Do you remember the days of being able to eat an entire pizza without gaining a pound? When you’re in your 20s, it’s easier to keep your weight in check. Plus, some people are blessed with a fast metabolism when they’re young that lets them indulge without having it show up when they step on the scale. It would be nice if this didn’t change with age, but that’s not usually the case. Most people start to see their body fat rise as they move into their thirties and that can be particularly distressing for people who have always been able to eat what they want. Why is so much harder to lose body fat off as we age?
Fat Loss and Aging: Why Does It Get Harder to Lose Body Fat as You Get Older?
Lifestyle factors play some role. Most people are more active in their early 20s when they’re in college and have yet to take on the responsibility of a full-time job. Once they enter their working years and start a family, exercise and physical activity gets put on the backburner. But there are still some physiological factors working against you as you age that make it harder to lose body fat.
Growth Hormone Levels Drop
Growth hormone levels are highest during puberty, and they slowly decline with age. By middle-age, growth hormone levels are significantly lower than they were at their peak. Growth hormone is anabolic for building lean body mass and strong bones, yet it also promotes fat loss, so it’s easier to keep body fat levels low when your growth hormone levels are higher.
Muscle Mass Declines
Along with the drop in growth hormone, muscle mass gradually declines with age. You lose muscle at a rate of about 1% per year starting in your mid-forties and the rate of muscle loss accelerates after the age of 50. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat tissue, so this leads to a drop in metabolism. That’s why your calorie requirements go down as you age, and some people don’t adjust how much and what they eat. This loss of muscle mass has other more serious implications. It contributes to frailty in older people and increases the risk of falls.
Insulin Sensitivity Decreases
With age, insulin sensitivity declines. When this happens, the pancreas has to pump out more insulin to push glucose into cells. Insulin is a hormone that also promotes fat storage, so higher levels of insulin increase body fat, especially around the waist and tummy. Some research shows that keeping body fat levels down prevents this decline in insulin sensitivity.
What Does This Mean?
You can’t stop the aging process, but there’s a lot you can do to prevent weight gain as you age. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that middle-aged women can avoid weight gain by exercising an hour a day. Walking may get your blood flowing, but it’s not going to be extremely effective for keeping the weight off. They key is to boost growth hormone levels by doing periods of more intense exercise. Add some high-intensity intervals to your workouts to boost the calorie burn. Many of my workouts like HiiT or AfterBurn are a great way to rev up your metabolism and increase your growth hormone level.
Resistance training is a must for preventing weight gain with age. Building lean body mass not only makes you stronger and more functional, it increases metabolically active lean body mass. That means you’ll burn more calories throughout the day. Try my workouts like STS, STS Total Body, Gym Styles, High Reps, Muscle Max or Pyramid Upper/Lower Body to strengthen, tone and build lean muscle mass.
As you get older, you’ll need to reduce the number of calories you take in since your calorie requirements decline with age. At the same time, research suggests that getting more lean protein in your diet as you age helps to preserve muscle mass.
Finally, don’t neglect the importance of adequate sleep. It’s during the deeper stages of sleep that you release growth hormone. Take time to exercise, but make time to snooze and recover too.
References:
Diabetes Care 16:728-733.
Web MD. “Women Who Maintain a Healthy Weight Get 60 Minutes a Day of Moderate Activity, Study Finds”
Exercise Physiology. Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance. Seventh edition. 2009.
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