Women over the age of 50 wonder why they are gaining weight, while they are committed to the same diet, and the same daily activity.

As they age, they treat their slow metabolism as an inevitable reality.

Causes of slow metabolism

Women have difficulty losing excess weight by the age of thirty, and lose about 3% to 8% of their muscle mass every decade, and then usually gain excess weight between the age of forty and fifty, which is the middle age during which a woman's body begins to lose 15% of muscle mass Every decade, due to the hormonal changes that occur before and after menopause.

The metabolism or metabolic rate slows down during that period. The term metabolism includes all chemical reactions and processes in the body, which convert food into energy, including the decline of estrogen during menopause, which prompts the body to store fat in the waist area, causing an increase in risks Heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

These changes coincide with neglecting exercise for lack of time, loss of purpose, and weakness of the body, but the good news is that you can raise your metabolic rate with some simple changes in food and activity, and by the time your real age is 55, your biological age could be 35.

At the age of 50, the body needs 1,300 calories per day (Getty Images)

How do you stimulate the metabolism?

  • Eat protein

A study published in the US National Library of Medicine shows that increasing your protein intake can help you lose weight, maintain it in the long term and improve overall health.

Additionally, getting enough plant and animal protein in your diet is important to halt or reverse age-related muscle loss, as muscle is largely made up of protein.

And the US National Library of Medicine published its recommendation for older adults to eat 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which is the ideal amount for muscle gain, and may reduce senile sarcopenia (muscle loss) and help calcium absorption, thus protecting against osteoporosis.

  • Eat vegetables and fruits

Interestingly enough, systematic reviews of scientific studies indicate that you can reduce body weight just by eating more vegetables and fruits.

To prove this, researchers in the Cancer Research Program sponsored by Canada's Dalhousie University analyzed data on 26,000 men and women between the ages of 35 and 69 to reveal the role of fruits and vegetables in improving overall health.

The researchers discovered an inverse association between eating fruits and vegetables, body mass index and abdominal fat, and the results improved by increasing the number of servings of vegetables and fruits up to 7 times per day.

  • do sports

It's not too late, you can build muscle mass after age 50, reduce age-related muscle loss, and burn body fat, using weights, resistance bands, and exercises based on your body weight to build muscle, all of which you can do from home without the need to go to the gym, according to the "Heart Association" American-AHA” adults should exercise at least twice a week.

You can increase your metabolism by doing more aerobic exercises, which are activities that make you breathe faster and deeper, such as walking, running, swimming, climbing stairs, cycling, dancing, and jogging.

Aerobic exercise increases the chances of losing weight and preventing it from gaining it again. It also improves the health of the heart, lungs and bones over time. It speeds up the metabolism, and accordingly reduces health risks associated with age such as: heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke. cerebral palsy, some types of cancer.

You can build muscle mass after age 50 to reduce age-related muscle loss (German)

  • Drink a lot of water

Moisturizing your body with water helps boost your metabolism by 30%. When you drink water, your body burns calories to generate heat to process the liquid and heat it up to body temperature, a process that takes about an hour, each time you drink.

Water also keeps you hydrated when you exercise, allows your body to dissolve important minerals and vitamins, and improves the health of your skin, hair, and brain.

  • Divide your meals

Over time, your body becomes less efficient at absorbing nutrients, and this can be avoided by eating whole foods to get more nutritional value, and eating smaller meals more often.

You can also eat smaller and more frequent meals to avoid a drop in metabolism, the longer the time between meals, the lower your metabolic rate and you feel hungry, but when you eat small, balanced meals more often, or a healthy snack between 3 healthy meals, the metabolism Private remains at its highest rates.

  • Watch your calories

An adult woman needs 1,500 calories per day to maintain her weight, at the age of fifty 1,300 calories, and after the age of sixty only 1,100 calories.

Assuming you're putting in the same effort as you did in the past, to lose weight you need 400 to 500 calories less, not counting the exercise you'll be adding to your diet.