Fighting 40s Flab

Well, if you're over age 40, its very common to blame it on your metabolism.
But that’s only a part of the story.
Even if you're sitting or lying down while reading this article, your body is still burning calories; the rate at which it does so is called your resting metabolic rate. As you age, your metabolism tends to decelerate by about 5% for every decade of life past age 40, so that if your resting metabolic rate is, say, 1,200 calories per day at age 40, it will be around 1,140 at age 50.
At age 40 to maintain your weight, that is to not gain weight, you're going to have to eat 100 calories less a day, and that has nothing to do with anything other than the natural course of aging.
As we age, our lives become more complicated, whether it's with children, with work, with aging parents, and so we have less time really to be more physically active and pay attention to what we're eating. Food is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in large portions that are relatively economical and so food is always around, and we tend to have more mindless eating and cut down on activities.
Metabolism is really only a small part of why it's harder to lose weight after 40. Age and life tend to conspire against.
Metabolism is based upon three different factors, The first factor is genetics. We're good, but we can't fudge with that yet -- give us time, however.
Number two is thyroid function, and interestingly enough, here's where we get gender specificity. Women have much greater thyroid issues than men, by a at least 10 to 1, and it's quite gradual, so women may find that they're losing some of that metabolic edge during their 40s also because thyroid issues begin to spring up.
The third factor affecting metabolism, is muscle mass. In the 40s and beyond, lifestyle changes rather dramatically and it's sort of a keen grasp of the obvious that everyone's sitting on their backs So what's happening is if you don't use it, you lose it, and in your 40s you don't just lose it, it melts.
Recent research suggests that women on average will lose muscle mass twice as fast as men the same age, and that can make a huge difference in their ability to lose or at least maintain weight, Muscle is far more "metabolically active" than fat, meaning that lean, more muscular people have an easier time burning calories at rest than to people with higher proportions of body fat.
So it's extremely important to know that muscle is very metabolically active and that you don't want to lose it. Keeping these factors in mind the main battle for people over 40 must be in keeping efficient thyroid function and to engage in a regular strength training program which ensures that one keeps his or her muscle density on the rise.
Another factor to keep in mind is almost all the time the target heart rate or the fat burning zone for most individuals over 40 is much lesser than what it used to be in the younger days so don’t waste away your time and energy putting in very extensive efforts on the work out trying to catch up with old times it could be very counter productive and and heavy on the skeletal system as well.
Stick to low-impact training, and do not work all muscle groups on the same day. It’s best to keep to muscle training every alternate day and keep the day in between as the cardio-day the intensity of which may be decided by an expert trainer. On the strength days you may work any two opposing muscle groups for example the abdominal s and back or maybe the quadriceps (front thigh) and hamstrings (rear thigh).
Lastly be real and give any of your objectives real time if you want to reap real benefits and enjoy them too.