WEIGHT CONTROL

WEIGHT CONTROL

The sad thing is that too many people ignore the basics in the search for the esoteric.

(COVERT BAILEY)

If we are not careful, middle-age spread can creep up on any of us. After thirty, the body start to change metabolically; muscle tissue decreases, and the body’s basal metabolic rate (BMR), the rate at which we burn calories in sustaining basic life functions, slows down. By some estimates, the BMR decreases about 2 percent each decade, which means by age eighty, we need to take in two hundred fewer calories each day  then we do at midlife. For most women, this will not be enough of a reduction. Because their activity level has also lessened, maintaining the same weight requires further reduction in food intake. There is no way around it: To maintain our weight, we must alter our eating habits and remain physically active.

                Obviously, monitoring your weight throughout your life is better than discovering at menopause that you have a serious problem. Menopause brings enough issues to contend with; you don’t need to compound the situation by having to diet as well. Sometimes I think the best way to maintain your figure is to vow never to buy a larger size in clothes. You may not be eating more than normally do, but your body will tell you the time has come to make adjustments.

                A bathroom scale is not an accurate indicator of fitness or optimum weight. In fact, I suggest you throw out your scale. It does not tell you how your body should look or how healthy you are. Worst of all, it can become a constant source of anxiety and guilt.

                How important is keeping our weight down after fifty? Certainly, a few additional pounds won’t harm most women, but I think the operative word here is few. Studies show that the pounds you put on in midlife may be more harmful than any extra weight you carried in your early years. Women who gain weight later in life are at a higher risk for heart disease than those who have carried the weight all their lives. Being overweight to the point of obesity is extremely high risk and is associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, and certain types of cancer (notably breast, endometrial, and colon cancers).