Health ::

Keeping Fit after 40

by Bonnie Osborn

If you’re like many of us on the north side of the 40s, you may have noticed the numbers on the scale going up along with the candles on your birthday cake. (If you’re one of those gals who still look great in your madras plaid Bermudas from high school junior year, you can stop reading here!)

Although some women put on weight during the perimenopause and menopause years, many experts today believe weight gain is caused by a confluence of factors that have more to do with lifestyle than with hormones—a reduction in physical activity, loss of muscle mass and changes in diet.

Stanford Professor Marcia Stefanick is the principal investigator of Stanford’s clinical center for the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a study that followed more than 161,000 women aged 50-79 for nearly 10 years, nearly 49,000 of whom were enrolled in a diet intervention trial. Stefanick says changes in body composition are not inevitable for women in their 40s, 50s and into their 60s.

One major factor in midlife weight gain is decreased physical activity, she says. “The problem is that even women who do the currently recommended half-hour of moderate intensity exercise (e.g. walking) may be very inactive the other 23-1/2 hours…. Generally speaking, younger people are more active than older people over a 24-hour day.”

Another factor in changing body composition, for many women, is years or decades of yo-yo dieting. “Young people yo-yo diet very well; they lose all this weight and gain it back,” Stefanick says. “What they lose is roughly two-thirds lean weight, one-third fat. But when you gain it all back, you gain back more fat than lean….” But because of the way humans have evolved, fat is harder to lose than lean weight. “Now you’re trying to lose that weight in this crash diet, but you’re not that same person; you’re that fatter person.”

The good news, says Stefanick, is that although it requires behavioral changes and patience, there is nothing inherent in being over 40 that makes it impossible for a woman to get into shape. Here are some suggestions culled from Stefanick and other experts for developing a fitness plan that will work for you:

Get active and stay active. Henry S. Lodge, MD, and Chris Crowley, co-authors of New York Times bestseller Younger Next Year for Women, insist on “exercise six days a week for the rest of your life,” for at least 45 minutes a day. Lodge draws on evolutionary biology, cell physiology and anthropology to reach the somewhat disturbing conclusion that if we are not exercising seriously every day, our bodies are decaying.

“Most of what we call aging, and most of what we dread about getting older, is actually decay…,” Lodge writes. “We are stuck with real aging, but decay is optional. Which means that most of functional aging is optional as well.”

Check with your doctor before starting any exercise program. “It is possible, at your age, that you have a condition you’re totally unaware of that could make a sudden, new exercise program a grave threat,” Crowley writes. “Don’t take the chance.”

Find something you love to do. Hike a beautiful trail; take ballroom dance classes; learn to kayak or play tennis.

Just say no to dieting. “No more dieting,” Christiane Northrup, MD, author of The Wisdom of Menopause and Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, tells the audience in a recent PBS special. “This is a new way of life.”

Northrup advises women to eat three meals a day—including breakfast—and to have a “little protein” with every meal; to cut back on refined carbohydrates, such as white sugar and flour; eat lots of fruits and vegetables and include omega 3 fats, from foods such as salmon or tuna, avocados, nuts and seeds; keep portions small and remove serving dishes from the table to discourage seconds.

Shift the focus from losing weight to getting strong and healthy. Any exercise program should include aerobic or cardiovascular exercise, such as brisk walking, cycling, swimming, dancing, snowshoeing or kickboxing, and some type of strength training. Throw in some Yoga, Pilates or Tai Chi to improve flexibility, balance and strength and reduce stiffness.

Start “long and slow” and work gradually toward higher intensity. Be kind to your body. Many a fitness regimen has been sidelined when newfound enthusiasm resulted in injury from overuse or inappropriate activity. And if you hurt yourself first time out, you will have an additional psychological barrier to overcome.

Develop a fitness routine that is convenient and flexible enough that you will stick to it. Regular exercise and eating healthy do require a time commitment and changes in your daily routine, but the commitment you are making today will pay you back for years in lower medical bills, fewer illnesses and injuries, and a greatly improved quality of life. If you find the commitment difficult at first and the exercise hateful, Crowley says, “Just show up.” It takes about three weeks to form a new habit; once you’ve done that, it gets lots easier.

Mix it up to avoid boredom. Use your imagination. Try belly dancing, a hip-hop exercise class or one of the new “striptease” pole-dancing courses.

Recognize that you’re in this for the long haul, and embrace slow, lasting change. New national recommendations for weight loss are to target 10 percent of body weight per six-month period, Stefanick says. In other words, if you weigh 200 pounds, shoot for losing 20 pounds in six months.

“You kind of have to accept the fact that it’s going to be slow going,” she says. “If you are losing the right kind of stuff—fat—it’s going to be slow.”