Why you should slim down as you get older?

In today’s society Obesity is a huge problem that affects every race, age and sex.

Towards the end of the last millennium almost 67% of male adults and 52% of female adults fell within the range of obesity. There are many reasons for this incline in obesity including lack of exercise, poor diet choices and medical conditions.

One thing we do know is that obesity leads to many diseases which can reduce our quality of life and lead to an early death.

There is a variety of reasons why you should slim down as you get older, however it is also a lot harder to slim down the older you get. The most marked ages for people to gain weight is between the ages of 25 and 45, so people within this age group need to pay the most attention towards the content of their diet.

The 45+ age group must start a new challenge and need to try and maintain lean muscle whilst keeping fat stores under control. As we get older the cells which make up the muscles start to shrink and the number of cells slowly reduces. People who stay active are able to maintain their muscle stores which they have, and slow down the loss and damage to muscles. People who are inactive will loss their muscles quickly and this loss in muscle will start a progression of other problems like decreasing your metabolism which makes it is easier to gain weight, decrease your energy and make you physically weaker.

Maintaining your muscle stores as you age can also benefit you by improving your balance and agility reducing your risk of injury through falls. This loss in muscle leads to an increase in fat stores due to the inactivity and through consuming more calories than your body requires. This can then lead on to obesity which can cause a variety of diseases which occur as we get older like diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Exercise is so vital through out life as it can help reduce your risk of developing these diseases whilst making you look and feel as young as you want to be.

Losing weight is not an easy task and many struggle with both determination and the choice between all the diets that are on offer. Basically if you want to lose weight you need to consume fewer calories than you use in a day.

This is achieved by eating a healthy diet without the high amounts of fat, sugar and carbohydrates and keep below your daily quota of calories. The general estimates for women who do little exercise and older people is around 1600 cal a day, whilst for men, teenagers and children it is around 2200 cal a day.

The amount of calories required increases as you perform different exercises as these are based on the amount of energy your body needs without exercise. Stay within you limit and exercise you WILL lose weight which in turn will improve your energy and well being.