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Are we really going to get overweight overweight in old age?
It is not uncommon for people of old age to no longer have the figure of previous years. If too much hip gold accumulates, it is often pushed to make it harder to lose weight from mid-life. Is that true??
Obesity poses a risk to health
Being overweight is a health hazard. For example, having too many kilos is more likely to cause cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure or diabetes. According to health experts, even a minimal weight loss would have a significant positive impact. But usually it is not so easy to get rid of excess pounds. Especially not for the elderly. Does this really have anything to do with age?
In old age it gets harder to get rid of excess weight. Experts recommend that instead of using a crash diet, you should reduce your weight step by step. Can help in addition to a reduced calorie intake and regular exercise. (Image: Kurhan / fotolia.com) With increasing age you have to reduce more calories
Elderly people sometimes justify their hip gold with explanations like: "In old age you become more and more overweight". Michael Boschmann from the Center for Clinical Research at the Charité Universitätsmedizin - Berlin confirms that this is indeed the case, as reported by the news agency dpa.
"As you get older, it gets harder. You have to reduce more calories than younger people, "says the expert. And that has several reasons.
After midlife, the fat mass increases
People who overeat at a young age do not gain weight immediately. As Bosch explains, the body rather tries to release the surplus energy as heat. However, the body adapts after several years of calorie surplus.
"Usually with middle, end 30 the body adjusted obviously a target value for the body fat portion, and one increases," says the physician. It takes time to get rid of the kilos after the setpoint adjustment.
In addition, from the middle to the end of 50, the physiological mass of the muscles decreases, while the fat mass increases. This has consequences: As it is called in the agency message, the basal metabolic rate decreases, ie the energy necessary for the maintenance of all body function.
Men over the age of 60 need up to 400 calories and women up to 300 calories less. However, if you continue to eat as before, you gain weight.
Crash diets do not make sense
Boschmann emphasizes that, above all, it is crucial to reduce calorie intake if you want to lose weight. However, according to the experts, crash diets do not make sense.
Other professionals see it that way. Even in scientific studies has been shown that diets bring almost nothing. In addition, a radical cure can burden the health.
How fast you should lose weight
When asked how fast weight loss makes sense, Prof. Dr. med. Helmut Gohlke from the board of the German Heart Foundation, in a cardiac consultation, that people who want to reduce their weight, should make sure by simple values that the daily calorie amount was not too low.
He also referred to recommendations of the German Obesity Society: "In order to reduce the body weight, a daily energy deficit of about 500 kcal / day, in some cases higher, should be sought by reducing diet."
Step by step
In the dpa report, it is advised that instead of a crash diet should better make a maximum of ten percent of the starting weight to lose weight and then keep the reduced body weight for at least three months.
Then you could make the next five to ten percent. In this way, it is best to move the adjusted setpoint back to "normal".
Above all, Michael Boschmann from the Charité recommends movement such as gardening, climbing stairs, frequent changes of sitting and standing as well as walking - ideally at least 10,000 steps a day. This activates fat metabolism and maintains muscle mass and fitness.
Also recommended is regular sports. He drives out the constant hunger, as shown in scientific research. In addition, by building muscle more pounds can be broken down, which is why professionals often advise special strength training. (Ad)