Best Way To Lose Weight In Old Age

We'll start with the good news: Losing weight after 60 is a realistic goal. And maintaining a healthy weight can help you live an active and engaged life as a senior. However, many older people have to adjust their prior weight-loss strategies to lose extra pounds safely. That's because what works for younger people when it comes to weight loss doesn't necessarily work for seniors.

But that doesn't mean you can't achieve your healthiest weight. You can lose weight as you get older by recognizing how your body changes with age and creating a safe, effective weight-loss plan.

For many seniors, that process starts with determining their ideal weight. And because body composition changes with age, you may find that your goal weight and health priorities shift as you grow older. That's just one reason why it's essential to work closely with your healthcare team if you think that you need to lose weight.

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This article will help you discover how to stay healthy while safely losing those extra pounds. So keep reading to learn more about how to create a sound plan for senior weight loss.

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A note on weight loss: If you're a senior who is losing weight unintentionally and without any changes to your diet or lifestyle, it's important to bring this up with your doctor. For older people, unexplained weight loss can be the first sign of certain health problems.

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If you're a senior carrying extra pounds, you might assume that the best thing for your health is losing that excess weight. After all, being overweight or obese can increase your risk for many health problems, including:

However, determining the ideal body weight for elderly people is more complicated than merely consulting weight charts. So if you're wondering what you should weigh, your first step should be an open conversation with your doctor. That's because, for a senior, weight-loss goals must take several important factors into account, including overall health.

Some of the standard methods for determining an ideal weight change as we age. You may already be familiar with the concept of body mass index or BMI. (You can determine your BMI with an online calculator.) Your BMI reflects your weight-to-height ratio.

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However, many people feel that BMI oversimplifies weight issues. One reason is that BMI doesn't account for the fact that muscle is denser than fat. A person who has a lot of muscle could have a much higher BMI than someone who wears the same size of clothing but has less muscle. (In fact, many professional athletes fall into the obese category on the BMI chart simply because they have so much muscle mass.)

But what does this mean for seniors? Here's a key fact: Our body composition often changes with age. (Body composition is the amount of muscle and fat on your frame.) An article from Tufts University notes that many seniors experience sarcopenia, or muscle loss, as they grow older. And losing muscle may have a more significant impact on health than carrying extra weight. So lower weight isn't necessarily a good thing if it's the result of muscle loss.

The Tufts University article cites studies that have found that being underweight as a senior carries more risk than being overweight. That might seem counterintuitive, but overweight people who are older than 65 have lower mortality rates than people who are underweight or within the normal-weight range. (Some doctors call this the obesity paradox.)

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That means our ideal BMI often shifts upward with age. As a result, some medical experts have suggested that there should be a separate BMI for older adults chart that contains slightly higher numbers. This kind of weight chart for seniors would use a range of 25 to 27 as a normal BMI.

Your weight-loss goals will also depend on your individual health issues. For example, the ideal weight for men over 60 with diabetes may be lower than for other men in that age group. And a weight chart for females over 50 who have not gone through menopause might be different from a weight chart for women over 60 because the hormonal shifts of menopause can trigger body composition changes.

Instead of just striving for a lower weight, it may be healthier to focus on your body composition (i.e., your muscle-to-fat ratio), and where fat is stored on your body.

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Why is the location of excess fat important? People tend to store fat either above their hips (mostly in their bellies) or below their hips. Fat that is stored above the hips presents a greater risk for:

Because of the increased health risks carried by belly fat, waist circumference is often an important indicator of overall health. So, instead of looking at a weight chart for seniors to determine whether you need to lose weight, you could measure your waist-to-hip ratio and discuss the results with your doctor.

Essentially, if you're focused on reaching an ideal weight, you may be focused on the wrong goal. Research suggests that instead of trying to lower your BMI, your focus should be on eating for your personal health and maintaining muscle tone and bone strength. That's why it's important to work with your healthcare provider to create personalized goals and plans that work for you.

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You may also have to revise your ideas about dieting if you and your healthcare provider determine that losing weight will help your overall health. That's because many seniors find that weight loss gets more challenging as they get older. While slower weight loss can be frustrating, it's also a natural part of the aging process. So, don't blame yourself if you struggle to drop extra pounds. If a 60-year-old woman can't lose weight, she might blame herself for not being disciplined enough. However, her body might just be responding in a way that's appropriate for her age.

But that doesn't mean that losing weight over 60 is impossible. Many people successfully lose weight at any age. You can lose weight as you get older by adapting your weight-loss strategies to your changing body.

The first step in understanding why weight loss rules can be different for seniors is to consider your basal metabolic rate. That's the number of calories you burn just staying alive (i.e., the energy you expend breathing and digesting food). This rate is different than the calories you burn through exercise or everyday activities.

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Your body composition impacts your basal metabolic rate. That's because, in addition to its heavier weight, muscle burns more calories than fat. So a person who has a lot of muscle mass should have a higher basal metabolic rate than someone who doesn't.

However, starting in our 30s, we lose muscle mass unless we work to maintain it. Although we may not even notice this process when it starts, it has a large impact over time. One study published in Clinical Interventions in Aging found that, on average, we lose about 30 percent of muscle strength between age 50 and 70. And the rate of muscle loss is even faster after 70. Consequently, losing weight after 70 will be that much harder than it is for someone who is 30.

If you continue to eat the same number of calories and do the same amount of activity as you did in your younger days, you could be at risk of gaining weight because your basal metabolic rate is slowing down.

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As a result, the number of calories you should eat in a day is about 100 calories lower with every decade you age. That's not a huge amount (about the equivalent of one apple). But it does add up. So, for example, all other factors being equal, a 60-year-old woman should eat fewer calories in a day than a 40-year-old woman to lose weight.

Although it might seem unfair in today's more sedentary world, this process makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Long ago, as we grew older and our hunting and gathering abilities slowed down, our bodies had to learn how to survive on less food. The result? Aging bodies want to hang onto any extra body weight (even if we no longer need—or want—them to).

The good news is that you can speed up your metabolism after 50 by making some simple lifestyle changes. And these habits will have other positive impacts on your health. Check out these tips to see how you can trick your body into having a faster metabolism:

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Maintaining muscle tone is one of the most important things we can do to burn more calories. For elderly people, starting or maintaining a strength-training program can help increase their basal metabolic rate.

Strength training is also good for losing the belly. Research in the Journal of Obesity confirmed that weight loss for seniors has the most significant positive impact on health if it comes from the abdominal region. And the fat loss from strength training (even if the exercises aren't specifically focused on your abs) is often from this area.

Plus, strength training doesn't have

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