Innocent of you, that you thought you would get rid of ... But no.
In the end, it has happened to you like (almost) everyone: it has been to reach 40 and realize that experience is not the only thing you accumulate.
It is clear that you add a few extra kilos and, worst of all, you have no idea where they came from.
Much less how to get rid of them.
And it is not that you look bad - neither you nor anyone else - but by now you have heard a thousand times that accumulating fat increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, and that it can also have metabolic consequences.
Nor is it the best way to keep the body agile and fit, which is also
health
... The good news is that there are three things you can do to lose weight and, incidentally, avoid regaining the lost kilos.
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To go from a decent diet to a near-perfect one
In reality, the weight gain that becomes noticeable in your 40s is the result of a process that begins around your 30s.
And it no longer stops.
From then on, you begin to lose muscle mass, at a rate of 8% every 10 years, and that "leads to the famous change in metabolism, where the loss of tissue also reduces the body's water," says the dietician-nutritionist Néstor Benítez, head of the Clinical Nutrition Specialization Group of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics The less muscle mass, the less energy the body needs to function but, as the body does not warn that it has opposed this process, one continues eating the same as before. In other words,
the energy that you used to ingest and was adequate now causes a caloric surplus without you realizing it
. In the end, all the excess will end up being converted into fat, the body's most dense energy reserve . "In sedentary people, it will usually tend to accumulate in the belly in men, and in the hips and thighs in women," adds the expert. Hence, making a caloric adjustment is the first step to lose weight in l
to maturity.
Don't celebrate your progress by toasting with alcohol
If you're looking for a figure, 300 calories may be what you need.
According to a study by Duke University, reducing that energy from your usual daily intake significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular problems and high blood pressure, as well as developing insulin resistance and obesity.
Even thin people can benefit from this trim, which, considering the natural tendency to lose muscle mass with age, is worth considering after 40. But you have to be careful when choosing which foods fall into the shopping cart and which are left on the shelves of the supermarket.
María Sanchidrián, dietician-nutritionist and promoter of the VIDA camps for overweight loss, strongly discourages focusing only on the energy value of a product, as there is a whole melting pot of foods that, “although they apparently contain a lot of energy, are beneficial for all the nutrients they provide ”(olive oil and nuts are two examples).
Faced with this, he proposes to start by first eliminating the things that should not be because they have a high energy content and provide little or no nutrients.
And
the first to fall is alcohol
.
"A gram of alcohol has 7.5kcal, that is, almost as much energy as a gram of fat, which gives 9 kcal, compared to the 4 kcal that we find for each gram of carbohydrate and protein, respectively", lists the expert.
"Its journey practically ends in the liver and there it becomes fat," she sums up.
Taking into account that we live in a society in which alcohol is closely linked to celebrations, reducing its consumption to zero can be almost impossible (you don't need to be so strict when you want to lose weight, another thing is that it is about a toxic substance ...).
But Sanchidrián points out that drinks with a lower alcohol content will always be less caloric.
In other words, it is better to keep beer than wine, for example.
The most consistent recommendation at this time is "the less alcohol the better", because it is very difficult to convince a regular consumer to stop doing so completely, Benítez says.
What's worse, drinking a little daily or a lot occasionally?
In search of reasons that justify that alcohol remains in the nutritional pyramid
The second element to decrease is
sugar, which nutritionally does not contribute anything
to the body beyond energy.
"In addition, it will trigger insulin for its metabolism and, probably, it ends up being transformed into fat", points out the dietitian-nutritionist, who also remembers that "in the average diet of a Spaniard, enough simple sugars are already consumed, so it is considered It is necessary to reduce its consumption ”.
The ultra-processed must also be crossed off the shopping list.
"They are edible that, lacking fiber, do not satisfy, but they are hypercaloric and very tasty ... It is very difficult to control their intake and they do not have nutrients", summarizes Sanchidrián.
Once we have removed these three basic things, one can stop subtracting and start adding ingredients ... for a hypocaloric diet, which is about losing weight.
For example, “two pieces of fruit a day - ideally watered down like watermelon or melon, because the sugar concentration in one piece will be half that of, say, a banana - and three pieces of vegetables - lettuce salads, arugula or spinach are highly recommended for their satiating effect— ”, Sanchidrián lists.
Once you have reached a healthier weight, you do not have to deviate too much from this line to avoid gaining it again.
