Managing Your Weight Throughout the Years
It’s no secret that as we age, our bodies change. Our metabolism slows down, our hormones shift, and our lifestyles become more sedentary. While it’s tempting to think that these changes can’t be avoided, there is quite a bit you can do at each stage of life to manage your weight and stay healthy. Now let’s explore the effects of age on weight management.
The Teen Years—Establishing Healthy Habits
It may seem like teenagers have all the time in the world to eat whatever they want without consequence, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. During adolescence, it’s important to establish healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Eating nutritious meals, getting plenty of exercise, and managing stress can help teens maintain a healthy weight throughout their teenage years and beyond.
The Twenties—Metabolism Matters
When we reach our twenties, metabolism becomes an increasingly important factor in weight management. To keep your metabolism humming along nicely during this stage of life, make sure you eat regular meals throughout the day and fill your plate with nutrient-dense foods like lean proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables. Exercise is also important for keeping your metabolism up; aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per day to maintain a healthy body weight.
The Thirties and Beyond—Staying Active
As you move into your thirties (and beyond!), maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle is key to keeping your body weight under control.
With time, we tend to lose muscle mass, and that’s why you need to find ways to stay active throughout the day—whether it's taking walks with friends or family after dinner or playing sports on weekends with loved ones. Anything that gets your heart rate up counts!
Our metabolism slows down, making it harder to lose weight, and if you are living an inactive lifestyle, this will be the easiest way to gain lots of weight.
A very important factor is lipid turnover in fat tissue, which declines as you age, and this can make it easier to gain weight. That is why it is important to watch your diet, lower your calorie consumption if you are inactive and make sure you eat balanced meals with plenty of fruits and veggies that will help fuel your body so you can continue staying active as you age.
Hormonal shifts, our hormone decrease as we age, for example, estrogen levels drop during menopause causing women to retain more fat around their abdomen while testosterone production decreases in men leading to an increase in body fat percentage and decrease in muscle mass.
Age certainly brings about changes that make it harder for us to manage our weight effectively, but no matter what age you are it’s possible to take charge of your health and keep your body weight in check through proper nutrition, regular physical activity and checkups. By investing in yourself now, you'll be setting yourself up for lifelong health!