The first reason it's hard to lose weight after 60 is because of your lack of muscle. Beginning around age 30, you start losing three to five percent of your muscle mass every decade. So you can imagine how much you've lost by age 60.
However, it's never too late to start. There's plenty of evidence showing people how best to start losing weight when you're over 60, including loads of healthy eating, diet and exercise solutions.
Besides eating healthy foods and being in a calorie deficit, you should challenge your body in other ways during your exercise routine, or at least increase the calorie burn. Many people over 60 should focus on strength training regularly and get into routine aerobic exercise.
Start with a mix of moderate and vigorous exercise to burn off menopausal weight gain. Your routine should include aerobic exercises like swimming, walking, bicycling, and running, as well as resistance or strength training. “What you want to employ now is high intensity interval training (HIIT),” Dr. Peeke says.
A combination of things happens as we age. We tend to lose muscle mass, so our abdominal muscles aren't as tight as they once were, and the loss of elastin and collagen in our skin allows gravity to have its way so skin starts to sag. Both can cause the waistline to expand.
Why is it harder to lose weight as you get older? As you get older you lose muscle. This has a bigger impact than simply losing muscle definition and tone. Muscle actually burns more calories than fat, so having less muscle means it's harder to use the calories you're eating.
An average, sedentary woman at age 60 burns 1,600 calories; but if she's moderately active, that number increases to 1,800. If you're highly active, you could burn as many as 2,200 calories per day.
As you age, your muscle mass decreases and your fat mass increases. Fat is less metabolically active than muscle—you don't need as many calories to maintain fat as you do to maintain muscle. Hormonal changes can also lead to weight gain.
Boundless energy, laser focus, and increased libido are all waiting on the other side of menopause. Sleep problems will subside. Your body will begin operating more smoothly. The greatest sign of menopause being 'over' is when you begin to intuitively feel that your disruptive symptoms are easing.
As if the hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats and sexual challenges weren't enough, now you can add weight gain to the menopausal whammy. That's right. In case you hadn't noticed (fat chance!), women tend to gain about 10 to 15 pounds on average—from 3 to 30 pounds is the typical range—during and after menopause.
In fact, many women gain weight around the menopause transition. Menopause weight gain isn't inevitable, however. You can reverse course by paying attention to healthy-eating habits and leading an active lifestyle.
Cable crunches
Exhale and crunch down towards the floor, pulling with your abdominals rather than your arms. As you crunch, think about driving your elbows into the top of your thighs just above the knee. Return slowly to a more upright position, still kneeling and keeping your palms by your head, then repeat.
As you age, your body naturally loses muscle mass. The good news is that you can tone your muscles and get rid of flab after 60, or at any other age. To get slender toned arms, you must engage in aerobic exercise to lose the fat, and strength training exercises to tone and build the muscles.
Retirees, take note and flex that bicep: 2017 can be the year you start building muscle again. Repeated research has shown that, through weight training, men and women in their 60s and beyond can grow muscles as big and strong as an average 40-year-old.
Arm exercises for women over 60 can include using free weights or body weight. For women over 60, toning the body with a well-rounded fitness program will lead to improved health and well-being.