Why Did I Start Gaining Weight When Getting Older (Explained)

Have you ever had trouble reducing or maintaining your weight, yet the scale won’t budge? There’s a biological explanation for this: as we grow older, our bodies don’t react to weight reduction attempts in the same manner. 

According to research released in March 2013 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, we tend to gain 1 to 2 pounds each year as we become older.

That may not seem like much, but it may add up over time, leading to considerable weight gain and, in certain circumstances, obesity, defined as a BMI of 30 or above. Continue to read and we will share additional information on it. 

Your metabolism slows down when you are aging. This is the main reason why it becomes challenging for you to lose weight. You don’t require as many calories to keep your body running when your metabolism slows. 

Your metabolism, a complicated mechanism that transforms calories into energy, is likely to slow as your muscle mass declines.

2. Calorie burning is reduced when there is fatter and less muscle.

Calorie burning is reduced when there is fatter and less muscle. Furthermore, as individuals age, they become less active, which decreases their metabolism. Your metabolic rate is influenced by many factors, including your age, body size, and gender. Certain medical diseases, such as hypothyroidism, do as well.

That implies your older self may consume the same food and exercise that you did when you were younger. However, when your younger self could maintain a healthy weight, your older self is gaining weight. You’re tipping the scales even more if you’ve reduced your exercises.

Unfortunately, as we age, most of us exercise less regularly or with less intensity, so it’s natural that we acquire weight. Due to all these reasons, you will have challenges in losing weight.

3. A change in your body composition adds to the metabolic slowdown.

Your muscle mass diminishes as you get older, but your fat mass grows. Fat is less metabolically active than muscle, hence maintaining fat requires less calories than maintaining muscle.

Weight gain may also be caused by hormonal changes. During menopause, women’s hormone levels vary swiftly, but men’s testosterone levels decline more gradually over time.

Obesity incidence rises in one’s twenties, peaks between 40 and 59 years old, and then gradually declines beyond 60. Not everyone will grow overweight as they age, since body weight is heavily impacted by genetics, physical activity, and dietary choices.

Sometimes we say heredity loads the rifle and lifestyle pulls the trigger. Even still, with each passing year, everyone will find it more difficult to maintain or reduce weight.

Continue to read and we will share some additional reasons on why you face challenges in losing weight with age. 

4. You will lose muscles when you grow old 

Researchers reveal in an article published in the journal Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care that the amount of lean muscle we have naturally starts to drop by 3 to 8% every decade after age 30, a process known as sarcopenia.

You may also lose muscle if you’re less active owing to age-related health concerns like arthritis, or if you’ve been out of commission for many days due to an accident or surgery. Alone, none of them have a major impact, but when taken together, they do.

Why is muscle loss significant? Because fat burns more calories than lean muscle. Your body will need fewer calories each day unless you consistently strength train with weights to maintain and grow muscle.

If you continue to eat the same number of calories that you did when you were younger, you will acquire weight.

Most people will not modify calories. They keep eating the same amount, but they gain weight over time because they have less muscle mass to burn those calories and less exercise. 

5. You’re Going Through Hormonal Changes That Are Normal

As people become older, their hormone levels vary, which helps to explain why, according to the CDC, middle-age is the best period to gain weight.

Menopause, which happens most often between the ages of 45 and 55, produces a considerable decline in estrogen, which promotes additional pounds to accumulate around the belly.

This change in fat storage might exacerbate weight gain and raise the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, variations in estrogen levels during perimenopause, the years leading up to menopause, may create mood swings, making it more difficult to keep to a good diet and exercise regimen.

According to UC San Diego Health, the typical weight increase during the transition to menopause is roughly five pounds.

Men, on the other hand, endure a considerable reduction in testosterone as they age, which starts to diminish at a rate of around 1 to 2 percent each year around the age of 40, according to Harvard Health.

Testosterone is in charge of controlling fat distribution, as well as muscular strength and mass. In other words, if it drops, the body will be less successful at burning calories.

According to Harvard Health, the pituitary glands synthesis of growth hormone (GH) decreases as people become older. Building and maintaining muscle mass is one of GH’s numerous activities.

As GH levels drop, it becomes more difficult for your body to build and retain muscle, which has an influence on how many calories you burn.

6. You’re becoming more sedentary and stressed

Your career is likely in full gear by the time you reach your forties and fifties, which, although excellent, might provide some weight reduction issues. For starters, you’re probably moving less.

You may drive an hour or more to and from work, sit at a desk for eight or more hours a day, and have so much on your plate that you don’t have time to take a walk or exercise throughout the day.

You may also be too busy to stop for lunch, increasing your chances of grabbing anything from the vending machine or ordering calorie-dense takeout. You may also be more stressed at work, which, according to a study published in the International Journal of Peptides, may raise the amount of the hormone ghrelin, which makes you hungry.

Final words 

Keep these in mind and figure out why you are facing challenges with weight loss. It is a good idea to pay special attention towards losing weight, as it can offer numerous amazing health benefits to you in the long run.