How to lose weight after 50 years old? This question for some people is a real unknown. As the years go by it becomes more difficult to get into shape. Especially when you are at a more mature age of your life. With the day to day and a lot of things we must do in our personal life like the couple, family, sons and the job it becomes really hard to make time to train. At this age, most people have settled down a lifestyle. And at more age is more difficult to change.
For the biological side, the muscular mass begins to reduce with the age, while the fat grows. From the age of 30, the body begins to lose muscle mass. This loss of muscle tissue is a natural part of the aging process and raised in the elderly, known as sarcopenia (study). Due to the job or studies, we spend more time sitting, in fact, for the majority the sedentary lifestyle increases as we grow.
The hormones and their relation with losing weight after 50 years
Another point is the hormonal changes in the human body as we grow.
In men after 30 years begins to decrease the levels of testosterone and this contributes to gain weight. Why? Because testosterone is a hormone that helps to protect from gaining weight.
In women’s cases, generate an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone production. The first hormone produces fat cells and the last one counteracts the process. After age 35, more progesterone is lost than estrogen. This results in an imbalance that leads to a high possibility for women to gain a little extra weight.
Injuries by the sedentary life and after 50 years old
Maybe you ask yourself “But I don’t exercise since school or my twenties, I could hurt me”, and you are right, if you are around fifty years and have a sedentary lifestyle then must have caution with the program you choose and necessarily take a medical evaluation to prevent future difficulties.
All these factors make losing weight after the 50 harder than when you are 20 years old. Therefore, is a good idea to put into practice a time-efficient and safe plan workout using weights to counteract muscle loss.
The resistance/weight workout is a key factor to lose weight after 50 years old. Particularly to prevent the called sarcopenia (study), avoiding muscle loss. Only must take care of the weight you are lifting and know your own limits.
Some more tips to lose weight after 50 years
Ok, being direct with you the tips are almost the same that what I say on this page.
But because now we are talking about weight loss at a mature age, is necessary to highlight some points.
Strength training
This may sound repetitive, but it is crucial, especially as you get older. You really must learn to make this type of training more enjoyable if you are one of those people who get bored going to the gym.
Take care about what you eat
What you eat is essential, so the recommendations are these: rely less on fast food, processed carbs, and sugar.
Prefer healthy foods like vegetables and fruits. Also, your protein intake is very important to reverse the muscle loss provoked by aging (study).
Ideally, prepare your own food or at least should know what are you eating.
If this is too difficult to implement, you can consult a dietitian. He can help you to make healthy food choices.
Body composition
Do you know that you can be overweight in muscle mass?
That’s correct. Two people can be height and weight the same but one can be overweight in muscle and the other in fat.
So the percentage of fat and fat-free mass in your body is the more relevant thing (also in more young people). This should be one of your main goals if you wanna be healthier.
If you want to look younger and build a healthy-looking body you can try The Old School New Body program. The best part is that you can be as old as you want to start this program, the only thing you need is the determination and commitment to feel healthy and young.