Weight is an emotionally charged issue. It affects every aspect of our lives: self esteem, confidence, energy level and overall health. It can be even more deflating to notice yourself gaining weight with age even though you are still eating the same things you always have.

I regulated my weight over the years with different short-term solutions; including various diet approaches and increased exercise. But as I got older, I noticed that short-term solutions were becoming less and less effective.

Our Body Composition Changes As We Age

One reason for this is that our calorie requirement usually lowers as we age. Basically, this means that you can eat the same amount and exercise the same amount you always did and still discover that you are putting on excess weight.  A large reason for gaining weight with age is that the human body is designed to be terminal. In essence, our muscles begin to atrophy and gather fat deposits as we age. So, the less muscle we have in our body composition, the less calories we need to maintain our body weight.

the less muscle we have in our body composition, the less calories we need to maintain our body weight.
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Maybe you used to regulate your weight by exercising more when you noticed you had put on a few pounds. Now, because of your new body composition, just increasing your cardio exercise alone without also modifying your diet is unlikely to work for you.

We Need To Change With Our Bodies

This doesn’t mean you can’t still lose weight, tone your body and become fitter. It just means that you need a new battle plan. We have to be willing to change with our bodies as we age.

We have to be willing to change with our bodies as we age.
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For example, if you want to continue eating the same amount, you will need to incorporate weight training into your routine to replace the muscle mass you have lost.

For me, I decided I needed to overhaul my whole thought process in regard to weight loss to avoid gaining weight with age. This meant throwing away short-term diets for good in exchange for making sustainable life changes. As I have mentioned numerous times in my blogs, lasting weight loss does not come from dieting. It can only be maintained by establishing new lifelong eating habits.

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