If You Are Over 40 And Can't Lose Weight? You Are Not Alone....

When I was young enough to think that the age of 40 was prehistoric, I was convinced that the worst thing about getting old was becoming dull and boring - Having supper at 5:00, clipping toenails to the dusty voices of ancient news anchors on 60 Minutes, nagging people to put chew with their mouths closed and turn off the lights when you leave the room, for Pete's sake!

Now, of course, I know what really happens when you get old.

  Sure you get dull and boring, but something worse happens: Sudden, instant weight gain. It happens deep in the night, just after your 40th birthday. The Middle-Age Fairy creeps into your room and loads an extra 5 or 10 pounds right around your belly.  This mysterious fat not only appears without warning, it's also immune to both diet and exercise.

What happens to our bodies after 40 is a trifecta, maybe even a superfecta, of weight gain: Hormones change, metabolism drops and we start to lose a little muscle each year. If you're genetically predisposed to gain weight easily, that may be another strike against you. And the worst part? Even if you don't actually gain weight, you may still gain inches around the waist.  Not fair, I know.

This weight gain can be so frustrating, it's easy to become obsessed with losing it, starving yourself or exercising too much or maybe even looking into the latest plastic surgery procedure.


 But, is that really necessary? Isn't there something we can do about gaining weight after 40? There is and it starts with understanding just what's going on with your body.

Why we gain weight after 40

So, why do we start gaining weight after 40?  There is a multitude of reasons and some of it does depend on lifestyle choices.

  However, the Big Four include:

Hormones: One of the main culprits for weight gain is, of course, our hormones, which start to change right around the mid-30s and into the 40s. This change in hormones, less estrogen for women and less testosterone for men, causes the fat to shift to the middle of the body while abandoning other areas of the body you could care less about. That's one reason you may get a little fluffier around the middle while other parts of you actually get smaller.
Heredity:  Scientists have found the specific genes that determine how many fat cells we have and where they're stored. So, yes, you should feel free to call your parents every so often to thank them for your saddlebags, love handles, etc.
Lower Metabolism: There are a couple of annoying things that happen to your metabolism after the age of 40. First, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) decreases and, second, you expend less total energy (TEE) during exercise. Some experts suggest metabolism can decrease by about 5% for every decade after 40, which means you need about 60-100 fewer calories every 10 years.  If you sit more, eat more, exercise less and deal with more stress throughout that decade, you'll probably need even fewer calories than that. Add that to the fact that you burn fewer calories during exercise and you've got yourself an equation for weight gain.

Loss of muscle:  Like our metabolisms, we also start to lose muscle when we hit our 40s, experiencing a steady decline each decade. Part of this, scientists believe, is that the motor units that make up our muscles decline as we age and that those motor units don't always fire with the same regularity. However, the important takeaway here is this: The biggest factor in losing muscle is the lack of physical activity, which makes exercise a crucial component when it comes to preventing muscle loss.

Of course, just how much each of these contributes to weight gain isn't something we can measure or, often, control.  What we can do is take this knowledge and use it to our advantage, working with our bodies rather than fighting them.  Next:  What to do if you already exercise.

Part 1:  I'm over 40 and I can't lose weight!
Part 2:  I already exercise...how can I stop gaining weight?
Part 3:  I'm not an exerciser...how can I lose weight?

What if I already exercise? How can I stop gaining weight?

If you've managed to keep your weight the same over the years with exercise, it can be a rude awakening when you get into your 40s and 50s.  It isn't so much that you gain weight, it's more that your weight shifts into different places.  Suddenly, the pants you've been wearing for years just don't fit right and you may wonder:  What am I doing wrong?

If you exercise and eat right, you're not doing anything wrong, it's just those age-related changes happening.  And, think about it...if you already exercise to maintain a healthy weight, you're in a much better position than someone who hits 40 with a weight problem. Small comfort, I know.  The fact is, living a healthy lifestyle doesn't protect us entirely from age-related weight changes.

In one study published in The International Journal of Obesity, researchers followed more than 12,000 runners and found this thrilling conclusion: "Age-related weight gain occurs even among the most active individuals when exercise is constant." Of course, this study didn't include people who lift weights, which may have an impact on weight loss.

The question is: If you already exercise every day, is there anything you can do to burn more calories?

It's possible, but this comes with a warning: We may need more exercise to manage weight as we get older, but our bodies typically tolerate less strenuous exercise as we get older as well.

By our 40s and 50s, many of us are dealing with chronic injuries, stress, fatigue, busy jobs and family life and, perhaps, less time and energy than ever to exercise.

