Loosing weight when you’re over 60 can seem like a bit of a struggle. As you get older, it’s no secret the infamous middle-age spread becomes pronounced, and shifting it becomes a lot harder. The health problems that come with being overweight, such as high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems, are also compounded with old age.
However, it’s never too late to start. There’s plenty of evidence showing people how best to start losing weight when you’re over 60, including loads of healthy eating, diet and exercise solutions. Here are a few science backed tips.
Try Skipping Breakfast
Although breakfast is often said to be the most important meal of the day, the practice of intermittent fasting, otherwise known as the 16:8 diet, can help the over-60s lose weight.
One study published by researchers from Poland looked at 45 women over 60 years old who took part in a 6-week intermittent fasting challenge. None of the women ate any food from 8pm at night to 12 noon the following day, consuming their usual number of calories in that 8-hour window.
The researchers found the participant’s body weight decreased by an average of 2 kg, and it was all natural fat loss rather than decreased muscle or skeletal mass. If you eat a healthy lunch, dinner and snacks in between, sticking to an 8-hour window can help you drop weight fast.
Eat More Protein
It’s no secret that your metabolism declines as you age. This helps contribute to weight gain when you eat starchy carbohydrates and sugar. This is also a gateway to adult type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular issues.
You can keep your metabolism active by eating more protein. As opposed to carbohydrates, which are easy for the body to break down and store as fat, protein sources have high “thermic effect” which means it’s much more difficult for your body to break down into usable stuff. You’re using more calories just during the digestive process to break down your steak, chicken or fish.
In addition, proteins are the building blocks of muscle. The better your muscle-to-fat ratio, the easier weight loss is going to be. Although you might be tempted to start walking to lose weight or running, resistance training is the key factor in building muscle.
Stretch More
As we age, the tendons in our muscles naturally contract, so we’re not as mobile as we once were. This can range from feeling a bit stiff after a jog, all the way to struggling to rise from a chair.
Stretching is a natural way to fight against this process by lengthening the muscles. Although the act of stretching itself won’t help you lose weight, regular stretching will keep you active and limber well into old age.
The better your mobility, the more active you can be every day, which is a key factor in losing weight as you age. Studies show 5 days of moderate physical activity a week could prevent over 3.2 million early deaths worldwide.
So, my friends go to it.
That’s it for now; see you all the next time.
