra kilos.

On the other hand, after the age of 30 in men, testosterone levels decrease, according to this research from the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia. In this case, this hormone protects them from gaining weight. However, with its decline it is difficult to avoid gaining kilos.

Lack of exercise

Over the years, people stop doing physical activity. And with that, weight gain becomes inevitable because fat has more room to accumulate. That said, you just need to continue your exercise routine or maintain physical activity.

Tips to avoid weight gain with age

Next, we offer you a series of tips so that age is not synonymous with more weight. In any case, you should ask a professional for advice, so that your process is controlled:

• You must maintain your muscle mass. Remember that fat burns fewer calories than muscle. For this reason, it is essential that you do activities that challenge your muscle tissue, both to develop it and maintain it.
• Include a lot of protein in your diet, this will help you repair and grow your muscles.
• Pay attention to the total calories you should be consuming. All count and more those that come from sweets and refined products. Avoid them or eat them in moderation.
• Do not miss the diet. The goal is to maintain a healthy diet. Look for healthy recipes and if you eat out ask for green dishes. It is a matter of educating yourself and having good habits.

You see that the solutions are not that complicated. If you came with a good diet, you should continue like this, but with more control and effort.

If you’ve exercised, include more muscle work. Over the years, weight gain becomes more latent. For this, you must take care of yourself even more, your health comes first.