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Like a favourite car that's starting to show its age, many of us begin to put on weight as we get older.
"She's not what she used to be!" I heard a friend say the other day as he lovingly slapped his belly in the way one gives the hood of their old clunker an affectionate tap.
Many people blame a sluggish metabolism for the weight gain. But as it turns out, our metabolism isn't the real culprit when it comes to the weight that seems to creep on with each passing decade.
In fact, age-related weight gain has far more to do with our activity patterns than it does with our metabolism, which barely budges after age 30, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Our metabolism, the term for the calorie-burning process our bodies do naturally, shifts based on the various activities we do throughout the day.
Unfortunately, the rate at which we digest our meals and burn energy can't be altered significantly enough to cause weight loss. (No, spicy foods and green teas won't move the needle.)
But as we age, we also get less active while sticking to roughly the same diet. Researchers say that this – not our metabolic rate – is the real culprit for the extra weight we pack on as we get older.
Read more here. (Science Alert)
"She's not what she used to be!" I heard a friend say the other day as he lovingly slapped his belly in the way one gives the hood of their old clunker an affectionate tap.
Many people blame a sluggish metabolism for the weight gain. But as it turns out, our metabolism isn't the real culprit when it comes to the weight that seems to creep on with each passing decade.
In fact, age-related weight gain has far more to do with our activity patterns than it does with our metabolism, which barely budges after age 30, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Our metabolism, the term for the calorie-burning process our bodies do naturally, shifts based on the various activities we do throughout the day.
Unfortunately, the rate at which we digest our meals and burn energy can't be altered significantly enough to cause weight loss. (No, spicy foods and green teas won't move the needle.)
But as we age, we also get less active while sticking to roughly the same diet. Researchers say that this – not our metabolic rate – is the real culprit for the extra weight we pack on as we get older.
Read more here. (Science Alert)
