-Why, as I get older, do I keep gaining weight?
-Eat too much, move too little.
-A pound of prevention!

from "Rust Out" by Dr. Royce Bailey, page 48

You’ll Rust Out Before You Wear Out
Yes, you have to have a sensible program of regular exercise to stay healthy and/or lose weight.  This can mean a 20 minute walk, a brisk bike ride, or a regular exercise class; 3-5 times a week, minimum.  I tell my patients that they will “rust out, before they wear out,”1 so they can exercise regularly.  You know the old adage, “Nothing ventured, nothing strained.”

Muscle Loss With Age
Beginning in your mid-30s, men and women start losing muscle and replacing it with fat as their growth hormone levels decline.  Women can expect to lose a 1/3-1/2 pound of muscle a year during premenopause and a pound a year after menopause.  By the time you’re 55, you could be down to 15 pounds of muscle and burning about 600 calories a day. 

Muscle drives your metabolism (calories burned for fuel).  Every pound of muscle burns 40-50 calories a day at rest, while fat pounds burn only 2 calories a day.  So if you’re losing muscle each year, your metabolism goes down.  That means the 2,200 calories per day you easily burned when you were 25 are too much at 35, and so on.2  3  4

Women’s Changes Over Time
Both men and women have to contend with age-related muscle loss and fat gain.  But women lose twice as much muscle as men and gain twice as much fat per year after age 35—about 1-1/2 pounds annually.  Research as far back as 1975 shows that hormonal differences in men and women make mid-life weight gain more of a factor for women.5 Women’s bodies produce less estrogen with aging, their fat cells take up some of the slack, actually producing the hormone themselves.  This causes the cells to grow larger starting in the mid to late 30s as a woman approaches menopause.  Modest mid-life weight gain helps a woman’s body stay healthy through menopause.  The National Institute on Aging says that women who are heavier (5-10 pounds, not 15-30) have stronger bones, fewer hip fractures, sleep better, experience fewer hot flashes and have smoother skin.  “A woman will be healthier in the long run if she accepts some weight gain.” 6 If a women’s body is left to its own devices, on the average they will have lost 2-1/2 pounds of muscle, gained 7-1/2 pounds of fat and need 200 fewer calories per day by her 40th birthday. 7  8

Exercise To Keep Muscle Mass
Build a little muscle, your body’s best metabolism booster, and the more muscle you build (even at age 70 plus), the more calories you’ll burn even when you’re not exercising.  Plus, strength training builds strong bones, which improves posture and fights osteoporosis (thin, brittle bone disease).

CALCULATE YOUR DAILY CALORIE NEEDS
A. Multiply your weight in pounds by 4.4
B. Multiply your height in inches by 4.7
C. Add A. and B. together.
D. Multiply your age in years by 4.7
E. Subtract D.from C.
F. Add 655 to E.
This number is your basal metabolic calorie need at rest and doesn’t take into account being active (for which you could add several hundred more calories a day).9

References:
1.    White, E.G., “Counsels On Diet And Food,” Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1864; 82, 103-4, 293.  “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol.2, PPPA, 1948; 526.
2.    Nelson, Miriam, Ph.D., “Strong Women Stay Slim”, Bantam Books, 1998.  Dr. Nelson is the Director of the Center for Physical Fitness at Tufts University in Boston.
3.    Aesoph, L.M., “What Works For Weight Loss”, Let’s Live, November 1998; 71-4.
4.    American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund, “Food, Nutrition And The Prevention Of Cancer: A Global Perspective.” Reviewed in, “Internal Medicine News,” November 1, 1997; 14.
5.    QUESTION: Who makes more estrogen in a life-time, men or women?  Answer below.
6.    Waterhouse, Debra, M.P.H., R.D., “Outsmarting The Midlife Fat Cell,” Hyperion, 1998.
7.    Becker, G.L., “Heart Smart, A Plan For Low-Cholesterol Living,” Pocket Books, 1987; 17-65.
8.    Answer: Men make a little estrogen all their lives, while women make a lot for a short time.