So Hard To Lose Weight After 60

Let’s face it – trying to lose weight after your 60 years old is really hard. Back in the day, you could eat whatever you wanted (for the most part). Now, you eat a Hershey’s Kiss, and you gain 2 pounds overnight.

As our bodies age, we lose our ability to eat whatever we want. Suddenly, we have to track calories and steps to stay ahead of the scale.

Before we get into 13 ways you can realistically lose weight, stay in shape, and feel like you’re 25 again, it’s important to understand why keeping the weight off has suddenly become so difficult.

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Losing and maintaining your weight can start to become an issue as early as age 50, though many experience this annoyance around age 60.

Robert Herbst, a personal trainer and 19-time World Champion in powerlifting explains, “I’m 60, so I know what it means to be 60. The slowing of the metabolism is a function of decreased production of testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH), which causes a loss of muscle mass.”

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Also explains, “The loss of nutrients such as magnesium has decreased the production of metabolism-boosting hormones, so your weight loss efforts are handicapped.”

In essence, this isn’t your fault. With age, your body becomes less efficient with producing the key hormones it needs, which makes losing weight… well, really hard.

For women, perimenopause and menopause are a reality of your 50s and 60s. Because of this shift, you actually burn fewer calories than you used to.

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Jill McKay, Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor, explains, “With menstruation, our body temperature would fluctuate, so we would get a bonus calorie burn of about 300 calories per month. It’s not much, but it adds up over time.”

This means that the things you used to eat, you can’t eat anymore! That also goes for portions – you might not be able to eat as much as you could before without gaining weight.

When you’re nearing retirement, there’s more time. More time to exercise, of course, but is that really how we like to spend our free time?

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In fact, we’re more likely to eat more if we’re around other people who are eating. All that socializing is making it harder to stay in shape.

For most people, losing weight after 60 is hard, but that’s normal. However, if losing weight is exceptionally hard, you may want to check with your doctor that you don’t have any health conditions.

The two most common health conditions that can cause weight gain are 1) the thyroid losing function, and 2) insulin becoming less functional.

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The common test called hemoglobin A1c can tell you if you’re able to metabolize your sugars well. If not, you could be at risk for diabetes.

As an example, Medicare doesn't cover a visit with a dietician unless you have diabetes or renal failure. The same goes for weight loss medications – many newer weight loss prescriptions cost more than $200 per month.

Even though some of these drug manufacturers provide discount coupons to get the price under $100 per month, they can't be used with Medicare.

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The good news is that the majority of the ideas on this list aren't a huge financial burden. Read on to learn how you can drop that extra weight after age 60.

So, losing weight after 60 is a real problem that many men and women face. However, there are some tricks to nudging that weight off so that you can tip the scale in your favor.

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Dieting after 60 is confusing – even if carb-heavy meals and delicious desserts have never been an issue for you, you might start to notice your body changing. That daily dessert might cause you gain weight, even if you’ve stayed the same weight for years.

Denny Hemingson, a 61-year-old Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner explains, “Insulin signals the liver, muscle, and fat cells to take up glucose out of the blood stream. When those cells become resistant to insulin, glucose doesn't get used and ends up staying in the blood creating high blood sugar. Eventually, this leads to pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and type II diabetes. In this state, it's much harder for the body to release extra pounds.”

The solution? Reducing carbohydrates. Denny goes on to say that focusing on blood sugar retention over 60 is an important reality, and by reducing carbs, you’re reducing your blood sugar, which will make it easier to maintain your weight.

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Carolyn Dean is an advocate for the Keto diet, which is a high fat, moderate protein, and low carb diet. “This allows the body to use up carbohydrate stores of sugar called glycogen, and then turn on fat burning to burn excess fat cells as energy.”

The Keto diet is slowly gaining more recognition in the fitness and medical community as a way to burn fat faster than ever before, but it’s still recommended that you talk with your doctor before trying it.

Another diet model to consider is Atkins or a modified Atkins plan, which focuses on protein and greens with small servings of carbs. Your heaviest carbs should be in the morning so you have all day to burn it off, while you should restrict carbs at night since you'll be going to sleep soon and can't burn it off.

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Strength training, also called resistance training, isn’t usually the first thing older adults think of when they think of exercise. Typically, cardio exercises, like walking on a treadmill or hopping on an elliptical are the most common.

“The missing exercise component to help those over 60 lose weight is oftentimes strength training. This is an exercise using weights (or your own body weight) to strengthen and build muscle. It increases the size and strength of the muscle fibers and strengthens the tendons, ligaments, and bones.”

As we age, we lose muscle mass – mainly because of the slowing metabolism, which then contributes to an even slower metabolism, and suddenly, you’re in a vicious cycle.

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However, you can stop that cycle of muscle loss by strength training – in fact, you can reverse the muscle loss at any age.

Carol continues, “Since muscle is metabolically active, the more muscle mass that you have, the faster your metabolism. Therefore, strength training can help with weight loss.”

Robert Herbst offers another way to think about strength training, “The body will build additional muscle which is metabolically active and burns calories, even when at rest. Having this new muscle also raises the metabolism, just like a six cylinder car burns more gas than a four cylinder one, even when idling at a red light.

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In essence, your new muscle will help you burn more fat, and you’ve suddenly stopped the vicious cycle of aging, and instead started a cycle of weight loss and weight management.

Now that we’re on the same page – strength training is awesome! – you might be wondering how exactly to go about this.

Carol says that many older adults around age 60 don’t know where to begin. Should you go to the gym and use the machines? Should you buy some free weights?

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Gyms also have free weights, so if you’d rather pay for a gym membership than buy your own free weights, you have the choice.

Sure, strength training sounds nice, but if you think I’m going to do it every single day for 2 hours a day…

“Strengthen each muscle group, alternating from upper to lower body. Make sure to work the front, back, and side of the body so that you do not create imbalances. If you are new to exercise and over 60, you might start with a very light weight.”

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Once you have your exercises planned, Carol suggests doing 5-10 repetitions of that exercise. By the 5-8th repetition, you should start to feel the muscle really working. By the final repetition, you should feel that you’ve worked the muscle, but you’re not exhausted. If you’re exhausted, you’re doing too much weight.

You can call your local gym in order to have a personal trainer show you what exercises to do, but there are a lot of experts online who have strength training programs with pictures and tutorials.

Bodybuilding.com – don’t be scared off by the name – has a huge amount of pre-planning workout regimens. You can sort them by level – beginner, intermediate, and advanced – as well as length, 4, 6, 8, 12 weeks, etc.

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While starting with diet and exercise is the best course of action in most cases, a weight loss program under doctor supervision could also be an option.

Many weight loss clinics and doctors offer a weight loss or wellness plan that combines regular check-ups with weight loss medications and/or infusions.

As an example, a concierge doctor in central Florida offers a 3-month weight loss program that includes weekly IV infusions that contain vitamins

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