Why Do You Gain Weight As You Get Older?

As we get older it becomes easier for us to gain weight. Very few people end up skinnier when they’re middle aged than when they were younger. It’s been a fact of life for so long that most people don’t even question it so much anymore. There are of course reasons as to why we get bigger as we get older and why it becomes so much more effort to manage weight effectively. After some research and some careful consideration we’ve assembled the top set of reasons that weight becomes so much trickier in middle age:

Slower Metabolism – Your metabolism is how many calories you burn without taking the time to do any exercise, so through the act of living on its own. People with high metabolisms burn through any food they eat much faster than those with low metabolisms. The metabolic rate slows down considerably as you get older and as you’re burning fewer calories this generally causes some weight gain.

Muscle Mass – After the age of thirty your muscle mass will start to naturally shrink. This can lead to weight gain on its own but it will also lessen your metabolism as muscle burns much more calories than fat does.

Menopause – Obviously not a factor for men but a considerable one for women. During menopause you’ll produce much less oestrogen. The body’s response to this is to retain fat as oestrogen can be pulled out of fat cells, this leads to you gaining some belly fat!

Sedentary Lifestyle – As you get older you tend to be less active than you once were. This will simply increase the decline of your metabolic rate.

Stress – Having a hectic or stressful lifestyle can have a massive contribution to your midlife weight gain. Stress can lead to stress eating which will obviously help pile on the pounds.