Knowing that, if you really want to increase your exercise and/or intensity, there are some options for bumping up your calorie-burn.

Over 40 Weight Loss Tips for Exercisers

Try High-Intensity Interval Training - Tabata, interval training or metabolic conditioning workouts are designed to burn more calories and push you to your limits.
Try Circuit Training - Mixing up cardio and strength together keeps your heart rate elevated, helping you build endurance and strength while burning more calories.
Add more time to your workouts - For example, if you usually workout for an hour, add 10 minutes to 1 to 2 workouts each week.
Add more frequency - If you can, add a day of exercise or you could even consider 2-a-days once in a while to pump up your calorie burn for the week - Doing double cardio or a cardio workout in the morning and strength later that day.
Be more active - Sometimes, just adding a couple of walks each day can help you manage your calories without going overboard with exercise. Try using a pedometer or tracker to see how many steps you can get each day.
Change your diet - You know the drill when it comes to a healthy diet, right? Cut out the sugar and the processed carbs. Eat more vegetables and fiber and cut out the alcohol (I know..that's a tough one). Sometimes a little tweaking here and there, without starving yourself, can help you eek out a few more calories each week.

Hire a trainer - If you've tried everything, maybe it's time to see an expert and get more specific advice for your situation.
See your doctor - If you're killing yourself and still not seeing any changes, see your doctor and get checked out. Discuss the possible reasons for your weight gain or plateau and see if there are some solutions out there. Is one of your medications contributing? Maybe you could try something different.

Whatever changes you make, don't overdo. Listen to your body and back off if you start to feel any symptoms of over training.  It's always best to gradually add more intensity and/or exercise into your routine a few minutes at a time.

So, what if you're a yo-yo exerciser heading into your 40s or 50s and fighting age-related weight gain?  How can you get into a consistent program to manage your weight?  Next, losing weight for the inconsistent exerciser.

Part 1:  I'm over 40 and I can't lose weight!
Part 2:  I already exercise...how can I stop gaining weight?
Part 3:  I'm not an exerciser...how can I lose weight?

If you're not a consistent exerciser, you may be tempted to do a bunch of crazy workouts to deal with weight gain. Try not to give into that temptation because, for one, it's easy to injury yourself.  Second, all that exercise may not give you what you want.  The fact is, exercise doesn't always work the same way on a 40-something-year-old body as it does on a younger body. 

Remember when you were 12 and could eat anything you wanted or when you were 20 and could do 10 crunches and lose, like 5 pounds instantly?

Those were the days, weren't they?  Fast forward to now and the reality is much different. The American College of Sports Medicine said it best in their article, "Exercise and Age-Related Weight Gain,"

"Regular physical activity may be useful in minimizing age-related weight gain or reducing the risk of substantial weight gain, rather than in actually promoting weight loss."

What does that mean for you? That the weight loss process naturally becomes harder as you get older...that's just a fact and accepting it means you can stop punishing yourself or feeling ashamed about your body. Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the things you can control: Your workouts, activity levels, diet, stress management, sleep management and, most important, your attitude.

There's more to life than losing weight. Is it time to change your goal?

If you're experiencing some of that age-related weight gain, it's easy to panic and start obsessing, restricting and, maybe, exercising like crazy to get rid of it.

Maybe that works for some people, but you can't live that way forever and life isn't much fun if you're worried about every single bite or every single minute of your workouts.

We have a choice in how we deal with age-related weight gain, even if it doesn't feel that way. We even have a choice to completely give up on weight loss and focus on something entirely different.

That doesn't mean giving up all things healthy to sit at home in your sweatpants eating Oreos and zoning out on daytime TV. It means stopping the fixation on the scale and focusing on the things that really matter - How you feel and how you function.

With that in mind, consider this: Your goal doesn't have to be to lose weight. It's probably foreign to most of us, this idea of not working towards weight loss every single day, but taking your weight out of the equation opens the door for so many more options. Without weight loss as your primary goal, what could you attain?

Think about that as you consider all of your options, including:

Option 1: I want to lose this stupid age-weight - If you really want to go for weight loss, you're going to have to work at it and you're going to have to work harder than ever, doing up to 350 minutes of exercise each week. We have to exercise more frequently and more vigorously to compensate for the typical weight gain associated with aging. There are some important points to consider if you go this route:  1. More work won't necessarily bring the changes you're looking for and there's always the chance of injury, burnout and over training, not to mention frustration. 2.  If you don't already exercise, you're going to have to start at the beginning and work your way up to more vigorous exercise over time. How much exercise you need is an individual thing


Option 2: I'm doing as much as I can stand...maybe I should work on preventing more weight gain - While weight loss can require up to 350 minutes of exercise weekly, preventing weight gain allows a more moderate approach, focusing on about 150-250 minutes of exercise each week, a more approachable goal if you have a busy schedule or you're a beginner. 


