Weight and Metabolism As You Age

Let's face it, there is a clear difference in our ability to gain and lose weight over the lifespan. We are all aware of this, but are you aware of what happens over the lifespan that causes the struggles?

I'm afraid we all know the answer, it's hormones.

Gentlemen, much of this will not apply to you because you have primarily testosterone, and it's a little less complicated than the ever-changing hormonal fluctuations of the female. Ladies, we have a whole lot going on with estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and many other hormones thrown in there. But I'm going to give you the brief take away what happens as we age.

In our 20’s, we've got it going on and don't even realize it. By the time you reach your 20s, your fluctuating hormones have typically leveled out. These are the prime reproductive years, hormonally speaking. Estrogen cycles, over the month to be ready and able to conceive if desired and progesterone levels are there to support pregnancy should it occur. As far as metabolism, it's revving. You can gain and lose without even thinking about it. Typically, there's not a lot of focus on the nutritional value of what you're eating. You could possibly even be participating in fad diets to gain or lose 5 to 10 pounds. Unfortunately, if you are not one of those that can gain and lose without effort, you may have hormonal imbalance.

Estrogen is the primary hormone that gets altered from things like thyroid dysfunction, stress and elevated insulin levels. Elevated insulin levels can lead to PCOS and decrease fertility. The imbalance may be contributed to by the intake of a lot of sugar and simple carbohydrates. Excess sugar and simple carbs raise the insulin levels beyond what your body can process. Processed foods have chemicals that are added as preservatives that affect hormone balance. Hormone imbalance can also be caused by environmental things that can mimic and increase estrogen. These environmental things that cause imbalance in estrogen levels are called xenoestrogens and cab be found in anything from cosmetic products to plastic water bottles.

The 30’s are the family years. The family years are when you have children that are keeping you on the go with routines, school functions and sports. Busy, busy, busy. Let's add work into that mix of responsibilities, and usually there is a lot less sleep and a lot more stress. At this point, you may be putting the blame on being too busy to exercise, grab and go meals that are not as nutritious as you would like and of course the stress of not sleeping, for those few extra pounds that you've put on and aren't able to take off.

Stress alone, can impair, hormone levels and decrease metabolism, actually bringing it to a screaming halt. This is because of a thing called adrenal fatigue. When the adrenals give out, your thyroid levels can be affected. This is because the same pathways are used to make your stress hormones and your sex hormones (estrogen, testosterone, testosterone).

Now enter the 40’s. Naturally, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels start declining. That’s called aging.  Most likely, life is shifting more to a work focus. If, by chance you have children, they may be getting a little older and little more self-sufficient. Now, you might actually be starting to get a little bit of sleep. You might be starting to restore some of those pathways that needed some rest and relaxation to start functioning properly again. However, now you may be starting to think about hormonal shift into the pre-menopausal phases. Now the blame for weight gain, or the inability to take it off easily, is much more likely to be blamed on hormones. The reality is setting in that all of the years of damage you have done to your body from neglect may seem impossible to repair. The adrenal fatigue, not yet corrected, combined with the declining hormone levels, more fatigue, all lead to poor metabolism and difficulty with weight management. By this point, you may have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, or other chronic conditions.

Moving on to the 50’s, the hint of hormone decline becomes an absolute fact. There is no more menstrual cycles cycling, only declining levels of hormones. You may notice that you're not able to gain lean muscle mass like before. There may be additional weight gathering around the belly. The family life at this point is often part of the "empty nesting" life. Once the children have grown and started to leave home, you and your significant other may find more time for activity, and for indulging in a few things for yourself, such as more dinners out. If there are more dinners out, that is more processed food, which can increase inflammation, and really throw off the balance of hormones.

Seems a bit unfair that you may have more time to exercise, and take care of yourself, but all of those years of neglecting self-care, have caught up to you. Are you too tired now? Does it seem more frustrating to not see results so you give up? If you've been struggling over the last few decades, this could very well be the outlook you have.

As you move past the 50’s, into the "golden years", there are noticeable effects of whatever life you have lived, mixed with natural aging. Skin may not be as supple, there may be more chronic health conditions diagnosed, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, decreased libido and less mobility. 

Even if you have been fortunate enough to indulge in self-care over the years, you may start to notice more fatigue, aching joints, and being a little less robust. Let's not give up yet!

If you've paid close attention to the review of the decades, you will see a common pattern. Hormones. Estrogen specifically, because we have not even started to discuss testosterone for the ladies in the role it plays in anti-aging or aging well. There has been mention of outside factors that can alter hormone levels in our products, there's also hormones injected into food and if you're overweight, fat cells themselves can secrete estrogen to knock off the balance. It's one big vicious cycle. Good news is that it can be altered.

There are things you can do to help control estrogen levels. Everyone is different, with different experiences, and exposures in their lives. For this reason, you cannot do a one-size-fits-all approach to managing hormones in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s or beyond. You can't just go on and Google the latest and greatest for one specific concern and expected to make a difference. You will only become more frustrated and waste your money and your time.

To really get to the bottom of what is occurring and manage it involves taking a good assessment of the factors that may be effecting these levels. This is where I recommend a functional medicine provider that is able to obtain a good health history, get the right labs drawn and interpreted appropriately. This is where Functional Medicine shines! Traditional healthcare is focused more on treating chronic conditions and guidelines rather than helping to make you FEEL better. You hear a lot about losing weight, moving more and eating better, but how often do you get help with figuring out the missing link? Especially if you feel that you are doing all of these things and still not seeing results.

As you can see, weight control and being healthy isn't about calories in calories out, it is about life and balance. Health Interventions can help you find the missing link and achieve the balance.

Start with getting real food into your life, sleep, stop stressing and get those labs!