Maintaining your ideal weight in adulthood is difficult , regardless of whether you are one of those who have been interspersing diets all your life or if you are one of the lucky ones whose metabolism helped you lose weight easily. Because losing weight is never easy and requires effort, although it is definitely worth it. To maintain a healthy weight, you need to balance healthy eating and physical activity . In this article we tell you why it is so difficult to stay at your ideal weight in adulthood, and we give you the best tips to achieve it.
Why is it so hard to stay at your ideal weight in adulthood?
As we age , we continue to eat the same types and amounts of food as ever, but we watch, horrified, how we are irretrievably gaining weight. This is because our metabolism slows down with age, and also because body composition changes over the years, as we lose muscle naturally.
The older we get, the less food our body needs for energy . For this reason, if we tend to eat the same old thing but do not increase the physical activity we do, we will get more and more fat.
What do you have to do to stay at your ideal adult weight?
Avoid loss of muscle mass
Sarcopenia or muscle loss plays a crucial role in maintaining metabolism . Metabolism is estimated to slow 5% every decade after turning 40. Consequently, as you age, you may not be able to maintain the same dietary behaviors without gaining weight.
A combination of daily exercise and intake of nutritionally dense but light calorie foods will help you maintain muscle mass and consequently a balanced metabolism. Include more protein-rich foods like chickpeas, lentils, nuts, and seeds in your meals, and do some strength or resistance training on a regular basis.
Burns muscle fat that tends to accumulate
As you age, not only do you lose muscle more quickly, your body also retains more fat . The amount of brown fat, which generates heat and burns calories, decreases; and the level of white fat, which stores excess calories, increases.
According to the Endocrine Society, eat a healthy diet (rich in vegetables, protein, and healthy fats, but low in carbohydrates, saturated fat, and processed foods), eat foods with natural fat-burning properties, and moderate but consistent exercise – ideally, 3 hours a week minimum – these are direct ways to help minimize white fat content.
You must be careful with the type of exercises you do, because the body does not endure the same as in youth and you should not put your health at risk . For example, HIIT workouts are the fastest way to burn fat because they speed up metabolism, but their high intensity is not recommended for people who may suffer from cardiovascular problems.
For this reason, daily light cardio is best, whether walking, running or swimming (if you don’t want your joints to suffer).
Reduce stress
Our responsibilities increase as we get older: work, mortgage, children, first ailments… As a result of all this, we experience more stress , which leads to a greater release of cortisol , the body’s stress response hormone.
Cortisol is linked to the production of glucose , since when it is produced it decreases the amount of glucose taken up by the muscle and leaves a greater amount of available glucose that is reserved in the body in the form of fat . In theory, cortisol lasts for about 2 hours in the blood before being eliminated; But, if we experience a continuous feeling of stress, glucose is continually being reserved in our body, which can also make us fat.
Therefore, in order to maintain your ideal weight as an adult, it is important to reduce stress in your life. This can be done through the following elements:
Diet
Nuts and seeds like cashews, pistachios, and sunflower seeds contain vital minerals and amino acids that produce energy and regulate the nervous system .
Exercise
Physical activity increases your endorphins, which helps elevate your mood and helps you feel happier and less worried.
Dream
Lack of sleep makes us feel irritable and stressed. Establish a consistent sleep routine of a minimum of seven hours a night to be clear the next day and not feel anxious
Relaxation
The best way to keep stress (and cortisol) at bay is to curb distress and anxiety through relaxation techniques such as meditation, mindfulness, and also sports disciplines such as chi kung or yoga .
