There is a lot to do to control your weight as you get older.
Whether you've been battling excess weight for what seems like an eternity - or only since your last birthday - it's true that age can have a lot to do with the number on the scale. As with crow's feet and varicose veins, you're simply more susceptible to gaining weight once you reach 50. And it's not just your imagination. It also becomes more challenging to lose those extra books once they settle on the hip.
"The two biggest reasons why people tend to gain weight as they get older are muscle loss and decreased activity," explains Dr. Caroline Apovian, weight loss specialist at Boston Medical Center. University People experience a loss of muscle mass of 5 to 10% every decade after age 50, according to the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine). As a result, your resting metabolic rate decreases by an average of 2 to 3% every decade.
And this means that you can be eating exactly the same
amount as at 40 - not one more bite - and even gain weight.
Becoming more sedentary with age can also cause weight gain,
especially if you start to develop arthritis or other joint problems that
restrict activity. "As we get older, we spend less time running around and
physical activity decreases," says Apovian. "But, as you get older,
if you do not use your muscles, you will lose them."
And, although these facts are instructive, there is much to
be done to take control. "You're not doomed to failure, I'm 60 years old
and have more muscle mass than when I was 30," says Apovian with pride.
It is true that few of us have the time or the energy to
follow the exhausting program of exercises of Apovian (he gets up at 5 in the
morning almost every day to swim an hour or run six miles on his treadmill),
but we can continue their advice, as well as those of other leading obesity
specialists, on how our jeans can fit us once we reach the sixth decade and
beyond.
Eat a lot of protein
"Protein supplementation can help rebuild muscle mass,
which reverses the decline of metabolism," explains Apovian. She
recommends making sure that between 30 and 40% of daily calories come from
proteins, depending on body weight. (Imagine that a lean portion of meat or
fish occupies a third of your plate and you will notice the idea). By contrast,
the average person gets about 16% of their food intake from protein, according
to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
You will also develop more muscle if you distribute your
protein intake evenly throughout the day. A 2017 study published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consuming the same amount of
protein in all three meals is related to more muscle strength in people 67 and
older. To level your consumption, try adding an egg or yogurt to your
breakfast, a glass of milk or a handful of nuts to your lunch, and reduce your
protein source at dinner.
Join the resistance
Although any type of exercise can help you lose weight, it
is very important that you lift weights at least twice a week to increase
muscle mass, which will help you lose weight. In one study, 60-plus-year-old
adults who lifted weights lost more weight and less muscle mass for 18 months
than those who only exercised. "Any type of muscle development
opportunity, even if it's just working with light resistance bands or swimming
in a pool, will speed up your metabolism and therefore help you burn calories,"
explains Dr. Reshmi Srinath. , endocrinologist and obesity specialist at Mount
Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
And keep in mind that you do not have to do much to see
results. People who lifted weights just twice a week gained about three pounds
of muscle after ten weeks, according to a review published in Current Sports
Medicine Reports.
Beyond strength training, if you can take your general
exercise program to a slightly higher level, do it. Older adults who did HIIT
(high intensity interval training), which involves short periods of high
intensity exercise, not only lost weight, but also had less damage to muscle
cell DNA. And this helped trigger the growth of new muscle.
Sleep enough
"Research has consistently shown that people who are
overweight or obese sleep less than those who are normal weight," says
Apovian. "When you are deprived of sleep, your body increases the
production of hormones that increase hunger, such as the stress hormone
cortisol and the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin." Older men (over
67) who sleep less than five hours a night are almost four times more likely to
be obese than those who sleep between seven and eight, and older women are more
than twice as likely, according to a study of Case Western Reserve University.
It is also a good idea to sleep at consistent times, that
is, get up and go to bed more or less at the same time every day. Older men and
women who do not follow this healthy habit add another risk factor of being
obese to the mix, according to a study published in the International Journal
of Obesity.
From time to time, fast
We are not talking about debugging with juices. Rather, the
research now shows that a specific type of intermittent fasting, known as
fasting imitation, can trigger weight loss, as well as improve your overall
health. The people who followed this type of diet plan-in which they only
consumed 750 to 1,000 calories five days a month, but that they normally ate
the rest of the time-lost, on average, six pounds, reduced one to two inches of
waist and both blood pressure and levels of IGF-1 (a substance related to an
increased risk of cancer) decreased significantly, according to a study by the
University of Southern California published last year.
How does it work? "When you gain weight, the nerves in
the hypothalamus that drive the signals from your fat cells to the rest of the
brain are damaged," explains Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Center for
Weight Management and Metabolic Clinical Research at Weill Cornell Medical
College. "As a result, the brain does not realize you're full, so keep on
signing to eat."
But when you stop eating a lot for a day, he continues,
"you are reducing the stress on the hypothalamic nerves, so you give them
time to recover." That day of rest for the nerves could be especially
important for the elderly, he clarifies, due to the damage that oxidative
stress can cause in the weight regulation system.
As for how to start, "I tell patients that they want to
try to eat only 800 calories twice a week, focusing on vegetables, proteins and
healthy oils like olive oil," he says.
To feel more satisfied for longer on days when you're not
fasting, Aronne recommends following a low-carb diet where about 30% of the
calories come from protein and the rest from non-starchy vegetables, nuts and
beans. Do you feel like eating bread? "I tell patients that the best time
to eat these types of carbohydrates with starch is at the end of the meal,
after having eaten vegetables and proteins," he explains. Aronne's
research shows that people who eat this way not only have lower levels of blood
sugar and insulin after eating, but also have a greater increase in hormones
(such as GLP-1) that help keep you satisfied longer.
Eat consciously
If you think that your weight gain may have something to do
with the stress of middle age (aging parents, university enrollment accounts
and managerial responsibilities at work, for example), this approach can be
especially useful to have among your tools To lose weight. "Many times
eating, especially eating without thinking, can be related to stress, and
meditation techniques can be useful in terms of relieving anxiety and making
you more aware of how much you are consuming," explains Apovian.
People who practice this technique, which consists of paying
attention to the sensation of hunger or satiety, planning meals and snacks,
eating as a singular activity (without, for example, reading the newspaper or
watching TV) and concentrating on the taste Real food, can be more successful
in losing weight. For example, people who participated in a weight loss program
on the internet based on mindfulness lost more weight (on average, around 4.2
pounds) than a control group, according to a North Carolina State University
study presented the year Past in the European Obesity Congress.
Here are some tips to start: eat slowly (lower the fork
between bites and chew food well), try to eat without external distractions and
follow the rule of the single bite when it comes to favorite foods that get
fat, such as desserts. You will find more suggestions here (in English).
