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Weight Gain Due to Aging

Why Do We Gain Weight as We Get Older or
What is Sarcopenia?

By: Rich Fitter, Certified Personal Trainer, A.C.E.

Sarcopenia is the age related loss of muscle.

Most people have heard that our metabolism changes after we hit the big 3-0. The reasons why, and what we can do about it is often misunderstood.

After the age of 30, the average person begins to lose 1/2 lb. of muscle per year. One reason for this is related to the loss of nerve stimulation to the muscle and decreased protein synthesis (a necessary process for muscle development).

Other factors include dietary changes such as dieting, under-eating, poor nutritional choices, hormonal changes and decreased physical activity.

Muscle is a very active tissue – much more active than fat tissue. In some instances one pound of muscle may burn up to 500 calories per week.

As we lose muscle and gain fat, therefore, we automatically gain weight, unless we do something different to challenge our body and improve our diets.

While it is possible through proper nutrition and strength training to continue to build muscle well into later life, Mother Nature requires we work at it.

Let's say at age 30 a woman gets into the best shape of her life. Her diet is perfect and she exercises regularly.

She then decides she will keep doing the same things for the rest of her life, expecting to stay in perfect shape because of it.

The following year, 31 rolls around and she loses 1/2 lb of muscle. The year after that, another 1/2 lb is lost, and so on.

Even though this person is doing the same things she did at 30, by the time she hits 38, she will have lost 4 lbs of lean muscle and her body will be burning 2000 calories less per week. One pound of fat contains 3500 calories. Because this woman's body is burning this many calories less every 10 days, in a one year period she may gain approximately 30 lbs of fat!

Performing her same exercise program over and over for years is not effective in halting this weight gain because your body has not only adapted to it, but has also increased its need for greater challenges.

Following the same eating patterns also is not logical because your needs for calories and nutrients are also different as you get older.

The Solution to Sarcopenia – Avoid Very Low-Calorie Diets; Do Challenging Strength Training Programs

Overall, the factors that most affect a person's metabolism are age, gender, size, body composition (fat to lean mass ratio) and physical activity. The above-mentioned factors minus our physical activity determine our resting metabolic rate.

Our resting metabolism is the number of calories our bodies expend performing the most basic physiological functions such as breathing, temperature, circulation and respiration.

Surprisingly, our body uses about 65% of our daily calories doing just these necessary tasks.

This is one of the primary reasons very low calorie diets do not work well for losing body fat. You need to provide your body with adequate calories for energy and nutrients to perform at the very least these functions.

If you fail to do this, your body will fear starvation and lower its heart rate, respiration and temperature to burn less calories. In the absence of proper nutrients your body will feed off of its own muscle and bones, further slow metabolism and contribute to muscle loss.

Depriving your body of calories and nutrients is not the answer.

A challenging and varied weight training program, in combination with good diet, helps to prevent muscle loss as well as increase protein synthesis and metabolism.

Overall, proper eating and increased physical activity is the answer to life long fitness and wellness.

By: Rich Fitter, A.C.E. Certified Trainer, Weight Lifting Champion and WNBF Body Building Champion is an expert consultant to The Fit Woman Online, a website of women's fitness and weight training equipment.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.

 

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