How much weight can we reasonably expect to put on as we age?

[carrotcut]

Hi - I once read something about this - I think it may have been in a book called How to Lose a Stone in 6 weeks - which I read ages ago.
Anyway - the crux is you can't expect to weigh exactly the same at 45 or whatever as you did at 20 There was a way of calculating what was a modest healthy gain - so x pounds for every so many years after a certain age.
Has anyone else come across this or have any other thoughts on the subject?
TIA

I weight exactly the same at 46 as I did at 20.

Just takes helluva lot more work!!

I weigh less at 47 than I did at 20, too, but I wouldn't say it's 'more work' at all.
Shape & tone fricking changes, though, those are lost causes in my case .

I truly would not want to weigh the same as I did at 20 I was quite thin and for me I think it would be unrealistic now!
That was just an example I plucked from the book I vaguely remember reading.

I've always been overweight, even as a young teenager so I can't comment (I'm only 25 now though) but my ex-flatmate was always 9st and slim. She got to 33 or 34 and suddenly everything started spreading, but the scales read exactly the same. She hired a personal trainer, started working out four times a week and tweaked her food but nothing sat the same as it had a few years before, she was horrified.

ragged

I am very toned, though - that's the bit that takes such hard work!

helena

I have a six pack. i didn't at 20!

On my 50th Birthday I weighed the same as on my 25th.
I'm planning to wear a 30 year old pair of jeans for a party this weekend.

There is non need at all to accept middle age spread weight gain.
THe science of TDEE is now well understood : you just need to work with what your body needs.

I looked great at 20, but if I weighed the same, now, at 45, I'd look ill, as I'd have far too much loose skin and I've lost a lot of muscle tone, despite walking several miles a day, pretty much every day.

I weigh 3 stone more, though and it's a stone or two too much.

I'm less than a stone more than I weighed on my 25th birthday, mind, and much of that is boobs :o

I probably weigh about the same now at 54 as I did at 20 but have a bit more muscle now. Difference is then I ate more rubbish and now I exercise each weekday morning. Unless you have particular health issues, the choice is yours.

Well I have been up and down.

Age 15 - 9st
Age 20 - 8st - Lost weight in my late teens but did also have an ed
Age 25 - 8st7 ish, give or take a couple of pounds
Age 30 - 8st7 - 9st - had a bit of a shite time around that time, had a miscarriage
Age 32 - 7st11 at lowest after having my first DS, lost lots of weight through breastfeeing.
Age 35 - Got down to about 7st 11 again (nor really on purpose) after having second DS
Age 38 - Up to 8st7, then down to 7st12
Age 39 - Up to 8st7ish again, down to 8st, grief this time.
Age 40 - Birthday just after Christmas, was supposed to be 8st for my 40th ended up at 8st9 think about 8st13 at the moment, have just joined a gymn, trying times again have just lost of MIL and have eaten crisps, choc and alcohol tonight having eaten healthily all day

So, it might look as if I am doing ok cause I am the same weight I was 25 years ago, but I am nearly a stone more than this time last year which is't so good, go figure.

Only good thing is that I am fitter than when I was this weight as a teen and pre kids, although I have an arse the size of a small country so only the people who know me would believe that I walk everywhere and have recently joined a gymn.

I'm 'only' 37 but weigh the same as I did at 20. I really haven't yet noticed this and think that it is often used as an excuse.

Lucky you for finding everything so easy, yes maybe I am making excuses and I recognise my part in this and have joined a gym, but to be honest I am having a shite year yet again - this is the part that people forget, as you getting older life gets shittier in terms of people dying and trying to balance every area of your life, maybe this hasn't happened to you, if not good luck with that your turn will come, lets hope you still manage to stay perfect without even noticing.

I'm 50 ~ its not easy ~ but it IS worth it.

Chatting to a couple of 70 year old friends in yoga today ; being able to scramble up and down off the floor with grandchildren is worth the gym time and self discipline

and for one of them, being able - at 71 - to fit into a 35 year old dress for a fancy dress party is SO worth it

I'm 53 and the same weight I was at 25 - 9st 4lb and I'm 5ft 7.

I'm not as toned, certainly, but probably just as fit if not more. My diet is a lot healthier than it was because I enjoy cooking far more now. A large dog makes sure I exercise daily!

I don't think (hope!) weight gain is inevitable.

I was pretty much the same weight up until my late 30s. Since then the weight has crept on and I am a good 2-3 stone heavier at 50 than I was at 25.

As I can't bear to be on a permanent diet I just put up with it.

I'm far from perfect crappy skin, limp hair, tummy looks much better covered after 2 kids

But people do use it as an excuse from a ridiculously young age is my point.

I cannot comment on what what will happen slightly later as I'm not there yet. There is a logic to me that the menopause is probably very unhelpful. Obviously some people comfort eat when things are hard, but that isn't age related, I tend to go the other way and stress stops me eating.

But the idea that there is a set amount of weight it's normal to lump on every 5 years is nonsense.

One of the issues is that as you age, you find it harder to build and maintain lean tissue, so even if you weigh the same at 45 than 25, you probably have a higher body fat % unless you have been very proactive in tackling that through exercise, and particularly exercise designed to support lean tissue creation (so weights, yay, marathon running, nay). Not to say that running is a bad thing, but endurance sports just aren't very good for muscle retention/build.

One of the issues with menopause is that it can change fat distribution so women who tended to put weight on their bum and thighs suddenly find it's going on around their waists, which is a worse health risk.