The lifelong story of weight: how age affects the number on the scale

While exercise and proper diet are always important to maintaining and losing weight, different issues can surface during different stages in life.

Karen Krutz, bariatric coordinator at ReStart Center, says the college atmosphere can be a perfect storm of lifestyle challenges. The weight loss/bariatric center is located at Methodist Hospitals' Southlake Campus in Merrillville.

The college years

"When kids go off to college, they are eating all the wrong foods and they have their social lives going on and they are not exercising. The lack of sleep slows down their metabolism," Krutz says. "They need to eat foods that count instead of putting garbage in there."

Kristina Greene, registered dietitian and diabetes educator at ReStart Center, says drinking a lot of pop is also an issue for teens and twentysomethings. "They need to be eating more lowfat milk products and drinking milk, as these have essential nutrients to maintain metabolism," Greene says. "The college-age group doesn't know how to cook and they eat junk."

Krutz suggests twentysomethings take a class in order to learn how to cook healthy meals.

Heading into motherhood and beyond

The twenties and thirties can also present challenges unique to women, Greene says, as pregnancy provides a platform to eat more calories, gain too much weight and have that weight remain after giving birth.

It is during the forties that a slower metabolism surfaces, a basic fact of life as people get older, says Dr. Zeba Ali, a board-certified family medicine physician at Portage Medical Group located within Porter's Portage Hospital.

"For many people, the body begins to do the unthinkable: replacing muscle with a layer of fat," Dr. Ali says.

"Fat cells don't burn as many calories as muscle cells do, so as a result there is weight gain," Krutz says. "For women when perimenopause is going on, it is harder to decrease weight. Stress and hormone levels increase and your tummy is not going to be as nice and lean as it was before unless you really, really work at it. You have to exercise a lot more in order to drop five pounds."

Dr. Ali says people in their forties aren't as active as before, and stress and lack of sleep can also push the number up on the scale. "Women and men in their forties are busier, and they are consuming more calories than they are burning. Stress releases cortisol, which increases appetite and stimulates overeating," Dr. Ali says. "As we get older, we feel it is time to enjoy ourselves, and letting go of willpower and control is not a very good combination."

Dr. Ali emphasizes the basics to battle weight gain at any age include:

• Healthy eating by avoiding sugars and fats and focusing on fruits and vegetables

• 2-1/2 hours of physical activity a week

• Strength training to build muscle, which fights osteoporosis down the road and eradicates fat

• Stretching to maintain flexibility

"You can increase your activity by playing with the kids, parking your car farther away and walking, and carrying things up the stairs in two trips instead of one," Dr. Ali says. "Stretching helps align joints to bones so everything is in perfect harmony, and that helps keep mobility later in life."

"The name of the game is to keep weight under control and stay fit as long as you possibly can throughout your entire life," Kurtz adds.

Dr. Ali warns that worrying about weight can be a stress trigger, too. "If you are stressed out about this, that's not a good thing, as that starts a vicious cycle," she says. "Have the holidays or weekends to have something you like—in moderation."