Does anyone else worry that it's going to get harder as we get older? I struggle with trying to lose right now, I can't imagine how hard it's going to be to lose/maintain when my metabolism slows down as I get older! I look at my mom (she needs to lose a lot of weight and isn't working on it yet )and worry that someday I'm going to look like that. It's like a ticking time bomb!

The primary reason for metabolism slowdown as we age is due to muscle loss. So, if we work hard to maintain and even put on some muscle now, I do think we can make the battle easier and even win it. Call me an optimist!

Not true. Muscule mass adds very little to the metabolism. Please read carefully I didn't say it didn't increase metabolism at all just not much.

Okay, right, according to an MSN health article I read, it's the decreasing efficiency of mitochondria, muscle loss, and a tendency to move less, but the article concludes with essentially the same advice: keep the muscle and make the mitochondria as efficient as possible through exercise/strength training. And eat fewer calories. It won't prevent aging, but it can go a long way towards making weight issues easier to deal with.

keep in mind that habits get harder to break the longer we have them. so yeah, in my experience it IS harder to lose weight as we age- i was skinny til i hit my 30s (and started antidepressants, moved to a less health-oriented city, and became less active and drank a lot more, so i don't blame it all on aging.) i have to say, though- being skinny thru my 20s, i never developed good eating habits. i never had to worry about portions, or what foods i chose. i was just one of those naturally thin people and couldn't imagine ever needing to watch my diet. it took me years of gaining weight in my 30s to finally admit that i have to change my ways.


so think of it this way: you are developing habits now that will help you when you are older. if you stay conscious of what and how you eat, and stay active, you shouldn't have a hard time maintaining a healthy weight when you are older.

I personally have found mid life to be easier to lose weight than my 20's. While there may be some physiology at play to make it a little bit harder, life circumstances (for me anyway) have made it much easier.

Y'know, I worried the same thing for years. My mother's been a fitness instructor for 20 years, and her weight has yo-yo'd all over the place for decades. It really worried me, since I've never enjoyed exercise the way she does, that there was no hope for me. I got her body, almost exactly, and it reacts the same way to food as hers... so if she exercises all the time and couldn't keep her weight down, what about me?
But to look at the facts, my mother's a snacker. She grazes a lot... and while she may eat relatively healthy things, she's still adding on several hundred calories a few times a day when she makes herself 100% rye bread toast with organic almond butter, and pops a handful of almonds... and she still doesn't portion control her meals... and she's a big dessert person.
Finally, about a year and a half ago, my 170-180 lb mother finally put the effort in, and dragged her weight down to the high-130s with a little discipline... and she's only gained back up to about 142 in a year and a half! She eats far from perfectly, and is doing a pretty good job at maintaining... AND she only teaches like one fitness class a week now.
This is the smallest my mother's been since I was born, and she's been able to keep it there, giving me hope for myself.... (that I truly shouldn't have needed) that I could do it too.

My point is, don't look at your mother and assume that because she struggles with her weight, you have to. If your mom put the effort in, she could probably slim down and stay there... but don't give up on yourself, like I did, and wait for your mom to prove that you're not doomed to being overweight... just know that you're not from the get-go, and inspire your mom to do what you do instead!

The main two causes of later life weight gain for most people is:

1) Eating more calories because they eat out at restaurants more due to time, laziness, and have more money to spend.

2) Excercise less due to age, which can be attributed to injuries, body not capable of moving as much, and laziness.

OK, yes it IS harder to lose weight when you get older.
It IS preferable to lose it now and keep it off.

Establish habits NOW that you can continue through your life. Weight gain is not inevitable. You CAN adjust your exercise and food intake when your metabolism does slow down.

Only 100 extra calories a day adds up to over 10 lbs per year. That is the way many, many of us "older" chickies gained it.

That being said, I'm here to tell you that even us old chicks can lose weight successfully. I am more fit now than I was at your age.

You are never too young or to old to embrace a healthy lifestyle

I have worried about the same thing!! When my mom was my age she was skinnier then I am, but she weighs around 200lbs now! My whole family is chubby so I hope that I'm not doomed to be fat forever! I am just going to try to keep my weight down and try hard not to let it get out of hand!!

Thanks for all the info everyone, I feel a bit better now. Like I have a chance instead of being forced down the same path my mom is now on. The weirdest thing is that my mom used to be super skinny before she had kids, but she never eats the right things or exercises so she kept putting on more weight and never took it off. I was never skinny haha, I got the short end of the dna apparently (that and being raised in a household with zero healthy choices).

I actually had a huge break down to my thereapist about this exact same thing.

I fear the day I turn into my mother.

So she pointed out something to me, she asked me "do you exercise" I said yes. "Do you eat healthy" I said yes. Then she asked, "Does your mom exercise and eat healthy" I realized that no, she infact does not exercise or eat healthy.

So - i like to think that basically; if I keep up with my healthy habits, I'll maintain a healthy body. Here's hoping!

I've already noticed a difference in the difficulty of losing weight now compared to when I was in my early twenties. My metabolism has definitely slowed down, not to mention I never used to exercise and ate whatever. I feel good about starting now, before kids, as opposed to 10 years from now when I KNOW it will be much harder. Also, I do think if I break those habits now, it'll be easier than waiting until I'm much older.

As we approach the m enopause it`s also due to hormones, I`m afraid, and most of us gain weight around our waist almost automatically during this time.