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Learning to Eat Your Age

When you were a kid, you only ate when you were hungry. Everyone said you ate like a bird until you became a teenager. Then you couldn't eat enough. By the time you hit your 30s you stopped listening to your stomach and started listening to your eyes. But you were working out enough to keep off unwanted pounds. But now you're starting to see the effects of eating too many calories.
So how can you avoid age-related weight gain? By keeping these three age-appropriate tips in mind the next time you decide to grab your favorite fattening treat.

1. Age Changes Everything

You may feel like a teenager, but when you're out of your teens and into your 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond, your body tells a different story. Whether you'll admit it or not, you realize that you can't move quite as quick in your 50s as you could in your 20s. Likewise, your body can't burn through calories like it could a few years ago. With that in mind, the need to curb your calorie intake as you age makes sense. Because if your body can't use all the calories you're eating, consuming excessive calories only leads to excessive weight.

2. Activity Takes More Effort

When you were a kid, getting out and about for a two-hour game of neighborhood football was no problem. Ever since you started working at an office, stuck behind a large oak desk, getting physical activity has become more and more difficult. Thanks to this increased difficulty of getting a work out, your body's metabolism has dropped dramatically since your skinny high school days. Ideally, you should get at least 30 to 60 minutes of exercise five days a week. Since this isn't always possible, you'll need to chop even more calories from your diet to make sure the calories you eat are being used rather than stored as fat.

3. You Have to Cut

Regardless of how much exercise you get, you'll probably need to reduce the amount of calories you consume as you age. A good guide to help you understand your calorie need is to start with 1,800 calories for women age 31 to 50 and 2,200 for men of the same age. If you're younger than 31, add another 200 calories. The over 50 crowd should subtract 200.
With certain levels of activity, you can also add calories to your diet. However, since every person's caloric needs are different at every stage in life, you should consult with your physician before making any minor or major changes in your diet. To get a more precise idea of how many calories you should eat each day, a number of calorie calculators are available on the Internet. Using your age, height, weight, gender, and level of activity, these calculators help you have an idea of how many calories it will take for you to maintain a healthy weight. If you find the amount of calories you're eating isn't helping you meet your weight goals, modify your diet as needed.
Along with all those healthy calories that you chow down on each day, you may be wondering how many of the delectable and not-so-healthy calories you can eat on a daily basis.
An easy way to keep your bad calorie consumption in check is to "allow" yourself to have some. However, make sure that no more than one-eighth of your daily calories come from foods that offer no nutritional value. This includes cookies and cakes, potato chips and bonbons, and those sugar-filled drinks that you can't live without in the morning and afternoon.
Until next time, continue to - Live Life Well,
John Aaron Villarreal
johnaaron-massage.com
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