As I was lying on the ground the other day, having slipped
on the ice while walking our beloved pet, I was wondering
yet again about this whole "new middle age" idea. I was
lying there thinking "if I was in my 30's, would I really
be thinking about calling my husband and asking him to pick
me up, because my back hurt? Or would I simply get my 30+
year old body up and keep walking?"
What I finally did was pick up my 50+ year old body and
kept walking, but it was at a much slower pace.
This whole idea of my 50's being more like being in my 30's
intrigues me. In a number of ways, many of us 50-ish folks
are healthier that than our parents were at our age. Our
access to health care, for many of us, is much better, so
medically we can take better care of ourselves. The
concept of "personal trainer" was unheard of twenty-five
years ago, as was the idea of belonging to a gym. Making
time for a daily walk wasn't even on the agenda for many
people.
We are lucky, though, because so many of us are able to
include these benefits into our lives, allowing us to be a
much healthier generation.
However, some things haven't changed. As we age, our
metabolism still slows down, which is why we tend to gain
weight as we age. Metabolism refers to the rate at which
the body burns calories. There are many factors affecting
what is called our "metabolic rate," including height (tall
people burn more calories than short folks), fasting
(that's why skipping meals is not a good way to lose
weight-your metabolism slows down) and temperature. In
colder temperatures, our bodies need to burn more calories
to stay warm. I suppose one way to lose weight would be to
run around naked in the cold. However, I'm not sure how
long this "diet" would last before your neighbors call the
police.
The point is that we cannot control many of the factors
affecting our metabolic rate, including age (young, middle
or old).
The light at the end of the tunnel,
though, is activity. When you are active, you're body can
build muscle. Muscle is referred to as a more
metabolically active tissue because it takes more calories
to maintain muscle than to maintain fat. Fat is a lazy
tissue, and can get along without any help on our part. But
muscle? There's a different story. Muscles use more
calories to do their job, so the more muscles you build,
the more calories your body uses. And that's why, as we
age, we need to stay active. We need to build our muscles,
and maintain them to keep weight off. Walking is one
important activity I rely on to keep my metabolism up.
Others enjoy lifting weights. As long as you have worked
with an experienced trainer making sure you don't injure
yourself, increased muscle mass is definitely a benefit of
this activity. Activity keeps your metabolic rate high,
increasing the calories you burn, and helping prevent that
fat tissue from growing.
So whether you are lying on the ice wondering how to get
up, or stuck in a couch wondering how to get out, think
about staying active. It's the activity that will make
moving around (and preventing weight gain) a lot easier-at
any age.
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