Many women over the age of 50 find it more difficult to stay trim and lose weight than they did when they were younger. It can be extremely frustrating when you think you were doing everything right only to see that the scales gave barely moved at all each week, so let’s take a look at exactly why losing weight post-50 is more of a challenge for many.
Muscle loss
As women get older, they can lose as much as 8 percent of their muscle mass due to various factors like menopause and age-related conditions like arthritis. Muscle, as you will probably know, helps to burn more calories, so if you lose muscle mass, your body is not as efficient at burning calories as it once was. If you continue to eat at the same level you were previously, this could be a problem, which is why lowering your calorie intake a little more as you get older is often the best solution.
Your metabolism is slower
So many women end up looking up the coolsculpting cost in their area to get their fat frozen off after having little success with diet and exercise because they do not take into account the effect that your metabolism slows down as you age. This is why the middle-aged spread is such a commonly experienced thing. Luckily, all it takes is a slightly bigger calorie deficit to deal with a slower metabolism. Eating more low-calorie fruits and veggies and less high-calorie carbs could get things moving in the right direction again, but be sure to still eat plenty of healthy fats because your body needs those as you get older.
You are going through menopause
If you are going through, or have been through menopause, your estrogen levels could drop by as much as 55 percent. Along with the hot flushes ad sleepless nights this brings, it could cause you to grow a menopause belly too. Lower estrogen levels can cause the distribution of fat in your body to shift more towards your stomach area, and this could be why your clothes are stubbornly tight despite all the dieting and exercise you do.
Sadly, belly fat can also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke so it is is something you need to deal with.
HRT, a healthy diet, and an active lifestyle can all help you with this, but if you’re worried, seeking the advice of your physician is a good idea because belly fat really can be a killer and it is not always easy to shift as you get older.
Although your body makes it more difficult for you to lose weight as you get older, it is not impossible to do so, and now you know a bit more about why it is the case, hopefully, you can change your life to make losing weight more possible for you whether you need to lose a pound or two or a more substantial amount.
