It’s Really Easier to Gain Weight After That Age
May 11 is World Obesity Day.Obesity has become a global public health challenge.Obesity increases the risk of a range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, sleep apnea syndrome and plague, which affects everyone’s health as well as imposing a huge financial burden on everyone.
When it comes to obesity, many people will have this feeling: once across the threshold of 25 years old, weight management seems to become an uphill battle, fat quietly accumulated, the body line is no longer as tight as in the past.This can’t help but make people wonder, could it be that the body has quietly set a “blossoming boundary” after the age of 25?Is age really an invisible yardstick that divides the slim from the bloated?Is it okay to eat until you’re 25?
Is there really an “age demarcation line” for putting on weight?
It must be said that there is really an “age demarcation line” for obesity.From the global obesity research, for the vast majority of people, youth, middle-aged weight will increase year by year.
A survey in the United States shows that the overall obesity rate is relatively low during the underage period.But after adults, the obesity rate began to increase.Data show that the obesity rate is the lowest at the age of 18~24 years old, only 22.4%, but the age of 25 years old is a watershed, from the age of 25 years old, the obesity rate starts to soar, and the stage of 45~74 years old is the highest obesity rate.
Data from a Chinese study show that the overall prevalence of overweight and obesity varies by age, but basically also increases from 24-29 years of age; it peaks in middle-aged men (55-59 years) and older women (65-69 years).
But when exactly do we start gaining weight?There’s no particularly clear line on this one; no one can say exactly what age it is, and it varies a lot from person to person.But overall, it’s generally true that everyone gains weight as they get older.
Why is it easy to gain weight as you get older?
Many people will say that when they are young, how to eat will not be fat, older, a little more to eat will be fat.Why is it that the older you get, the more likely you are to gain weight?
1.Eat better and more as you get older
The biggest change is that as you get older, your living conditions are generally better and you eat better and more.
When you are young, most people usually eat less because of life and economic problems.But as we grow older, the economic conditions began to be good, the standard of living is also good, the diet will also change a lot, will eat more and more, more and more good, coupled with a lot of people to socialize also become more, big fish and meat has also become a common meal.Eat more high-energy food, energy intake is also elevated, naturally easier to gain weight.
2.Exercise decreases as we age
When you were young, in school, in the workplace, most of them will still be active on a regular basis, think about it you play basketball, soccer is not all young?
But as we grow older, whether it is work, or study, there is little time to exercise.Most people are also accustomed to a long time, sedentary mode of life, either sitting in front of a computer screen for a long time to work, even if there is a little time to rest would rather lie down and play with the phone, look at the play, a few hours do not want to walk.Less activity, let alone go to the gym to exercise.
Eat more, exercise is still less, the energy will be more unable to burn off, and it will be easier to gain weight.
3.The older you get, the more you lose muscle and your metabolic rate drops
As people age, their muscle mass decreases with age, and about 10-15% of muscle is lost between the ages of 20 and 50.
Muscle mass directly determines a person’s basal metabolism. Muscle tissue is the largest consumer of glucose in the body, and losing it means that a large amount of glucose in the body has no place to be consumed, and the rate of energy metabolism is greatly reduced.By eating the same amount of food, more energy may be stored in the body, leading to weight gain.
And, as we age, our fat metabolism begins to change.One study followed changes in lipid turnover in 54 individuals for 13 years and found that the lipid turnover of adipose tissue in these individuals decreased as they aged, whether they lost or gained weight.
Lipid turnover rate is the rate at which lipids are removed and stored in fat cells.A decrease in lipid turnover means that the metabolism of fat in the body slows down, which makes weight gain easier, even if we don’t eat more or exercise less than we used to.It was found in the study that participants who didn’t intentionally diet gained an average of 20 percent of their body weight as they aged.
4.Hormonal changes in the body make it easy to get fat
Hormones are the chemical messengers for various metabolic reactions in the body, regulating changes in most bodily functions.As we get older, the hormones in our bodies change, again causing us to gain weight more easily.
For example, as men age, testosterone decreases at a rate of 1% to 2% per year.Testosterone regulates fat distribution and affects muscle mass.Its reduction can make the body much less efficient at burning fat.And as women age, estrogen levels will also decline, and during menopause, estrogen will also show a significant decline, which can easily lead to the accumulation of abdominal fat.
How to prevent gaining weight?
In fact, the weight loss we want is not about losing bones, muscles, or body water, but about losing fat.This is because excess fat increases the risk of disease and also makes us bloated.
If you only pursue weight reduction without lowering your body fat percentage or even causing muscle loss, you will lower your metabolic rate and develop a hard-to-lean, easy-to-fat body, which is contrary to the fundamental goal of weight loss.And fat loss is a slow process.This also predisposes that any method of trying to lose weight quickly will not stand the test of time.
So how do I fight time and keep myself in shape?
1.Reasonable diet
Diet is a top priority.After all, the basic principle of fatness is energy imbalance – energy intake is greater than energy expenditure, the excess energy will be stored in the body.
Therefore, to prevent gaining weight, the first thing to do is to reverse the energy balance and avoid excessive energy intake – that is, it is often said to keep your mouth shut.To develop long-term healthy and reasonable eating habits, for example, do not eat too much, eat less high-energy foods such as high oil and high sugar, drink less sugary drinks, eat less fried food and so on.
2.Keep moving
This is the hardest part of the weight loss process, but also the most effective.
Being more physically active and exercising is also healthy for the body in many ways.As you get older, your muscles will slowly decrease, more and more fat will accumulate, and your metabolism will decline.More exercise can increase energy consumption, to avoid excessive fat accumulation in the human body, but also can accelerate the turnover rate of adipose tissue.
Moreover, more exercise workouts can also increase the amount of muscle in the body and improve the body’s energy metabolism.Therefore, be sure to insist on exercising every day, at least three times a week for more than half an hour.
As a reminder, there are no shortcuts to weight loss, and you should be prepared for a long-lasting battle on the road to weight control.Weight loss is a lifelong matter, to spell IQ, rationality, but also the mindset, the ability to self-discipline.