Your Metabolism Is Slower Than Before Having more fat and less muscle reduces calorie burning. Many people also become less active with age for various reasons, which further slows the number of calories you burn.
As we reach our 30's, our bodies usually need less energy, meaning we may not be able to eat the way we did in our 20's. Then, as you move past 40 and head to middle age, changes in muscle, hormones and metabolism all make it harder to stay trim.
Although there is not much decline in your muscles between ages 20 and 40, after age 40 there can be a decline of 1% to 2% per year in lean body mass and 1.5% to 5% per year in strength. The loss of muscle mass is related to both a reduced number of muscle fibers and a reduction in fiber size.
A. Yes, unfortunately. Although it is possible to lose weight at any age, several factors make it harder to lose weight with age. Even those who remain active lose muscle mass every decade beginning in their 30s, research suggests, replacing it with fat.
Even when you do commit to getting your health back, weight loss and muscle growth are physiologically more challenging after age 40 as well: Your basal metabolic rate, which accounts for about 50–70% of total energy expenditure, decreases linearly with age (about 1–2% per decade).
No matter what your age, you can improve your fitness.
If it's been a long time since you've exercised and you're feeling less than fit, you might think that it's too late to make a change. But you're wrong. You can improve your fitness at any age.
One of the primary reasons losing weight is harder to do as you grow older is due to a slowing metabolism. It is estimated that your metabolism slows down 5% every decade after you turn 40. This can occur because of the loss of muscle (or sarcopenia) which plays a crucial part in maintaining your metabolism.
“Obesity incidence starts increasing in one's twenties and peaks at 40 to 59, and then decreases slightly after age 60,” says Craig Primack, MD, an obesity medicine physician at the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center in Arizona.
Why We Gain Weight As We Age It starts sometime during our 50s and 60s: that belly bulge, those "extra" pounds we just can't seem to shed. Part of it is simply the biology of our bodies. Our muscles literally shrink as we age, and that means more calories turn into fat — and it's a lot harder to exercise it off.
Your muscles are their strongest at age 25. At 25, your physical strength is at its peak, and stays this way for the following 10 to 15 years. This trait is among the ones you can improve easiest, with the help of the right workout.
20s – When you're in your 20s, your body is strong and resilient. This is the perfect time to build a foundation of fitness. Develop exercise as a habit. Make it a regular part of your life.
It was found that people who are exercising at forty have skin that is as elastic as people in their early thirties. McMaster researchers trace the cause back to, believe or not, sweating. If you exercise regularly, your skin will be cleared from impurities more often, leaving it glowing and healthy.
Some fitness experts say it's even possible to get into the best shape of your life after the age of fifty if you've spent most of your life out of shape.
The finding of the study suggests that people in middle age certainly gain weight and it is harder for them to lose it, but slow metabolism is not the real reason behind it. It was revealed that from the 20s to the 50s the energy expenditure is the most stable.
Epidemiologists have observed that the average person typically puts on 1 to 2 pounds a year from early adulthood through middle age. The CDC's numbers show that much of the increase is concentrated in the 20s, for men and women.
Normal weight loss.
As you get older, you start to lose lean body mass like muscle and bone density. As early as age 30, our lean body mass starts to drop by a little over half a pound each year. You might not notice a change when you step on the scale, because the lean weight you lost is often replaced by fat.
Weight loss has many health benefits, including possibly lowering postmenopausal breast cancer risk. New research shows weight loss is possible at any age. It may seem as if it's harder to lose weight as we get older, but the results of a new study suggest it's possible.
As a result, losing belly fat often takes hard work, especially if you're in your 40s or older. That's because your hormones and your belly fat affect each other, and as your hormone levels change during middle age, fat around your midsection tends to accumulate faster than it does in other areas.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
Who is likely to be fitter: a lazy 20-year-old or an active 50-year-old? New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's K.G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine provides statistical evidence that the 50-year-old can be every bit as fit as someone 30 years younger.
It's never too late to build muscle and strength. You can build muscle no matter your age. A proven strength training program for building muscle after 50 is to lift two or three days per week, doing 10 sets per muscle and week, with about 8–15 reps per set. Eat a healthy high-protein diet.