Option 3: Forget about losing weight. I just want to be healthy and feel good - Focusing on being healthy means getting about 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day. This level of exercise can keep your heart healthy and work on things like lowering your cholesterol and/or blood pressure. This is a great place to start if you're getting into exercise after a long break.  There's no reason you can't start here and progress to more intense goals as you build strength and endurance.


The Bottom Line

The important takeaway from all of this is this:  We can only control so much of what happens to our bodies as we age.  Some things are going to sag or soften or wrinkle no matter what we do, but it's much easier to find some acceptance of our bodies if we do everything we can to keep them healthy and fit. Aging is going to happen.  The question is, can you age more gracefully?


Thanks for Reading.................

How Tilapia is a More Unhealthy Food Than Bacon

The true chicken-of-the-sea, tilapia is a mild-tasting white fish that’s cheap to breed and easy to sell.
In fact, for the first time in 2012, farmed fish production topped that of beef, reaching a record 66 million tons, compared with beef at 63 million. But there’s a dirty secret about tilapia, the lean-meat alternative that beckons you in the supermarket–promises of weight loss, a healthy heart and beautiful skin ringing in your ears. While most health experts agree we should be eating more fish (for all the reasons listed above), and my body has not built up an allergic reaction to it. Modern research has found the inflammatory potential of farmed tilapia to be greater than a burger, doughnuts—even pork bacon! It gets worse …

It's the Worst Kind of Fat

Compared with other fish, farmed tilapia contains relatively small amounts of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids–the heart-healthy and essential fish oils touted by health and nutrition experts as the main reason to eat fish frequently. While a portion of salmon has over 2,000 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids, a serving of tilapia has a mere 135 milligrams. Moreover, because farmed tilapia subsist on a diet of corn and soy instead of lake plants, they’re proportionally sky high in omega-6 fats, which studies have proven to harm the heart, the brain, and even your mood. The Wake Forest University study that produced the tilapia vs. bacon findings revolves around this dangerous omega 6:3 proportion.

They Have the Crappiest Diet

There’s a good chance the tilapia on your plate was raised on a poop diet (that’s poop as a noun, not an adjective). Research from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future revealed the gory details of disease-ridden fish farms in Asia, where pig and chicken feces serve as a cheaper alternative to standard fish food. While the FDA vehemently denied any of these goings-on, the Johns Hopkins investigation revealed only 2 percent of imported seafood to the United States is actually tested for contamination. It’s not just mega gross. Experts worry that the large amounts of antibiotics given to the fish to ward off infections may give rise to antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella.

They've Had a Sex Change

Virtually all tilapia sold in American supermarkets has undergone a sex change–the result of being fed methyltestosterone during the early, sexless stage of life. Tilapia pumped full of hormones grow bigger quicker than their natural bros, because they don’t expend energy developing reproductive organs and require less food. Seafood experts consider the effects of methyltestosterone in fish to be insignificant to our health. However, there’s research to suggest the drug can be highly toxic to the liver. In fact, methyltestosterone has been taken off the market in Germany due to its high potential for liver toxicity.

They Cause a Negative Environmental Impact

Environmentalists argue that intensive and unregulated tilapia farming is damaging ecosystems, leaving dead lakes and extinct species in poor countries with practices prohibited in the United States. In Nicaragua, for example, huge numbers of fish are bred in cages, where fish waste pollutes the lake water. Such was the case at Lake Apoyo, where pollution killed off the aquatic plants, leaving the lake a wasteland.

Eat This, Not Tilapia!

When it comes to choosing a fish that qualifies as one of the foods that will help you lose weight and one of the healthiest for your body—and the Earth—abide by the number one rule: Stay off the farm. Farmed seafood, not just tilapia, can have up to 10 times more toxins than wild fish, according to Harvard Researchers. Your best choices at the fish counter include: Wild Alaskan Salmon, Alaska Pollok, Atlantic Cod, Clams, Blue Crab, Atlantic Mackerel, Striped Bass, Sardines, Herring, Rainbow Trout and Flounder.

Thanks for Reading..........

