Curious to hear everyone's input - metabolism/weight maintenance + aging?
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Rubbish. I eat a fairly high carb diet, as do my parents in their 70s. They're lean and have NOT put on fat with age. They're fairly active people and eat whole foods and that's the key for all ages.Generally, you become more carb sensitive as you age. This means MOST folks need to gradually decrease carbs as they get older, or they will begin to accumulate fat.0 -
The change over time is very small and probably mostly explained by loss of muscle mass rather than age, per se.
I lost 122 pounds at 50. By and large, the metabolism excuse is just a cop out.0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »drunknfreaky wrote: »The slow down is mostly caused by loss of muscle mass as you age. So, all you need to do to forestall this slowdown is work to keep the muscle you have and build more.
Well you and Dr. William Davis are in agreement on this point. Tonight I just finished his 2014 book Wheat Belly Total Health.
What hit me hard after 40 years of yo yo'ing weight was that he states up to a third of each of my losses over the years was from muscle loss and most of my regains were more from fat than from new muscle. The reason weight loss got harder and harder for me was because I was more fat and less muscle than on each prior loss cycle.
After over two decades of yo-yo dieting, this is surely me. And now I can't get away with putting my body through the ridiculous abuse I used to when I wanted to lose weight. Not really complaining much about that last part, it wasn't good for me, and my moods are good now, when before I was a raging, starving lunatic.
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As others have said, most of the slowdown in metabolism is just that older people on average have less muscle mass. If you look at the BMR calculators, those that estimate without knowing fat percentage will have a decline as people age. Those that use fat percentage don't take age into account. So you can prevent this effect by working to keep muscle mass.
I am someone who gained weight in my late 20s after never having to think about it before then, but it had nothing to do with metabolism. It had to do with sharply reducing my overall activity level and my response to a stressful job plus way more opportunities to eat at really nice restaurants (job-related).0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »I lost 122 pounds at 50. By and large, the metabolism excuse is just a cop out.
+1
When I was about 35 and really fit, I was told that people's fitness started to drop off when they were 30. Really? I got fitter after 30.
Then more recently, I was told and read that when a women goes into perimenopause she probably won't be able to lose weight. And for a while I believed it. I was in perimenopause, therefore I was plump, and would probably remain plump the rest of my life. But then I started to think that was just silly, and a little part of the reason I signed on here at MFP was to challenge that notion. Could I actually lose weight despite being in my late 40s and in the middle of perimenopause?
Turns out ... I can. 46 lbs down and just a few more to go to reach the weight I was when I was really fit in my early 30s.
And ... my cycling speed has started to pick up again.
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Close to half of all people become more insulin resistant. I'm assuming that is what was meant by carb sensitive. For those people, reducing carbs does result in slightly more successful weight loss.0
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Your metabolism slows as you age, but the change between 25 and 35 isn't huge for healthy people.
They say it's all downhill once you pass forty. So many older people say that. So far, some things have gone downhill (most notably, the girls), but I lost a lot of weight and feel better now than I have in many, many years.
We are all going to age and go through what that brings, so IMO, there is no reason to borrow ahead on trouble. I do what I can to be as healthy as I can be. That's all I can do.
Aging sucks, but the alternatives are grim. 0 -
People talk the biggest load of **** about aging. (Note: Those are my asterisks, not MFP's - fill in your favorite bad word.) Yes, your metabolism may slow down a bit, as others have said above. Yes, some of that may be due to muscle loss (i.e., not inevitably on the rates published).
The biggest factor in creating this belief is (1) People over age X making excuses, and (2) people under age X believing nonsense proclaimed by excuse-makers because those excuse makers are living examples of being "unable to exercise" "not as strong as I was when I was your age" and "unable to lose weight".
The most important thing to do for yourself is to *not* be an excuse-maker, and not let others' excuses limit you. Change is always possible. You'll never know how much change is possible until you put in some work; you're likely to surprise yourself if you work hard.
That said, if you lose excess weight and get active while younger, and stick with it through life, you're setting yourself up for the best possible future.
I'm 59, almost 60. I've been overweight for essentially all of my adult life, except perhaps a few years during/after college. I've been pretty inactive for most of that. *Bad* for me (i.e., I behaved stupidly). A dozen years ago, after breast cancer treatment (and a hypothyroid diagnosis, BTW), I started getting more active, ultimately getting 300-500 calories of exercise most days (rowing on water and machine, weight training, yoga, aerobics, spin classes, biking, and more, in various combinations at various times). Did I lose weight? No, I could out-eat the activity. But I got lots stronger, developed a better cardiovascular system, became more flexible, etc. . . all after age 45.
This April, something snapped, and I decided I better get down to a healthier weight. I've lost 42 pounds since then, at about 2 pounds a week, until I recently started to slow to 0.5 pounds/week because goal is within 10-15 pounds. I suspect that better muscle mass from my activity level may've helped in that, but there's no way to know. In any case, with careful tracking and CICO, it was absolutely do-able.
