Have you ever wondered why it seems like you used to be able to eat what you wanted and never gained a pound? Now it feels like if you just look at food and you gain weight.
Hi, this is Eunice from Diet Center.
It can have a lot to do with metabolism. You might ask, what does that mean? Metabolism is all the processes that occur in the body that turn the food we eat into energy our body uses.
These processes include moving, breathing, thinking, our heart beating, etc. The amount of energy our bodies need, and use, plays a significant part in our weight. As we age, our metabolism starts to slow down. The reason a person’s metabolism slows down is because our bodies lose muscle with age.
As we lose muscle mass, our calorie needs fall. After age 25, up to one-half pound of muscle is lost yearly. In our 30s, metabolism slows by about 5% every decade. Most people need to take in about 100 calories per day less each decade to maintain body weight. The problem is that we continue eating the same or sometimes more. So, as we get older, we may be consuming more calories than our bodies can use, resulting in stored body fat. Consuming as little as 50 extra calories a day over what our bodies can metabolize will result in a weight gain of almost six pounds over a one-year period.
Exercise can build and maintain calorie-burning muscle tissue. Exercise such as weight training or resistance training, also known as strength training, is when you use your muscles to push or pull against some force. The force could be gravity, from weights, exercise machines (for example a rowing machine), or your own body (doing push-ups or pushing against something stationary such as a wall).
Including resistance training in an exercise routine helps maintain and build muscle tissue, which can prevent and reverse resulting weight problems. It can also keep us moving as we age. Therefore, it is important to try to maintain or increase our muscle tissue. Muscle tissue is very metabolically active. Even at rest, our muscles burn over 25% of our calories. The more muscle we have, the more calories our body can burn even when we are not active.
It doesn’t matter how old a person is, his or her muscles are just as responsive to exercise as those of younger people so keep your body moving. It will help you keep your muscles, and your metabolism.
Consult a physician before beginning any exercise routine and consult a trainer for proper technique and form. This will help ensure you exercise safely and successfully.
Thanks for reading Diet Center’s tip of the week. If you feel like you have tried everything and nothing is working call 928-753-5066 or stop by Diet Center at 1848 Hope Ave. in Kingman.