10 Easy Ways for How to Reset Your Diet

Summer is almost over and Back to school is around the corner.  You're back home after a much-needed vacation feeling rested and recovered. Oh and with a completely derailed diet.
Whatever your R&R of choice—whether it was a week in the tropics or a holiday weekend at the shore—when you think of a bikini-clad vacation, there are many things you do want: to catch up on sleep, read a new book, spend time with your friends and family, and enjoy the outdoors. A paunchy belly is not one of the things on your wishlist.
We totally get that time off from work might feel like time to treat yourself (you've earned it, right?), but that doesn't mean you have a free pass to go overboard. Unfortunately, the deadly duo of your toes in the sand and a cold one in your hand is the kill-switch that causes many of us to throw our diets by the wayside. It may not wreck our health, but a long weekend spent indulging in booze and burgers day-in and day-out can spell bad news for your belly—leaving you looking a bit less chiseled than you did before you left the house.
In fact, according to a study done by the University of Georgia's College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Americans gain an average of one pound during their one to three week-long vacations—and that weight sticks around even after six weeks of being home. A mere pound may not seem like much, but keep in mind one to two pounds are typically gained over an entire year! Don't feel too guilty, though; the good news is there are easy ways to ditch the fresh flab and revitalize your neglected diet. So what can you do to bounce back to your better-body self? Lets Go over some ways to cure this.

1

Get Back To
Your Routine

Take a shower when you get home. Unpack your bags. Set your A.M. alarm. Have a cup of tea before bed. Set yourself up to be able to do whatever it is you normally do every day. This way, you'll be able to shift yourself—and your body—back into fit mode.

Eat This! Tip:

You might be wiped, but unpacking your bags on day one will ensure you have clean clothes for the week ahead, will clear your mind and the stress you may have later in the week about the extra load you'll have to do (on top of the work your boss just sprung on you), and it's a good way to remind yourself you're no longer on vacation. Once that's done, make a point to get to bed at the same time you normally would before work—even if you get home from being away a day early. Studies have found that those who keep the same sleep-wake cycles are more rested and less apt to have their diets undermined by exhaustion-induced munchies.

2

Go Grocery
Shopping

If you've been away for more than a couple days, you likely don't have much left in your fridge upon getting home. Rather than the easy solution of just picking up the phone to order take-out, muster up the willpower to go grocery shopping. (Yes, even if you still have these 35 Healthy Foods Busy People Keep Stocked in your kitchen—you're in need of some fresh foods.) Having fresh, healthy items in your fridge for the first few days home will ensure you stick to your diet—rather than continue on the indulgent path you led while away.

Eat This! Tip:

Your first meal back doesn't have to be anything crazy—just stick to your favorite go-to busy weeknight meal. If you don't have one, don't fret. We're fans of herb-and-lemon marinated chicken breasts with a side of roasted veggies. The best part? Every ingredient can be thrown on a sheet pan and baked for a quick meal and even quicker cleanup.

3

Prioritize
Produce

Your days of beers and buffets are long gone. Ensuring healthy items are the most convenient foods in your fridge when you get home will make it even easier to get back on track by encouraging you to make healthy choices.

Eat This! Tip:

Keep pre-cut veggies with hummus in the front of your fridge, put a bowl of fresh fruit on your counter, and hide treats like cookies, candy, and chips on a high shelf and behind healthy foods so they are out of sight and out of mind.

4

Don't Reach
for the Remote

When you get home after a long trip, it's natural to want to relax (even though we hope you got enough of that on your vacay!). But just because you're tired from traveling doesn't mean your first instinct should be to click on the TV and get settled for a long binge-watch—especially if you're feeling hungry. A University of Houston study found that the more TV people watched in a setting, the worse their food choices became. So even though you think it might be the best way to decompress after a busy weekend, a couple hours of your favorite show could set you back even more calories on top of an already indulgent weekend.

Eat This! Tip:

If you're definitely going to watch a show when you get home, keep it to a 30-minute limit. Looking for other ways to stay busy? Go back to tip #1 and do things that will help your body get back on track! Unpack your things, go grocery shopping, reorganize your kitchen. Or if you just want to relax, read a book, play a board game with your family, or listen to music.

5

Nix Added
Sugar

Downing pina coladas and crème brule on vacation only adds fuel to the weight-inducing inflammation fire. That's because table sugar—which is made up of equal parts glucose and fructose—boosts inflammation in two ways. Glucose, when eaten in excess (even during a single sitting of daiquiris on the dock), can increase levels of pro-inflammatory messengers called cytokines. Concurrently, fructose is the sugar molecule which most easily creates advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) in the blood. AGEs occur when fructose causes proteins to haphazardly glom together, creating cellular junk that your body tries to dispose of by increasing defensive receptors and more inflammation markers. While it may be challenging, nixing the sweet stuff when you're back at home is a great way to shed those unwelcome belly jiggles.

