Have you ever wondered why it seems like you can eat whatever you want earlier and never gained a pound? Now it feels like just looking at food and gaining weight.

Hello, this is Eunice from Diet Center.

This can have a lot to do with metabolism. You might ask what does that mean? Metabolism encompasses all of the processes that occur in the body that convert the food we eat into the energy our body needs.

These processes include movement, breathing, thinking, our heartbeat, etc. The amount of energy our body requires and uses plays a significant role in our weight. As we age, our metabolism slows down. The reason a person’s metabolism slows down is because our body loses muscle as we age.

When we lose muscle mass, our calorie needs decrease. After the age of 25, up to half a pound of muscle mass is lost annually. In our 30s, metabolism slows by about 5% every ten years. Most people need to cut about 100 calories per day per decade to maintain their body weight. The problem is that we continue to eat the same thing, or sometimes more. So as we get older, we may use more calories than our body can use, resulting in stored body fat. Consuming just 50 extra calories per day over what our bodies can metabolize results in almost six pounds of weight gain over a one-year period.

Exercise can build and maintain calorie-burning muscle tissue. Exercise like strength training or resistance training, also known as strength training, is when you use your muscles to push or pull against a certain force. The force can be gravity, weights, exercise equipment (such as a rowing machine), or your own body (doing push-ups or pushing against something stationary like a wall).

Incorporating resistance training into an exercise routine helps maintain and build muscle tissue, which can prevent and reverse resulting weight problems. It can also keep us moving as we age. Therefore, it is important to try to maintain or increase our muscle mass. Muscle tissue is very metabolically active. Even at rest, our muscles burn over 25% of our calories. The more muscle we have, the more calories our body can burn even when we’re not active.

It doesn’t matter how old a person is, their muscles respond to exercise the same way younger people do, so keep your body moving. It will help you maintain your muscles and metabolism.

Consult a doctor before beginning any exercise routine and consult a trainer for proper technique and form. This will help ensure you train safely and successfully.

Thanks for reading Diet Center’s Tip of the Week. If you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing is working, call 928-753-5066 or visit The Diet Center at 1848 Hope Ave. in Kingman.