Age and Metabolism?

InfinitePoss
InfinitePoss Posts: 60 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone know how much an individual's metabolism truly slows down with age and what effect it would have on weight gain?

I am curious about this because I am 42 years old and I spent most of my twenties and early thirties hovering between 190 and 210. I am 6'2" and when I started this journey in March I weighed 260 - I am now down to 234 with a goal weight of 195.

One of the things that is a bit "frustrating" is that well intentioned friends and family keep telling me that I look realy great and when I tell them I still have another 40 pounds to go they say things like "well you know it's a lot harder to lose weight in your 40s". And while I know that ones metabolism slows down it is my belief that a slowing metabolism would not cause a 40 or 50 pound weight gain over a ten year period.

My belief is that changes in lifestyle is more of the culprit than a slowing metabolism. Any thoughts?

Replies

  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member

    My belief is that changes in lifestyle is more of the culprit than a slowing metabolism. Any thoughts?

    Agree. Don't listen to them. Eat well. Track what you eat. Train hard. Love your body. Work it.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Age related sarcopenia...
  • Coco_UK
    Coco_UK Posts: 84 Member
    I am 42, finding it very slow to loose weight and was wondering if it is because of my age. I have always been the one who could loose weight faster than anyone else, so this is a real bummer!
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    Age related sarcopenia...

    So lift some weights :D

    The fittest people I've known are all in their late 30s and 40s. Hands down.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I'm 42 and have lost 310 lbs. over the last 37 months so I am going to say for me anyway a big no... age hasn't stop my weightloss... Best of Luck!!
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    MFP seems to give 10 calories less per day for each year of age. So about that much.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Metabolism does slow down with age, but I do not know the specific calculation. I am doing New Rules of Lifting for women and to maintain weight it actually recommends 300 calories less for someone that is over 35, as opposed to under 35 (for that specific program). MFP will take your age into account. So, you can do it! Some things need to change as we get older, but we can still be fit.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    BMR based on weight and bodyfat% doesn't have an age factor, because in the study age didn't matter. Katch-McArdle.
    http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_bmr.html

    So much LBM takes so much energy to run it. Fat does too, so if overfat, Katch BMR is actually underestimated.

    The problem is, as you get older, you don't use your muscle as much and have less of it as you get older, therefore your metabolism goes down.
    In general for avg population.

    Doesn't need to happen though, keep a reasonable deficit, and lift heavy weights to retain what you've got, and perhaps add a couple lbs of muscle too. Reasonable deficit required to gain, if deep deficit forget it, just hope to hold on to what you've got.

    Forget cardio, it won't do that for you nearly as much as weight lifting, resistance training.
  • InfinitePoss
    InfinitePoss Posts: 60 Member
    Thanks for the great responses.

    I think another issue when it comes to age, which may be part of my issue, is that when we get to a certain weight we become psychologically used to it and it becomes part of our identity. It is then hard to believe that you could ever weigh what you did ten or even twenty years ago. And then when you have people around you telling you that you are being unrealistic it is a bit discouraging even if they think they are being helpful. If its hard for those of us who at least experienced being fit at one point I can't imagine the challenge for a person who has been overweigt their whole life.

    On the other hand one thing I did read, which I think I found a link to from a poster on this board, is that regardless of age once you let your weight get to a certain point it wil always be more challenging to maintain your goal weight than a person that never put on the weight.

    In other words if there is another me, in an alternate universe;-), that never put on 40 pounds that person would not need to work as hard to maintain that weight at 42.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    I found it just as easy (maybe easier) to lose weight at 40 as I did at 23.

    When I was 23, I lost a lot of weight by eating 800 calories a day and spending 2-3 hours a day in the gym. I worked HARD to be thin. Every day I was miserable, hungry and obsessed with my workouts. I managed to keep the weight off for as long as I was willing to follow that level of starvation and exercise. As soon as I quit being diligent, I started gaining again. It was just 3-4 pounds a year, but 15 years later I found myself approaching my 40th birthday with 50 pounds to lose.

    At 39, I decided to cut my calories very moderately (250 a day) and focus on being more active throughout my day. (I was already a regular exerciser). I ended up losing that fifty pounds, plus 13 extra pounds over 15 months time.

    It was really easy. I was eating over 2000 calories a day, doing fun exercise like hiking and biking, and enjoying all the foods I like (only in more moderate portion sizes).
  • mstifb
    mstifb Posts: 230
    I wonder that too. I hope there's something I can do to speed up my metabolism.
  • InfinitePoss
    InfinitePoss Posts: 60 Member
    Thanks for the post Heybales!

    I have lifted weights for years, however, my primary focus was usually cardio, spending hours on the treadmill.

    But for the past few months, in addition to using MFP, I have been doing Power 90, which has a good mix of resistance and cardio training. What I have found interesting is that my body composition, and shape, is a heck of a lot better than what it was in my twenties in terms of muscle. At 42 I am starting to see the beginnings of one of those bodies I have seen on those fitness magazines which is a bit bizarre.
  • InfinitePoss
    InfinitePoss Posts: 60 Member
    I found it just as easy (maybe easier) to lose weight at 40 as I did at 23.

    When I was 23, I lost a lot of weight by eating 800 calories a day and spending 2-3 hours a day in the gym. I worked HARD to be thin. Every day I was miserable, hungry and obsessed with my workouts. I managed to keep the weight off for as long as I was willing to follow that level of starvation and exercise. As soon as I quit being diligent, I started gaining again. It was just 3-4 pounds a year, but 15 years later I found myself approaching my 40th birthday with 50 pounds to lose.

