to think fat isnt inevitable as you get older

[wilsonq2]

I've always been a health freak. Constantly people say this will all change as you get older, as if it is part of live becoming overweight.

Even my DM say this, but she was never into exercise or eating natural.

Aibu to think this is just an excuse ?

Boobs, bum and hips on an older woman (especially big boobs) can make her look too matronly.
Think Les Dawson's nosey neighbour sketch!

It's usually the women with smaller boobs and bumbs that look younger.

mypoo - be happy that you're slim! :)

When I read the thread title, I thought, oh no, not another pressure to feel that I have to stay slim even though I'm nearly fifty'. And a bit cross at those leading the way - still looking 30 years old when they are 50.

I'm active (walking and swimming), eat sensibly and until last July was doing two fast days a week. Despite this, my health went off a bit and I had low blood sugar shakes and poor sleep - and weight gain. I stopped the fasting because I felt so awful. It's horrible, to do what is necessary and for it not to work.

Then to have external pressure that says - of course you can stay the same weight - you only have to try harder.

Les Dawson (Hoiks imaginary boobs up)

Our family are basically all sticks right until the end, my great nan carried twins and 3 babies and didn't effect her body one bit, still a bloody twig right until 80 odd.
My mum eats like a horse, it's actually obscene, and still slim.

So no, it's not I inevitable you'll put on weight. I think you can tell a lot about what will happen to your body by how your older relatives panned out.

skolastic Don't fast, try Paul Mckenna I'm maintaining my weight loss on it. You don't count calories or weigh food or anything like that, (though I combine it with very healthy eating) you just change the when,why and HOW you eat.

ppeatfruit Thanks - something to look at, but it's possible that my pituitary is malfunctioning. I did get quite trim on the fasting diet for the first year.

Family of twigs here too!

Everyone can do it, it's the most sensible, natural, way of eating I've ever done.

I need to dig out my Paul McKenna CD again. I tried the 5:2 and just couldn't stick to it. Im doing the odd PM trick now, but still eating a bit too much.

Both my parents are obese and always have been AFAIK. When I was 18 I got scared I was going to turn out like that so Im constantly trying to do things not to be. Yes Im overweight now (by 2 stone), but Im not obese and I never have been. Currently Im doing a variety of exercise classes with sticking to 3 meals a day and not over-feeding myself. One day I will be healthy. Mind you both my parents drink far more than what I do so I think I have already got a good start there.

Health problems as you get older can really change your ability to exercise - arthritis can strike quite early, for example - and so yes, it can be a hell of a lot harder to keep the weight off.

Pregnancy, too. I'm a totally different body type after preg than I was before, something that diet and exercise won't change.

Yes Biscuits I reckon alcohol is one of the worst things for weight gain it's also addictive.

I solved\cured my arthritis with my diet Archery it can be done!

No it's not inevitable.

But for most people (with some exceptions) metabolism slows down as you get older, so you have to eat less and/or do more exercise in order to stay the same weight.

Whereas in fact many people tend to eat and drink more and exercise less as they get older - variety of reasons, children, health issues, going out less, etc.

skolastica have you had blood tests? Thyroid etc?

Afaik the slowdown in metabolic rate is primarily due to muscle loss, this can be mitigated by resistance training.
Increasing body fat percentage as we age is far from inevitable but the measures required to prevent it may seem onerous to some.
Indeed they run counter to what many regard as a normal life.

Use it or lose it ?

Yes Susanne but I am keeping toned (see above exercise) and it's not onerous at all. (I don't go to a gym or go running\jogging or do weights) Eating correctly is a bit of a challenge but I manage that too !

minipie - a few years ago, yes. All OK then. My body has been out of balance for years and drs could find 'nothing wrong'. Have lost faith a bit.

I'm deliberately not reading all the posts, sorry. I'm trying to manage my Zen

1. Even dieticians admit you will age to the shape you inherited. If ayour elders got wider round the middle and developed jowls (looking at myself here!) it's very likely you will, too. If they were beautifully shaped to the end, thank your genes and stop being a smug twat.

1. There's a high level of malnutrition among old people in the UK and the US. When you see a lot of very thin old people, you're looking at starving old people :(

I'm always wary of being smug as I know that my frame is pretty much down to genetics (twig family) although saying that I do stay very active, go to the gym, run, walk, do yoga etc. I have quite a small appetite which is absolutely down to luck and not will power. My father however, never moves an inch and has only at 80 odd begun to develop a bit of a middle!

I was listening to R4 earlier today and they were talking about an injection that is in the pipeline to subdue the appetite in the same way as the brain acts on hormones in the body that tell you whether you are full or not. Sounds very promising and would help a lot of people with the added advantage of saving the NHS a fortune.

Afaik the slowdown in metabolic rate is primarily due to muscle loss

Primarily in perfectly healthy people. Older people are arely perfectly healthy. Changes in the endocrine system - thyroid, pancreas, pituitary, and the rest - alter metabolism quite drastically. When fat people used to say "it's me glands, you know," they weren't always lying!

Added to which, various illnesses that both deplete physical capacity and change metabolism become more common. Recovery & healing become slower and less complete.

Over-70s can build muscle and metabolic efficiency to levels normally seen in under-30s, even from a standing start. But this is impossible with underlying chronic health conditions.

Sounds like genetics are on your side, Tierra :)

What a lot of smuggery on here.

I speak as a slim 45 year old who realises it may not be as simple as all that post-menopause

Did not mean you, Tierra, BTW