Eat This! Tip:

Eliminating added sugars and foods made with white flour can help you get back on the weight-loss bandwagon because it'll stop stoking your inflammation fire and encourage you to eat healthier foods—many of which actually decrease inflammation. A simple swap is subbing out high-glycemic foods (which spike and crash blood sugar) for low GI alternatives, like whole grains and foods with healthy fats, protein, and fibers. A study in the Journal of Nutrition actually found that a low-GI diet reduced levels of the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein.

6

Make Sure
to Hydrate

Boozing on vacay and flying home from the trip both cause dehydration, which can increase hunger and cause poor circulation. In turn, you'll likely feel bloated and really sleepy. And that's not all. Add a calendar reminder or set an alarm every few hours to remind yourself to hydrate! Aim to consume half of your body weight in ounces throughout the course of the day. You'll likely feel rehydrate after a few days of this regimen.

Eat This! Tip:

The easiest way to hydrate is by drinking a cup of water upon waking. New research from the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics showed that people who increased their water by a mere cup a day ate up to 205 fewer calories and 200 fewer milligrams of sodium daily. So not only will sipping on an extra 8 ounces in the A.M. help you minimize overeating to shed that extra vacay pound, it will also boost your energy and help your body flush out salt and leftovers that are lingering in your colon.

7&8

Resume
—and amp up—
Your Exercise
Routine

Getting back into your exercise routine will be a huge help in shedding those pesky post-vacation pounds. Many of us "forget" to pack our sneakers and gym clothes when we go on vacation, leaving us few options when it comes to maintaining our fitness routine. According to experts, taking a week off won't cause you to lose all your strength and endurance, but this break will cut down 50 percent of the improvements you made in the weeks prior—making it feel like you've reached a weight-loss plateau. To counter it, be sure to head back to the gym, and begin with higher intensity workouts than you may have been doing to activate new muscles and ramp up the calorie burn.

Eat This! Tip:

"The most effective workouts are high intensity and combine a bit of cardio and weight training," explains Kaufman. Check out classes like cardio-boxing or boot camps, which are typically held at local gyms but can also be found in online videos. Just remember, while no amount of fitness will undo a bad diet on its own, when you get back into a weekly exercise routine and make a point of incorporating in some extra-intense drills, you'll be fueling your diet-centric weight-loss efforts. Cycling in new, high-intensity exercises often in your exercise routine is also a critical step in ensuring you don't regain lost weight.

9

Catch Up
On Sleep

Whether it's because you never seem to sleep well unless you're in your own bed or because you're totally wiped from all the sun you've gotten over the past few days, you may return home from your trip feeling both exhausted and a little softer around the middle. Why? When we're sleepy, the production of leptin (the hormone that tells us we're full) decreases, which can lead to overeating and weight gain. Not cool. To help the weight back come off, be sure to fit in between six and eight hours of sleep per night once you're back home.

Eat This! Tip:

If you've got your goals set on getting back to your more slender self, cut your nightly Netflix session short an hour before bed—it'll minimize your exposure to melatonin-disrupting blue light and remove stimulation which keeps your brain awake.

10

Boost Your
Immune System

Travel is immensely taxing on your body—even just the sitting in a car for hours part. That's because coordinating schedules, packing, leaving home, all cause stress along with the need to constantly be alert. All that on top of lounging in the sun all day, working up a sweat hiking around town, and a lack of sleep causes your body's energy stores to become depleted and your immune system is put in jeopardy. To compensate for a lack of cold-fighting-power, try to emphasize fruits, veggies, and meat-replacing legumes at each meal to boost your immune system, while staying away from calorie-dense items, ultra-processed foods, and animal products. This will help you maximize fiber intake and detoxification.

Eat This! Tip:

Medicating with vitamins from whole foods is much better than meds when it comes to rebooting a compromised immune system. And blueberries are one of your best options: researchers from Oregon State University recently took a look at over 400 compounds for their ability to boost the immune system. The standout? A compound called pterostilbene, which is found in abundance in the little blue fruits.

These were a few jump starts that can get your body back into a normal routine.  Play with these steps along with CUTTING BACK ON ALCOHOL and you should see your body gradually getting back to normal.

Thanks for Reading............