Is middle-aged spread actually a thing?

[BoysofMelody]

Saw my dad for the first time in a fair few months and he'd piled on weight. I mentioned that he looked like he'd been on some good pasture of late and he said 'yeah, it's just middle aged spread, nothing you can do about it.'

Leaving aside he's 65 so middle aged is somewhat optimistic (I mean how many 130 year olds do you know) but is so called middle aged spread driven by biological shifts like a slowing metabolism or does it reflect the fact that people tend to live more sedentary lives as they get older and/or the cumulative effect of a number of years of bad diet?

The latter.

It is easier to put on weight after about 40ish, IMO, but it's not true that 'there's nothing you can do about it'.

I know plenty of older people who lead active lives and eat healthily, and therefore are slim with no 'spread'.

Lack of testosterone makes people put on weight I think, as it alters your metabolism and putting on weight lowers your testosterone, so a vicious circle.