In general, Benítez maintains that the
diet
should be based on plant-based products such as vegetables, greens, fruit, nuts, whole grains and legumes (the hypocaloric diet should include three to four servings of legumes during the week - due to its composition , Sanchidrián recommends chickpeas for their nutritional content, although remember that it is important to vary—).
In addition, it is convenient to incorporate fish (both white and blue), and try to reduce the consumption of meat, especially red.
You walk an hour a day or work hard 60 minutes a week
If you have to slow down the loss of muscle mass in order to maintain a healthy weight, it is obvious that exercising that builds muscle (apart from burning fat) will help.
It is the second objective of the plan, and the strategy is to divide the training between cardio and strength.
Nothing they haven't already told you.
But if you haven't been in a gym in years, the physiotherapist and personal trainer Adrián Prieto is clear: “You have to go for a walk every day and get to 10,000 steps, and if they fall short, increase the duration to one daily hour at a rate of between 115 and 140 beats per minute ”.
There are studies (this is one) that point out that this type of exercise, known as LISS
(
low intensity and long duration exercises, for its acronym in English)
,
"
increases fat metabolism at that rate
after 60 minutes
to be used as a source of energy ”, says the coach.
Of course, not everyone has an hour a day for this ...
The alternative is interval training, the famous HIIT, which is done in sessions of no more than 20 minutes in which high intensity exercises are interspersed with breaks.
“With this type of training we burn the same as an hour's walk,” explains London-based coach Maria Laitinen, who has just launched Fit in Fifteen, an initiative to encourage beginners to try this system at home.
To see the results, it is recommended to start with
two or three sessions per week
, at an intensity with which talking is impossible.
How to combine strength training and cardio
To burn fat, build muscle, or run a marathon
Regarding strength training, Prieto advises starting with those that use different joints and involve the use of many different muscles to gain muscle mass, for 45 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week.
The trainer, who usually works with middle-aged people, points out squats as especially useful, with three sets of between 12 and 15 repetitions - or an amount such that, if you did two more, you would not be able to move -, and leaving a rest one minute between them.
He also recommends the planks: "The ideal is to do one minute and rest for more than 40 seconds," says Prieto, "and repeat the exercise six or seven times."
In addition, he recommends that they be in front of the mirror "to control that we do not sink and keep our backs straight."
Going up steps two at a time is also valid, taking care that “the knee stays at 90 degrees, hence the two steps,” explains Prieto.
The idea is to go up with one side and then the other until you reach almost so many steps that, if you go up two more, you will not be able to move (yes, finishing for the drag is a constant ...).
Then he proposes to rest between two and three and a half minutes, and do three to four series, avoiding at all times that the back goes too far forward to reduce the probability of injury.
In fourth place, the specialist highlights the funds, with which the shoulder, pectoral and triceps are exercised.
"If you have just started, it is convenient that you do them from a high surface, one meter high, to avoid sinking when doing it, that is, you can go up and down without problem."
Again, the coach recommends 12 to 15 repetitions, for a total of three to four sets, and a rest in between of 60 seconds.
However, do not expect to see immediate results: in various studies focused on studying the reduction of abdominal fat it has been determined that this does not disappear until, at least, week 12 of physical training.
But the effects are long-lasting, and the habit of exercising is crucial to avoid gaining weight in the long run.
Be patient.
And rest conscientiously.
Looking at your mobile at night is also fattening
The third objective that must be taken into account to lose the kilos that age has been putting on us is rest, since at 40 the body begins to feel worse to regain strength.
The reason is that
as we get older we lose our ability to sleep soundly
, leading to more sleepless nights.
This also affects our weight, as it has been shown that the short duration of sleep is also associated with a reduction in leptin (a hormone that inhibits the desire to eat) and an increase in ghrelin (another hormone that awakens the sensation of appetite ).
That makes the next day we spend the day hungrier, and we tend to eat more than necessary.
To make matters worse, a serious lack of sleep also reduces the ability to build muscle mass.
Therefore, a good rest is essential to lose weight.
Since age is not on our side when it comes to sleeping better, we can at least start by banishing certain bad habits so that they do not worsen rest even more.
One of them is to leave phone screens far away before going to sleep, since they seem to be the enemy of a good rest because it is possible that they prevent the secretion of seratonin during the night, a hormone that influences circadian rhythms and regulates the dream.
It can be difficult in an age where the habit of always being available seems to prevail, but isn't it worth it to gain health by ironing your ear?
Well that.