10 reasons losing weight gets harder as you age

You never had a problem losing or maintaining your weight before, but now the scale won’t move. It’s not your imagination–shedding extra kilos as you get older is challenging. Here’s why

1. Slow metabolism

Based on a 2021 study published in peer review journal, Science — and explored in an article in Harvard Medical School — metabolism tends to slow down with age. Metabolism is the process of converting food and drink into energy. During this process, the calories in the food and drinks you consume mix with oxygen to produce the energy that the body needs. With a slow metabolism, less energy is burned, meaning more is stored in fat cells. It’s important to note that even at rest, the body uses this energy to function properly.

A combination of exercise and eating nutritionally dense, but calorie-light foods will help you retain muscle and a balanced metabolism. You also need to downsize your portions. Learning to adjust your diet to your body’s lower calorie needs is a gradual process.

2. Fat increase

As you age, not only do you lose muscle more rapidly, but your body also retains more of brown fat. The amount of brown fat, which generates heat and burns calories, decreases and the level of white fat, which stores excess calories, increases. Following a healthy diet, consuming foods with natural fat-burning properties, and taking part in moderate exercise (ideally, 2.5 hours a week) are ways to help minimise white fat content.

3. Loss of muscle mass

The amount of lean muscle we have begins to decline by three to eight per cent per decade after age 30, a process called sarcopenia. You may also lose muscle if you are less active because of age-related health conditions, such as arthritis, or if you’ve been sidelined with an injury or surgery for several days. Why does that loss of muscle matter? Because lean muscle burns more calories than fat, even at rest. Unless you are regularly strength training with weights to maintain and build muscle, your body will need fewer calories each day. That makes weight gain likely if you continue to consume the same number of calories you did when you were younger.

4. Changes in hormones

Women undergo the menopausal transition from the age of 45 to 55. This process involves a significant decline in the level of estrogen in the body. During menopause and perimenopause — the stage leading up to menopause — women may gain body fat and will find it harder to lose it. These fats also tend to be stored around the waist rather than on the hips and thighs. And as the estrogen level of the body drops, the metabolism slows down. Men also experience a shift in their hormone levels as they age. When they hit the age of 40, the testosterone in their bodies tends to start decreasing. Testosterone is the primary hormone that regulates fat distribution, muscle strength, and muscle mass in the body. Once it begins to decline, the body will have difficulty burning calories, which can result in weight gain.

5. Lifestyle change

As you grow older, the physical activities you can do become limited, and the amount of activities in your daily routine seems to lessen. Sedentary behaviour is more prevalent in older people than younger as the former group leans toward seated activities and hobbies such as reading or watching movies. Younger people will go hiking, camping, dancing among other highly charged adrenaline filled activities.  And an inactive lifestyle is likely to result in weight gain. Also, some of these adults are inactive not because they choose to be, but because they have bodily restrictions. Older adults often possess several health conditions, such as back pain, sore knees, heart conditions, and even lung disorders. These conditions heavily impact the ability of a person to exercise regularly.

 6. Lack of time

Most people struggle to make time for exercise on a regular basis, but it is, especially hard for those who are older. College students typically have more time on their hands compared to someone who’s working in a managerial position. As you grow older, life gets crazier, with so many things to do in so little time. When your email is getting out of hand and your boss is asking for an evening online meeting — all while your children need some tending to — the last thing you probably think of is making time for a workout.

7. High stress levels

From demanding jobs to raising children to planning for retirement, our responsibilities increase as we get older. As a result, we experience more stress, leading to an increased release of cortisol, the body’s stress response hormone. Cortisol can trigger the “flight or fight” response, which makes it most effective in life-threatening situations. However, we encounter many non-life threatening moments that still induce stress. This can lead to unnecessary cortisol being stored as fat cell deposits in the body.

Cortisol hormone is also known to increase one’s appetite.

8. Poor diet

A poor diet in older adults is often attributed to factors such as a gradual loss of taste and smell, which can lead to adding more salt or choosing more processed foods with hyperconcentrated flavours. Not only are these foods often higher in calories, but they can lead to inflammation and poor blood glucose levels for some people. Both inflammation and poor glucose levels can aggravate the hormonal changes with insulin, and lead to weight gain. Processed foods may also be low in nutrients such as protein that can support muscle growth, and have other potential effects on your well being.

9. Change in sleep habits

Sleep patterns tend to change as you age. Most people find that aging causes them to have a harder time falling asleep. They wake up more often during the night and earlier in the morning. Research consistently shows a link between sleep deprivation and weight gain. One study in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, (a journal covering all aspects of sport and exercise) found that sleep-deprived participants not only ate more the next day, but they also reached for high-calorie fare. A lack of sleep may affect the body’s regulation of the hormones ghrelin (boosts appetite) and leptin (inhibits hunger), too.

10. Dehydration

Older adults are more susceptible to dehydration. There are many reasons for this: As we age, the amount of fluid in our bodies begins to decrease. This means there are fewer water reserves available for your body to use as you get older. Also because the thirst response becomes weaker with age, older adults may not know they need to drink. Additionally, the function of the kidneys can decline with age, meaning that more water may be lost through urination. Some older adults have underlying health conditions or take medications. In some cases, these conditions or meds can lead to an increase in water loss through urination. Recognising the symptoms of dehydration is important so you can work to replace lost fluids. Look out for symptoms such as dry mouth, fatigue, dark-coloured urine, and lightheadedness. Treating dehydration involves replacing lost fluids. You can work to prevent dehydration by making sure you regularly take in fluids throughout the day. This can include water, juices, broths, or foods with high water content.