Why Is Weight Control More Challenging After 40?

Given how much of the population in the United States is either overweight or obese, it’s no wonder why weight control is on a lot of people’s minds. Sixty-nine percent of US adults are overweight or obese, and 36% are classified as obese. And the numbers are similar in other countries, both rich and poor.

Dieting and exercising to lose weight is common, but it’s often unhelpful. You manage to lose the pounds, but before you know it, you’ve gained them back — and more. Particularly hard hit are those over 40, who find weight control more challenging than ever.

At Primecare Family Practice, board-certified family practitioners Maryline Ongangi, APRN, FNP-C and Lewis Nyantika, APRN, FNP-C offer medical weight loss for their patients in Arlington, Texas, who are looking to slim down and improve their health. They often get asked by the over-40 crowd why losing weight seems so difficult. In this blog, they provide the answer.

Weighing in on weight loss in the over-40 crowd

According to the US Office on Women's Health, menopause plays a large role for women gaining, rather than losing, weight. Most women gain at least five pounds from when they reach perimenopause in their early 40s until menopause several years later.

As women enter perimenopause, estrogen levels drop sharply, and estrogen is known to regulate hunger, body weight, glucose, metabolism, and insulin sensitivity. Lower estrogen levels tend to cause an increase in fat in the abdominal area also.

Some of these symptoms are known to relate to menopause, but some are likely to be attributable to aging. For example, women notice they gain belly fat around the time of menopause, but we should note that men also suffer from “middle-aged spread.” So, is the weight gain simply hormones, or is it that our metabolism, for both men and women, naturally slows as we age? Or might it be that we don't move around as much in middle age as we did when we were in our 20s or 30s, while eating the same amount of food? Science is still trying to puzzle it all out.

Some other reasons why weight loss after 40 is more challenging include:

You lose muscle mass as you age, and muscle burns more calories at rest than other types of tissues. At age 30, you start losing a half-pound of muscle every year, and if you don’t work to maintain it, the loss slows your metabolism for years to come.

If you go through a crash diet and lose a chunk of weight, you’re more likely to lose muscle tissue than fat. So when you stop the diet, instead of rebuilding muscle, the weight returns as fat. Repeated cycles of crash dieting can lead to more and more rebound weight.

Stress often peaks in your 30s and 40s, and dealing with the demands of a career and family can seem overwhelming. It can also affect your weight. When you become stressed, your body releases the hormone cortisol to prepare you for the fight-or-flight response. But because your stress is usually not life-threatening, the cortisol instead gets stored in the body as fat.

Another big impediment to losing weight after 40 is not getting enough sleep. For perimenopausal women, hormone changes can make it difficult to sleep through the night. Low levels of progesterone make it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep, and low estrogen levels can cause hot flashes or night sweats, keeping you up. In addition, some menopausal women have urinary symptoms and wake up several times a night to use the bathroom.

If you’re consistently getting less than six hours a night, you incur a “sleep debt,” that’s been shown to decrease immune function, slow down metabolism, and increase appetite. The end result? Weight gain for both men and women.

Still struggling to get your weight under control? Primecare Family Practice has a medically supervised weight loss program that combines nutritional support with exercise and the accountability necessary for you to reach your weight loss goal.

To get started, call our office at 817-873-3710, or book online with us today.