Mid Forties Stubborn New Metabolism

sprucemoon

Hi there! Could use support of advice for teaching my mid forties realizing my body seems more comfortable at about 8-10 pounds over what I’ve always been despite exercising about the same and eating pretty healthy.
Any thoughts?

ninerbuff

You'd be shocked at how much more you consume and how much less you may actually exercise over time. If you've been dong the same exercise over a long period of time, then I'd increase the intensity. Also, if you're guessing and not tracking calories then you're likely eating more than you think.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

nossmf

To piggyback the above, even if your actual gym-time exercise is totally the same (same duration, intensity, etc.) you may be doing less exercise overall. In my 20's I was playing sports, hiking, and rarely sitting still if I didn't have to. In my 40's I now work a desk job, which limits how much movement I do during the day outside of my gym time. Even if my workouts are identical, 40's me is moving less during the day than 20's me did, therefore burning less calories throughout the day.

Do you lift weights or do some other form of strength exercise, like swimming? Cardio seems to be less effective for me now than a decade ago, but weights remain good. In addition, the fact we're getting older means we're gonna start experiencing muscular decline if we don't use it, which if left unchecked in our 40's means that by the time we're in our 70's we can be totally reliant upon others. But by working now to keep muscles, we can remain independent longer and later in life.

AnnPT77

Well, recent research suggests that metabolism is pretty steady from our 20s to our 60s, then declines quite slowly thereafter for some time:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34385400/

That's defining "metabolism" in scientific terms, basically the baseline things our body does to keep us alive and ticking along - basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR), pretty much.

What changes? As others above have suggested, it's behaviors and the consequences of behaviors.

I won't make assumptions about your life, but I know that when I was in my 20s, my job, home chores, transportation, social life and hobbies were more physical than they were by my 40s (let alone now, at 67). At 20, I had a car, but was still kind of poor, so rode my bike and walked a lot. Even my office job was more active in my mid-20s than mid-40s (some combo of technology change and role changes), let alone my very physical job at 20. I was digging garden beds, doing home improvements, etc., vs. now when I'm more enjoying the results of those labors. Maybe our friends in later age prefer sit-down socializing and eating rich restaurant foods, and we accommodate that even if we are more active than they are generally. There's lots, and it's all gradual/subtle, but it can add up to hundreds of calories daily.

On top of that, many people find it necessary to curtail exercise hobbies when they have a family and more job responsibilities - maybe not give it up altogether, but I'm a case in point that it's very easy to be much more active athletically than average, and stay overweight for years.

Being less active (not just exercise, but daily life) makes the inevitable de-conditioning (loss of muscle loss and fitness) much faster than it needed to be. (For anyone who has a history of extreme yo-yo dieting, that will increase those effects, typically). (Of course any exercise we do will tend to counter that, but the relative nature and amount/intensity of the exercise matter.)

It's true that muscle burns a very few more calories at rest than fat does, but the bigger deal is that as we get a little heavier, a little less active, have a little less muscle mass, maybe lose a little cardiovascular fitness besides, movement generally becomes less easy and less fun. When it's less easy/fun, we tend to do it less, without even noticing, creating a negative spiral.

The good news is that all of that is in our control: Increase daily life activity, avoid extreme calorie cuts, get good nutrition, follow a sensible and enjoyable exercise routine (with strength and cardiovascular challenges in there), we can create a positive spiral of improving fitness, feeling better, wanting to move more . . . and burning more calories.

You mention 8-10 stubborn pounds. To gain 10 pounds in a year, what needs to happen? That would be eating a mere 100 calories more daily above our maintenance needs, or moving 100 calories less, or a combination of the two adding up to that. Who's going to notice that change, unless tracking eating very carefully and being very mindful about daily life movement as well as exercise? Once that weight is on, it takes fewer calories to keep it on (per day) than it did to add it.

"Exercising about the same and eating pretty healthy" is something that can easily co-exist with that 100 calorie or so surplus, without a person even noticing, I'd say. We're talking maybe a tablespoon of creamy salad dressing or mayo, half a serving of peanut butter, part of a can of sugar soda - not all of those, just one of them. One of those fancy sweet coffee drinks a couple of times a week would also do it. Maybe you don't eat those things, but the point is there are pretty small things that it's easy to add without noticing.

On the exercise front, for me (around 132 pounds) 100 calories would be 15-20 minutes of fairly intense normal exercise, or around an hour of being on my feet walking slowly, as I might do while doing home chores, shopping, etc.

It doesn't take much. You can reverse the situation . . . that doesn't take much, necessarily, either, if you're patient.

Best wishes!