The 100-Calorie Secret - Never Diet Again!

 There is no doubt that the average person gains about 5 lbs. per decade after age 45. The issues are why and what can be done about it.

The  Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University has undertaken a five year program to  investigate  the  effects of aging on weight gain. They have identified many metabolic  and  even non- metabolic causes for the weight gain as we age.

• The non metabolic causes of weight gain include:

• Loss of ability to regulate food intake

• Adverse social and medical situations. Often high calorie food are cheaper and may better tasting then more healthy one’s

• Impaired smell and taste after 70 years old

• Altered digestion

"Normal" metabolic causes of weight gain:
As we all age there are a progressive alterations in body composition, especially lean muscle mass:They is a  loss of lean muscle mass of ½ to ½ lb per year. Women over the age of 45 lose 10 lbs. of muscle muscle mass per decade. As muscle mass is lost, it is made up by increase in fat mass. Since fat burns  5-10 calories per hour and muscle 35-50 calories per hour weight gain is inevitable unless there is a significant intervention.

The cause of the loss of lean body mass  is the degeneration of muscle mass, combined  with the fact  that the heart, liver and other organs require fewer calories as we age.

Without changing energy output in terms of exercise, women need to reduce calories by 300-500 a day.This explains the typical complaint, “I eat  the same food and do the same exercisse at age 18 as I do at age 50, but now I only gain weight”

What works and what does not work to stop this almost inevitable problem.
In the past year, the Energy Metabolism Laboratory has identified several key techniques:

• Dietary fiber as a key factor important for weight control
  

• Changes in  eating behavior construct  which they label as “disinhibition.”- many aging individuals simple will eat more high calorie foods, for social and medical reasons

• Low-glycemic load diets. are more effective in older adults than other dietary approaches.

• Increase in exercise by one or more of four proven methods.

The NIH as recommend four types of exercises to prevent loss of lean muscle mass and the resulting decrease in metabolism and weight gain:

• Endurance activities - like walking, swimming, or riding a bike

• Strengthening exercises which build muscle tissue and reduce age-related muscle loss

• Balance exercises build leg muscles, and this helps to prevent falls.

• Stretching exercise to improve mobility which help endurance and strengthening.