It’s not an illusion: It’s really easier to gain weight after this age

May 11 is World Obesity Day. Obesity has become a global public health problem. Currently, more than half of the adult population in my country is overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of a series of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea syndrome and plague, which not only affects everyone's health, but also creates a huge economic burden on everyone.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

When it comes to obesity, many people will have this feeling: once they cross the threshold of 25 years old, weight management seems to become a difficult battle, fat accumulates quietly, and body lines are no longer as tight as before.

This makes people wonder, does the body quietly set a "weight gain line" after the age of 25? Is age really an invisible yardstick for dividing slimness and obesity? Can we eat as much as we want before the age of 25?

Is there really an “age cutoff” for gaining weight?

It has to be said that there is an "age cutoff" for obesity. According to global obesity research, for most people, weight increases year by year during youth and middle age.

A survey in the United States shows that the overall obesity rate of people is relatively low during adolescence. But after adulthood, the obesity rate begins to increase. Data shows that the obesity rate is the lowest at the age of 18 to 24, only 22.4%, but 25 years old is a watershed. After the age of 25, the obesity rate begins to soar, and the obesity rate is the highest at the age of 45 to 74.

The horizontal axis is the age group, and the vertical axis is the proportion of obese people. It can be seen that the obesity rate rises significantly after the age of 25.

Data from a Chinese study (see figure below) show that the overall prevalence of overweight and obesity varies among different age groups. Basically, the obesity rate increases starting from the age of 24 to 29, reaching a peak in middle-aged men (55 to 59 years old) and elderly women (65 to 69 years old).

However, when do we start to gain weight? There is no clear boundary. No one can say exactly at what age, and there are huge differences between people. But in general, as we age, we tend to gain weight.

Why is it easier to gain weight as you get older?

Many people would say that when they were young, they would not gain weight no matter how much they ate, but when they are older, they would gain weight if they ate a little more. When comparing their old photos, they often sigh: Time is a killer. Why do people gain weight more easily as they get older?

1. Eat better and eat more as you age

The biggest change is that as we age, living conditions are generally better and we eat better and more.

When we are young, most people usually eat less because of life and economic issues. But as we age, our economic conditions start to improve, and our living standards improve, so our diet will change a lot. We will eat more and better. In addition, many people have more social activities, so eating a lot of meat and fish has become a commonplace. Eating more high-energy food will increase energy intake, and it is naturally easier to gain weight.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

2. As we age, we exercise less

When we are young, most of us will be active at school or at work. Think about the time you played basketball and football when you were young, right?

But as we age, we have less time to exercise, whether it is for work or study. Most people are used to a sedentary lifestyle, sitting in front of a computer screen for a long time to work, and even if they have some time to rest, they would rather lie down and play with their phones or watch TV shows, and they don’t want to move for several hours. There are fewer activities, let alone going to the gym to exercise.

If you eat too much and exercise too little, your energy will not be consumed, making it easier to gain weight.

3. As you age, you lose muscle and your metabolic rate decreases

As people age, their muscle mass decreases, with about 10-15% of muscle being lost between the ages of 20 and 50.

Muscle mass directly determines a person's basal metabolism. Muscle tissue is the largest consumer of glucose in the human body. Losing it means that a large amount of glucose in the body has no place to be consumed, and the energy metabolism rate will be greatly reduced. Eating the same food may store more energy in the body, leading to weight gain.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

Moreover, as we age, our fat metabolism begins to change. A study tracked the changes in lipid turnover rate of 54 people for 13 years and found that as they aged, the lipid turnover rate of their adipose tissue decreased, regardless of whether they lost or gained weight.

Lipid turnover refers to the rate at which lipids in fat cells are removed and stored. A decrease in lipid turnover means that fat metabolism in the body slows down, which makes it easier to gain weight, even if we don't eat more or exercise less than before. In the study, it was found that participants who did not deliberately dieted gained an average of 20% weight as they aged.

4. Hormonal changes in the body make it easy for people to gain weight

Hormones are chemical messengers for various metabolic reactions in the body, regulating changes in most body functions. As we age, hormones in the human body change, which can also make people more susceptible to obesity.

For example, as men age, their testosterone levels decrease at a rate of 1% to 2% per year. Testosterone regulates fat distribution and affects muscle mass. Its decrease will greatly reduce the body's fat burning efficiency. As women age, their estrogen levels will also decrease. During menopause, estrogen levels will also drop significantly, which can easily lead to the accumulation of abdominal fat.

How to prevent weight gain?

In fact, what we want to lose weight is not to lose bones, muscles, or body water, but to lose fat, because too much fat will increase the risk of disease and make our body bloated.

If you only pursue weight loss without reducing the body fat percentage, or even cause muscle loss, your metabolic rate will be reduced, forming a physique that is difficult to lose weight and easy to gain weight, which runs counter to the fundamental goal of weight loss. And fat loss is a slow process. This means that any method that wants to lose weight quickly will not stand the test of time.

So how can I fight against time and keep myself in shape?

1. Eat a healthy diet

Diet is a top priority. After all, the basic principle of weight gain is the imbalance of energy intake and expenditure - when energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, the excess energy will be stored in the body.

Therefore, if you want to prevent yourself from gaining weight, you must first reverse your energy balance and avoid consuming too much energy, which is often referred to as controlling your mouth. You must develop long-term healthy and reasonable eating habits, such as not eating too much, eating less high-energy foods such as high-fat and high-sugar foods, drinking less sugary drinks, and eating less fried foods. You may wish to start by following the recommendations of the Chinese Dietary Pagoda to arrange your daily diet and gradually develop a habit and stick to it.

2. Keep exercising

This is the hardest part of the weight loss process, but also the most effective part.

Exercising more is good for your health in many ways. As you age, your muscles will gradually decrease, your fat will accumulate more and more, and your metabolism will also decrease. Exercising more can increase energy consumption, prevent excessive fat from accumulating in the body, and speed up the turnover of fat tissue.

Moreover, more exercise can increase the muscle content in the body and improve the body's energy metabolism. Therefore, you must exercise every day, at least three times a week for more than half an hour.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

I would like to remind you that there is no shortcut to losing weight. You should be prepared for a long-term battle on the road of controlling your weight. Losing weight is a lifelong event that requires intelligence, rationality, mentality, and self-discipline.

References

[1] Report on the Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)

[2] Zhou Mi, Zhu Nanbo, Yu Canqing, Du Huaidong, Lü Yun, Guo Yu, Bian Zheng, Tan Yunlong, Pei Pei, Chen Junshi, Chen Zhengming, Li Liming, on behalf of the China Chronic Disease Prospective Research Project Collaboration Group. Analysis of the current status of weight change in adulthood in the Chinese population[J]. Chinese Journal of Epidemiology, 2019, 40(5): 510-514

[3] https://www.wihealthatlas.org/obesity/age

[4] Chen K, Shen Z, Gu W, Lyu Z, Qi 37589256.

[5] https://www.intechopen.com/books/muscle-cell-and-tissue/lifestyle-and-aging-effects-in-the-development-of-insulin-resistance-activating-the-muscle-as-strate#B20

[6] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0565-5

[7] https://www.sohu.com/a/431722895_653813

Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center

Reviewer: Zhang Yu, researcher/PhD at Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, national health science expert