TL;DR: Any talk about "not losing after 30" is excuse-making bunk. I, and lots of other people, are a clear counter examples. There are people competing athletically well into their 80s, and sometimes beyond (and they're not pathetic at it, either), let alone just working out and being healthy/active. But if you attain a healthy weight and activity while young, you can avoid a bunch of health problems and other bad consequences.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »As others have said, most of the slowdown in metabolism is just that older people on average have less muscle mass. If you look at the BMR calculators, those that estimate without knowing fat percentage will have a decline as people age. Those that use fat percentage don't take age into account. So you can prevent this effect by working to keep muscle mass.
I am someone who gained weight in my late 20s after never having to think about it before then, but it had nothing to do with metabolism. It had to do with sharply reducing my overall activity level and my response to a stressful job plus way more opportunities to eat at really nice restaurants (job-related).
Basically agree with this. I think any lowering of TDEE as adults age has much more to do with activity levels decreasing, muscle/lean mass decrease, stress we take on voluntarily, and ability to afford more food. You can control all of those things if you want to.
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My mom is 65 and is between a size zero and size two. She eats healthy but often throughout the day and goes dancing twice a week plus walks to the library every day to read (2 miles round trip).0
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OsricTheKnight wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »What hit me hard after 40 years of yo yo'ing weight was that he states up to a third of each of my losses over the years was from muscle loss and most of my regains were more from fat than from new muscle. The reason weight loss got harder and harder for me was because I was more fat and less muscle than on each prior loss cycle.
I have data on myself for this over the last 12 years. It's definitely a measurable effect, but not quite as severe as that. Of course this must vary from person to person, and depend in each case how you lost and how you regained.
Osric
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Prior to middle age, food was something I had to pause and remember to eat. After middle age, food was one pleasure nobody could deny me. I stopped eating just until I was not hungry a d started eating until I was full.
The difference added lbs per year I. Hence I am here.
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »
disagree +1vivmom2014 wrote: »
disagree +2
I've found inactivity to play such a huge role. Once I raised my activity levels, the weight started pouring off me. I've lately been losing weight too quickly, and I'm 53.
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Close to half of all people become more insulin resistant. I'm assuming that is what was meant by carb sensitive. For those people, reducing carbs does result in slightly more successful weight loss.
While it's true that insulin resistance can increase with age, it's not true that carb restriction results in "more successful" weight loss. Over time, weight loss is the same for all macro levels. Increased activity is also good for insulin resistance.
I think macro balance is a matter of personal preference when dealing with IR. Activity? That should be a must.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »The change over time is very small and probably mostly explained by loss of muscle mass rather than age, per se.
I lost 122 pounds at 50. By and large, the metabolism excuse is just a cop out.
+1 I was at a similar age when I lost the extra 168 lbs I was carrying around and have had no troubles maintaining that loss for nearly 3 years.
It saddens me to see so many threads on here that have the premise that ageing causes successful weight and maintenance to be damn near impossible or significantly more difficult.
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My thoughts:
Life isn't fair. Most of people have to eat less than they used to even if similarly active.
Staying active requires conscious effort.
Resistance training seems to help.
And that's all I have to say about that.0 -
Metabolism shuts down at age 30? !?!?
Uh oh, I died 37 years ago & didn't know it! Guess I'd better cancel my gym membership and tell my physical therapist and personal trainer I'm a figment of their imaginations. Oh, and tell my surgeon he just did ACL reconstruction on a corpse. And the 12 lbs I lost in the last 6 weeks must have been someone else's. Anyone missing their weight loss?? LOL0 -
I'm going to be 44 in a couple of months. I really don't find it any more difficult to stay in shape now than I did in my 20's. It's really always been a priority.
Use it or lose it is what my grandma used to say.0 -
Am I dead? No way!
Yes my metabolism is a couple of hundred calories lower than when I was 22, but that was 40 years ago.
I weighed more or less the same from 15 - 45, then put on 30 lbs between 50 and 55 ( high normal BMI). I had slowed down, less clubbing: more books, especially in winter when I took to hibernating.
Counted calories for a year, added some structured and varied exercise, to replace clubbing, mostly winter work, and was back to my 'normal' weight within the year. That was 2008-09, and have maintained within a 5 lb range ever since.
Oddly enough I take a smaller clothes size now, I suspect I have the best BF% I have ever had! Yeah exercise.
A gradual slowing of the metabolism most certainly doesn't stop weight loss at any age, nor hinder maintaining it.
Cheers, h.
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36 and losing weight gets easier everytime i decide to be lazy and eat like a pig. Already down 25lbs in a little over a month. Got 10 more pounds to goal weight.0
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