If you swear it was easier to lose weight in your 20s than it is now, you’re not imagining it. Thanks to changes in our metabolism and decreased activity as we age, it becomes easier to gain weight and more challenging to drop it.
We asked Medical Weight Loss Clinic Medical Director Dr. David Rabens about what happens with our metabolism as we get older.
Resistance training is a key to getting and staying fit, at any age.
“The changes that occur involve our food intake, our energy expenditure, our lean body muscle mass, our healthy subcutaneous fat stores and our visceral fat stores,” Dr. Rabens says. “As we age, it gets harder to lose weight because of the metabolic changes that take place in our bodies, the energy consumption and expenditure.”
He explains that, as we age, adipose tissue — known as body fat — increases, lean muscle mass decreases and we typically eat more food and exercise less. Hormone levels change. The power house of our cells, the mitochondria, do not function as well. This can all contribute to difficulty losing weight.
Dr. Rabens says it’s possible to overcome these changes, lose weight and encourage longevity. It takes caloric restriction and exercise.
“It has been shown that caloric restriction does improve longevity,” he says. “The mainstay of weight loss is caloric restriction and exercise. What most people fail to realize is that our energy expenditure is constantly changing. It lowers with age starting in your 30s and progressively decreases in your 60s. This means you burn fewer calories.”
Dr. Rabens says most patients are surprised to learn that when you lose weight, you also burn fewer calories.
“If you then stop limiting your caloric intake, you are consuming more calories than you burn. You will gain your weight back unless you increase your energy expenditure,” he says.
This means it’s important to exercise to maintain weight loss and overall health.
“Resistance (strength) training is required to maintain weight loss,” Rabens says. “Ideally, one should start exercising when they start their weight loss program. It should be gradually built up to at least five days a week, but better if it is daily. Resistance training burns fat calories more efficiently than other exercise and also helps maintain or build muscle mass. Muscle mass - as well as fat mass - decreases with weight loss.”
Dr. Rabens says it’s important to counteract the muscle loss that accompanies weight loss because, as people hit their 40s, metabolic changes cause an increase in fat mass and weight, with a decrease in muscle mass. In addition to strength training, he recommends upping your protein intake, including leucine, an important amino acid that helps maintain muscle mass.
As we age, visceral fat mass — the belly fat deep in your abdomen that wraps around your organs — increases. Too much visceral fat increases your risk of diabetes, stroke and heart disease. In addition, Dr. Rabens says, there can be fat infiltrating into the muscle, which may alter strength.
“If you are not exercising regularly by the time your diet program is over, you are playing ‘catch up,’ in maintaining your weight loss,” he says.
For a customized program to achieve your weight loss goals no matter your age, schedule a free consultation at MWLC.com. Our experienced, dedicated staff at clinic locations throughout Michigan and Ohio is ready to offer guidance and support for your personal goals.
