Old age comes with defects. A well-known statement. We prefer to grow old as healthy and fit as possible. Although you do not always have an influence on it, you can in most cases affect your weight. More than half of the older people over the age of 50 are overweight. This is quite a shocking percentage. What are the causes of this? is losing weight for the elderly more difficult than young people? And what can we do about this? This article describes how, as an older person, you can lose weight in a healthy way.
Causes
In order to see what we can do with this, it is useful to first know the causes of why many elderly people are overweight. You can make various causes. Thereby no one is the same, so it will be something different for everyone. But a fact that is certain that the muscle mass decreases as you get older. Muscle mass consumes more energy than fat. If your muscle mass has decreased, your metabolism slows down, which means that you need less energy. In addition, many elderly people also move less and insufficiently, which means that you use less energy. If you add everything up, you can tell from this that more energy comes in than it goes. That causes your fat mass to start and that you become heavier. Another cause is often that older people have less regularity, especially when they are retired. The days are very different than when you have your work every day. As a result, it is often eaten differently. Just a cup with a cookie here, or just a bowl on visit with a cookie there. There are also regular sandwiches and snacks for in between.
Effects
Having overweight can lead to serious consequences. This increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, joint complaints and diabetes. The percentage of diabetes patients increased by nearly 75% between 1999 and 2014 (source: diabetes fund)
Calculate your BMI
To measure whether you are overweight or not it is useful to calculate your BMI. BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It calculates the ratio of your weight to your height. You can easily calculate this by using the following formula:
(weight in kilograms / length in meters x length in meters)
So an example: BMI = (90 kg / 1.70 x 1.70 m) = 31.1
BMI index Category
<18.5 Underweight
18.5 - 25.0 Healthy weight
25.0 - 30.0 Overweight
30.0 - 40.0 Obesity
40.0 Morbid obesity
5 tips to lose weight for older people
What do you have to pay attention to if you want to lose weight as the elderly? Below are some good tips that will give you a push in the right direction.
It is not always a question of eating less, but choosing the right products. Eat as pure as possible. This means that you eat as much as possible fresh products that have not been processed, such as vegetables and fruit. Many pre-packaged products are stuffed with wheat and sugar, which slows down the waste process and only makes the craving for sweets worse. Put the focus as much as possible on vegetables. You will notice that you will feel a lot fitter!
Especially when you are older it is good to move. By exercising you make muscle mass and it is good for your bone health. It inhibits the decrease in your bone density. In addition, it improves your balance and because your muscles are a bit stronger, it reduces the risk of falling. Your condition improves what makes you feel fitter. In doing so, it reduces the risk of various diseases and promotes the waste process.
It is important to pay attention to your protein intake. Proteins are important for the building of muscles. By eating enough protein, you ensure that you retain your muscle mass. By eating enough protein, you also ensure that you get enough calcium. Calcium are important for proper functioning of your muscles and it helps against bone loss. Protein is extracted from dairy products, cheese, nuts, legumes and vegetables.
To take calcium properly into your body you need vitamin D. It is therefore an important vitamin for the maintenance of firm bones and teeth and thereby prevents bone loss. Sunlight is an important source of vitamin D. In addition, you get vitamin D from food. It is found in fatty fish, such as herring, salmon and mackerel, but also in eggs and meat contains vitamin D. However, to a slightly lesser extent. So eat at least 1 portion of fatty fish per week and regularly come outside to catch some sunlight.
Try to apply a fixed structure regarding nutrition in your daily life. This ensures that you will snack less and sow. Plan in advance in what and when you are going to eat and get only the groceries that you need for that. To give you a little bit of guidance on how your daily diet can look like, you will find an example of the eating schedule below.
Example eating schedule, weight loss for the elderly
Breakfast Tray full curd cheese (150g) with mixed nuts (20 g)
In between Piece of fruit
Lunch Salad with salmon and a boiled egg
Snacks in between
Evening meal A lot of vegetables with a piece of fish, chicken or beef + a bowl of dairy
In between 4 slices of chicken fillet with pickle
