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How To Boost Metabolism After 40: Tips & Tricks To Rev Your Metabolic Rate

The older you get, the more problems your body seems to pick up. This is the unfortunate truth that we all have to contend with. One of these problems is a drop in the speed of our metabolism. This does not only make the process of weight loss harder than it already is, but it also makes gaining weight that much easier. For people at or above the age of 40, the question of how to boost metabolism after 40 and remain healthy and fit can be quite a constant struggle.

If you are above the age of 40 and are looking for ways to boost your metabolism, then you are in the right place. 

In today’s post, we are going to not only tell you why losing weight after 40 is such a struggle to many, but we are also going to outline simple ways to boost metabolism from the comfort of your home and kitchen.

Why Do Older People Find It Harder To Lose Weight?

Getting older comes with its own sets of issues and also increases your risk of certain illnesses. According to Health.com and WebMD, some of these surprising issues and health concerns associated with aging include perimenopausal symptoms in women, kidney stones, urinary tract, and prostate infections, food allergies and other nutrition problems, arthritis, hypertension, a higher risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, as well as a higher susceptibility to different types of cancer, and much more.

As if this was not bad enough, people above the age of 40 tend to gain weight faster and find it harder to lose weight. One review published in 2013 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality stated that we tend to gain about 1 to 2 pounds a year as we age (18).

So why is this? Why do older adults find it harder to lose weight? Here are some reasons why.

Age-Related Muscle Loss

Scientifically, this condition is known as sarcopenia, and it is the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function (4). A 2004 review by the journal Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care stated that once we hit the age of 30, our bodies naturally begin to lose lean muscle at the rate of 3 to 8 percent per decade (13). This happens even to those who remain active in their older years (11). Remember that muscles burn more calories than fat, and the less muscle you have, the fewer calories you burn per day; each calorie that is not used up by the body, ends up being stored as fat.

Read More: How To Calculate Calorie Deficit And Why It Matters

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Hormonal Changes

While hormonal shifts are normal throughout your lifetime, when you hit the age of 40, these changes become more pronounced and end up affecting our day-to-day lives, including how the body deals with extra weight.

In women, this change is caused by menopause, which often occurs in their 40s or 50s. Menopause causes a major drop in estrogen that leads to weight gain and extra fat storage, especially in the midsection.

In men, the change is caused by dropping testosterone levels which are said to drop by a rate of about 1 to 2 percent per year after 40. Lesser testosterone equals less muscle strength and mass, as well as more fat stored in the body.

Major Lifestyle Changes Equals More Stress And A Sedentary Life

The sad fact is that sometimes, even the most active older person is not half as active as they were in their younger years. This is something that could be caused by several factors, including getting kids, a thriving career, health problems, and more. All these factors, even the positive ones, can cause stress that leads to the build-up of cortisol in your body causing weight gain.

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A Slow Metabolism

This goes back to the point about age-related muscle loss. While researchers are still unsure about the cause of decreasing muscle mass and increasing fat mass that comes with age, the fact remains that this is a prominent issue that causes problems with your metabolic rate (2).

However, just because your body keeps losing muscle and replacing it with fat doesn’t mean that there is no hope for you. Finding out ways to increase metabolism is something that you can do to easily counter this process and not only lose weight but possibly also build some muscle.

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How To Boost Metabolism After 40: Natural Metabolism Booster Foods And Activities

Contrary to what you may think, the problem of how to increase metabolism is not as complicated as you might think. With simple changes to your diet and lifestyle, you can change how fast your body burns calories, which in turn helps you with weight loss.

Here are some options to incorporate into your life and diet:

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Perform Resistance Training And Build More Muscle

Just because your body will continue to lose muscle every decade doesn’t mean that you should just give up and let nature take its cause. If you are wondering how to boost metabolism after 40, then strength training exercises should be among your go-to type of workouts. Remember that every 1 pound of muscle burns 7 to 10 calories per day, which is certainly more than the 2 to 3 calories burned by a pound of fat.

Remember that not only will such a workout regimen slow down age-related muscle loss, but will help boost your metabolism as well; making your body burn calories and fat that enables weight loss and weight maintenance. Some simple and safe workouts for anyone above the age of 40 include jumping rope (you can use weighted ropes), squats, deadlifts, dumbbell chest, shoulder press, lunges, weighted planks, etc.

Do Strength Training To Boost Rmr

As we have seen above, weight training works great to boost metabolism by growing muscle, but muscle often takes a while to grow – anywhere between 4 to 12 weeks. This, however, does not mean that all your workouts will be in vain. Several studies have shown that strength training can boost your resting metabolic rate, which means that you continue to burn calories even while at rest.

A comparative study by the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal showed that in both women and men, weight training can help increase their RMR by up to 4% and 9%, respectively (7). This, however, is not the only study to prove that weight training is one of the good ways to increase metabolism. Over the years, studies have shown that this practice can help your body burn more calories for anywhere between two to 38 hours after a workout session (10, 5, 6).

Add Probiotics To Your Diet

While probiotics are commonly known for improving your gut health, fewer people know that they can be used as natural metabolism boosters. When it comes to using probiotics for weight loss, several studies have shown that some Bifidobacterium strains and the Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 strand of bacteria work best to help with weight loss.

So how about its effect on the metabolic rate? Do probiotics have a direct link to it? Yes, it does. A 2008 study by the Imperial College London and the Nestlé Research Center showed that probiotics have a tangible effect on our metabolism. The researchers found that when consumed the two probiotic strains, Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus, they will metabolize bile acids which help emulsify the fats found in the body (16).

