Losing weight after sixty can be a slow burn

Boomer Blogger Alan Sivell explains why 60 isn’t the new 40 and why it gets harder to lose weight when you blame your metabolism for not burning up all those calories.

By Alan Sivell

It’s the scariest time of the year for a teacher.

Not because we suddenly realize the students will be shuffling back into the classroom in a matter of days. And it’s not because we are still prepping our lectures and lesson plans at the last minute (although there IS that).

No, it’s because we have to put on our pants. Our school pants.

What happened to us during summer vacation?

During the summer, we have been wearing comfortable, untucked, warm weather clothes, even when we have to go to school. But now, we have to put summer clothes away and pull out our school clothes.

Time to head back to the classroom … let’s just hope the pants fit.

When I was a kid, I was also worried about pant length. Or to be more accurate: hopeful. But for the last 50 years, my inseam has remained constant. Still, I hold out hope in that regard.

I often approach the scale with trepidation. This year, the numbers tell me nothing has changed. I worry, though; will that weight be in the same places? Obviously diet and exercise have an effect. But I’m beginning to think gravity is also a factor.

So every year, I am nervous at my “test dressing” the night before classes start as I step into each pant leg of my school khakis and begin to pull the waistband up. Will the button reach the buttonhole … comfortably? Fingers crossed.

Shifting blame and uncomfortable excuses

Adding to my concern is a new study that says adults can’t blame their weight gain on slowing metabolisms. We’ve all said it or heard it: “When I was a kid, I could eat anything and not gain weight. Then in my 20s, my metabolism changed.”

The time we are burning the most calories is in the first year of life. After that, it declines by 3% every year until about age 20. And then for the next 40 years, it holds steady.

This comes from a new study by 50 scientists from about 50 different universities from all over the world. Their findings were recently published in Science Magazine.

When it comes to weight gain, one of the researchers says, it’s not a slowing metabolism. The problem is what it’s always been. People are taking in more calories than they are burning.

So sixty isn’t the new forty after all

After 60, you CAN complain about a slowing metabolism because it does, at the rate of about 1% a year. So by the time you reach the age of 90, you will need about 26% fewer calories because your cells are slowing down.

I have heard people say 60 is the new 40 or 70 is the new 50. But the researchers involved in this study say that isn’t so. While there may be a few outliers, judging by the thousands of subjects whose cells they studied during this research, 70 is as it always was: 70.

However, this study is sure to lead to more metabolism research. Hopefully, researchers can unlock that formula that makes babies burn calories as fast as they do and pass it along to the rest of us.

It’s the scariest time of the year for a teacher.

Not because we suddenly realize the students will be shuffling back into the classroom in a matter of days. And it’s not because we are still prepping our lectures and lesson plans at the last minute (although there IS that).

No, it’s because we have to put on our pants. Our school pants.

What happened to us during summer vacation?

During the summer, we have been wearing comfortable, untucked, warm weather clothes, even when we have to go to school. But now, we have to put summer clothes away and pull out our school clothes.

Time to head back to the classroom … let’s just hope the pants fit.

And that’s scary because we are never sure if they are going to fit as they did when we last wore them in spring. My two areas of concern are always the waistband (naturally) and the neck.

When I was a kid, I was also worried about pant length. Or to be more accurate: hopeful. But for the last 50 years, my inseam has remained constant. Still, I hold out hope in that regard.

I often approach the scale with trepidation. This year, the numbers tell me nothing has changed. I worry, though; will that weight be in the same places? Obviously diet and exercise have an effect. But I’m beginning to think gravity is also a factor.

So every year, I am nervous at my “test dressing” the night before classes start as I step into each pant leg of my school khakis and begin to pull the waistband up. Will the button reach the buttonhole … comfortably? Fingers crossed.

Shifting blame and uncomfortable excuses

Adding to my concern is a new study that says adults can’t blame their weight gain on slowing metabolisms. We’ve all said it or heard it: “When I was a kid, I could eat anything and not gain weight. Then in my 20s, my metabolism changed.”

The time we are burning the most calories is in the first year of life. After that, it declines by 3% every year until about age 20. And then for the next 40 years, it holds steady.

This comes from a new study by 50 scientists from about 50 different universities from all over the world. Their findings were recently published in Science Magazine.

When it comes to weight gain, one of the researchers says, it’s not a slowing metabolism. The problem is what it’s always been. People are taking in more calories than they are burning.

So sixty isn’t the new forty after all

After 60, you CAN complain about a slowing metabolism because it does, at the rate of about 1% a year. So by the time you reach the age of 90, you will need about 26% fewer calories because your cells are slowing down.

I have heard people say 60 is the new 40 or 70 is the new 50. But the researchers involved in this study say that isn’t so. While there may be a few outliers, judging by the thousands of subjects whose cells they studied during this research, 70 is as it always was: 70.

However, this study is sure to lead to more metabolism research. Hopefully, researchers can unlock that formula that makes babies burn calories as fast as they do and pass it along to the rest of us.