    At 39, I decided to cut my calories very moderately (250 a day) and focus on being more active throughout my day. (I was already a regular exerciser). I ended up losing that fifty pounds, plus 13 extra pounds over 15 months time.

    It was really easy. I was eating over 2000 calories a day, doing fun exercise like hiking and biking, and enjoying all the foods I like (only in more moderate portion sizes).

    This really sounds exactly like my story! When was in my twenties my daily work out was to run six miles every day and then every other day I would head to the gym and lift weight for about 45 minutes. I was pretty much addicted to working out and it also probably made it so I could get away with the weekly partying I did all through college and grad school;-)
  • seniorfaye
    seniorfaye Posts: 295 Member
    I'm 42 and have lost 310 lbs. over the last 37 months so I am going to say for me anyway a big no... age hasn't stop my weightloss... Best of Luck!!


    I thought I had read your statement wrong at first. Did a double take...What an accomplishment!! You have to be so proud of yourself!! You had to be so dedicated to keep on keeping on !!! Congratulations to you!!!
  • cbirdso
    cbirdso Posts: 465 Member
    My belief is that changes in lifestyle is more of the culprit than a slowing metabolism. Any thoughts?

    THIS ^^^^ But I would add health issues as the number one culprit before changes in lifestyle...like a difficult pregnancy or a major illness. These have a way of spiraling out of control when you get older because it is harder to heal and recover PLUS the youthful enthusiasm to keep yourself in shape gets shunted to the side with the greater demands of family and career.

    Knowledge and desire are the major ingredient to weight loss and sometimes those are easier to come by with age!
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,359 Member
    I think the affects of aging must vary from person to person. A person's genetics and fitness history probably play a part.
    I'm 62 and I don't know if age affects my results, but its kind of irrelevant. I eat well, log my calories, work on my fitness. So far the results have been positive.
    Good luck on your journey, you can only control your efforts, not the results.
  • InfinitePoss
    InfinitePoss Posts: 60 Member
    I would definitely agree but I have to hedge a little bit and say that many healh issues are a direct result of lifestyle choices. While there are certainly major illnesses that come up that can devestate a person which have no relationship to anything they did most of the health issues we have in the US, at least, are directly related to making poor lifestyle choices.

    The fact is that for whatever reason many of us have somehow concluded that our health is not as important as everything else. And what is a bit ironic is that if we push taking care ourselves aside in the name of family and/or career when in truth those things tend to be better when we are healhier. Just my opinion.....
  • BarbBlue
    BarbBlue Posts: 251
    That's a great question. I wonder that often myself. It seems like it has taken me a long time to lose the 10lbs I just lost. People tell me the same thing that it is harder to lose the older you get. It makes it depressing sometimes. Hope you get some good answers!
  • Themuseinme
    Themuseinme Posts: 224 Member
    Nutirionists in the 80's taught that metabolism slows down about 10% every decade.
    They also said smoking increased metabolism by 10%
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
    I believe you have a thousand things that contribute to the challenge of maintaining fitness… everything from our office jobs to our changes in nutrition based on what's readily available to eat. We all need recess where we go for a walk or swing like we did in elementary school. Seriously.

    Not to mention hobbies, how much tv we watch, how much time we sit around checking out what's on the internet.

    One has to choose to not get sedentary. Lots of distractions that can keep you sitting still, and their is always poor food choices dangling in front of you. You just have to commit to good choices.
  • toysbigkid
    toysbigkid Posts: 545 Member
    I'm 58 and had numerous health problems, thryroid, diabetes II, hb. and a few others but I am no longer hb, diabetes II is under control and well, the thyroid I'll have problems with for the rest of my life I am sure. Been and started here in March of this year and lost 80 lbs. already with a few more to go. Done it all exercising and trying to eat healthy. I would not say age has anything to do with anything. Unless of course you let it!!! Best of luck to you and always keep at it and never stop, even when you get to maintainance. LOG, exercise and eat healthier.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    My belief is that changes in lifestyle is more of the culprit than a slowing metabolism. Any thoughts?

    THIS ^^^^ But I would add health issues as the number one culprit before changes in lifestyle...like a difficult pregnancy or a major illness. These have a way of spiraling out of control when you get older because it is harder to heal and recover PLUS the youthful enthusiasm to keep yourself in shape gets shunted to the side with the greater demands of family and career.

    Knowledge and desire are the major ingredient to weight loss and sometimes those are easier to come by with age!

    Agreed. Your BMR decreases by about 100 calories every 10 years - not that much in the scheme of things. What can change a lot is your activity levels for a number of reasons, including those noted above. Not so sure age helps the desire though when you start feeling the aches and pains :wink: .
  • frugalcouponwife
    frugalcouponwife Posts: 1
    Coco_UK
    Hi. I'm pushing 47 and I totally hear you. I am in the same boat. I got hurt and had to stop working out for a long while and now, I'm having a really hard time of losing it. Especially my stomach. I never had a stomach until end of last year. For some reason, I feel like a watermelon seed started growing in my stomach and won't stop...lol
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    Yes your metabolism if everything is kept the same goes down...Adding weight also speeds up metabolism :P
    It's also worth noting that activity level speeds up metabolism. I wasn't a large sedentary kid but let's say I was for a second. I'd still be able to maintain my 120 lbs at 5'7 and 10 years older eating 2000 calories a day.

    Long story short, 10 years later I'm the weight I want to be and it didn't involve any suffering or large calorie cuts or a large activity change from what I use to be. So harder? Yeah, but hardly. I haven't notice a difference i my efforts to maintain now compared to then.

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