Read More: 1200-Calorie Diet Weight Loss Calculator: From Creating A Caloric Deficit To Tracking Your Results

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Eat More Fiber

Adding fiber to your diet is something that you should always endeavor to do whether you are looking for ways on how to increase metabolism after 40 or not. Dietary fiber has multiple benefits, such as maintaining and normalizing bowel movements, lowering cholesterol levels, controlling blood sugar levels, promoting blood sugar control, and much more.

When it comes to boosting your metabolic rate and losing weight after 40, fiber also has a great role to play in this matter. The simplest way to explain how it works is that dietary fiber cannot be digested by your body and the more your body tries to break it down, digest, and absorb, then the more energy it uses.

In a study published in 2017 by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, participants were divided into groups, all-consuming different amounts of fiber into either whole grains or refined grains for six (6) weeks. At the end of the study, researchers found out that participants who consumed more than 40 grams of fiber had increased their metabolism by more than 92 calories a day (19).

Healthy foods high in fiber include legumes and lentils, broccoli, pears, berries, bananas, oranges, green peas, baked potatoes, sweet corn, carrots, cauliflowers, and more.

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Drink More Water

Drinking more water is beneficial to your body because it helps with important processes, such as carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells, maintaining electrolyte balance, airing digestion, regulating your bodys’ temperature, preventing constipation, and flushing bacteria from your bladder, as well as normalizing blood pressure and stabilizing the heartbeat.

But this is not all. When it comes to ways to increase metabolism after 40, science has shown that water plays a very important part in this process.

  1. One study published in 2014 by the Acta Physiologica journal revealed that drinking just 500ml of water can help boost your metabolism by 2 to 3% for as much as 90 minutes (3).
  2. In 2003, a study by The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism revealed that drinking 500ml of water increased metabolic rate by 30% for up to 40 minutes after consumption (21).

These findings have also been supported by other studies throughout the years (20, 8).

Drink More Tea

If you have no issues with caffeine, then having more tea will help you on your “how to boost metabolism” plan. Several studies have continuously shown that these teas can boost your metabolism by up to 4 to 5% (9, 15). If you want this natural metabolism booster, try sipping on either green, white, and/or oolong tea throughout the day.

Eat More Spicy Foods

Chilies contain the active component capsaicin, which has been said to help trigger greater thermogenesis in your body (12, 1).

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Sleep More

In a study published in 2010 by the International Journal of Endocrinology, researchers found a negative relationship between sleep deprivation and metabolism (17). To fix this and improve your chances of losing weight and increasing your metabolic rate, try your best to get at least 7 to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night.

When it comes to weight loss, progress is made by inches, not miles, so it’s much harder to track and a lot easier to give up. BetterMe app is your personal trainer, nutritionist and support system all in one. Start using our app to stay on track and hold yourself accountable!

Drink More Coffee

Like green and other types of teas, coffee too has been proven to help increase your metabolism and fat burning in the body. Adding this drink to your diet can help enhance your metabolic rate by 3 to 11% a day (14).

Eat More Times In A Day

If you can break down your meals into smaller portions and eat them throughout the day, then this would be a great way to keep your metabolic rate up all day. According to WebMD, when you eat large meals with many hours in between, your metabolism slows down between meals. However, breaking down these portions into smaller ones and eating them every 3 to 4 hours ensures that you burn more calories all day long through the digestive process.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to “how to boost metabolism after 40” the trick lies in making small and subtle but eventually very effective changes to your diet and lifestyle. If you keep finding the process of losing weight after 40 a tedious and almost impossible thing, try the above-mentioned solutions and see if they help, but also make sure to speak to your doctor to see if there might be other underlying issues.

DISCLAIMER:

This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!

SOURCES:

  1. Acute effects of mustard, horseradish, black pepper and ginger on energy expenditure, appetite, ad libitum energy intake and energy balance in human subjects (2013, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  2. Body composition changes with aging: The cause or the result of alterations in metabolic rate and macronutrient oxidation? (2010, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  3. Cardiovascular and metabolic responses to tap water ingestion in young humans: does the water temperature matter? (2014, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  4. Clinical definition of sarcopenia (2014, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  5. Effect of acute resistance exercise on postexercise energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate (1993, journals.physiology.org)
  6. Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: implications for body mass management (2002, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  7. Effect of strength training on resting metabolic rate and physical activity: age and gender comparisons (2001, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  8. Effect of ‘water induced thermogenesis’ on body weight, body mass index and body composition of overweight subjects (2013, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  9. Effects of encapsulated green tea and Guarana extracts containing a mixture of epigallocatechin-3-gallate and caffeine on 24 h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in men (2005, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  10. EPOC Comparison Between Isocaloric Bouts of Steady-State Aerobic, Intermittent Aerobic, and Resistance Training (2015, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  11. Is It Harder to Lose Weight When You’re Older? (2017, nytimes.com)
  12. Metabolic effects of spices, teas, and caffeine (2006, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  13. Muscle tissue changes with aging (2004, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  14. Normal caffeine consumption: influence on thermogenesis and daily energy expenditure in lean and postobese human volunteers (1989, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  15. Obesity and thermogenesis related to the consumption of caffeine, ephedrine, capsaicin, and green tea (2007, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  16. Probiotics Affect Metabolism, Says New Study (2008, sciencedaily.com)
  17. Sleep and Metabolism: An Overview (2010, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  18. Strategies to Prevent Weight Gain Among Adults (2013, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  19. Substituting whole grains for refined grains in a 6-wk randomized trial favorably affects energy-balance metrics in healthy men and postmenopausal women (2017, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  20. Water drinking induces thermogenesis through osmosensitive mechanisms (2007, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  21. Water-induced thermogenesis (2003, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
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