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Dieting For The Over 50s

If you’re over the age of 50 and want to lose some weight, you might wonder whether your approach should be slightly different to, say, the approach you would have taken 20 years ago? So on this page I’ll run through a few dieting tips for the over 50s.

The initial thing to consider is whether you should reduce your calorie intake. In most cases I would say yes, definitely, but I’d like to go a little deeper into the murky area of metabolism first. It’s a well-known fact that older people tend to have a slower metabolic rate, however it’s not often explained, or understood, why. It’s principally for these two reasons: when you get older it’s inevitable that you will undertake less physical exercise. By doing less exercise your body’s metabolism will naturally slow. The second reason is to do with muscle tissue. As you do less exercise the ratio of fat to muscle invariably increases. By having more fat and less muscle, a decrease of your body’s metabolism then takes place.

It’s important to note that not only is this slowing down inevitable and natural, it doesn’t mean you can no longer achieve great results with dieting.

However to achieve those great dieting results you will need to become more body-aware. So this body awareness can first be applied to your metabolism. Ask yourself if you have been very active during the last few years, and therefore if you have a lot of lean muscle tissue. If so, you will find your metabolism is still going to be quite fast, and that you won’t need to cut your calorie count too radically. If on the other hand during the last few years your workouts have become more and more irregular, I’m afraid that to lose weight it is advisable to begin a moderate reduction in your calories consumed.

Another important factor that is exacerbated when dieting over the age of 50 is nutritional quality. While you should reduce your calorie count if you do less exercise than is recommended, you must make sure not to reduce your vitamins, minerals and iron. The older you get the more essential they become. This is especially true of B category vitamins, calcium and iron. These will strengthen your bones and teeth, keep your skin healthy, and also give you the energy you will need to exercise more.

It’s key to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, you will find that if you eat 5 portions a day you will feel healthier, happier – and, crucially, have more of that energy to use in productive exercise. One of the main problems with a lot of so-called ‘fad’ diets is that they are based around eating so little that the dieter feels constantly tired and unable to exercise. Cut down the junk, but please don’t cut down the vitamins and minerals – you will need them, and with every passing year you will need them more!

As well as adjusting your calorie count down, and your vitamins and mineral count up, there is one more thing to change: your protein levels. As they get older many people cut down their protein levels, which is a mistake. Now I’m not suggesting you go out and have a big steak every night, in no way would I recommend that! But there are some excellent low-fat protein options available. These include foods such as Greek yogurt, skimmed milk, and cottage cheese. Additionally, of course, these items are loaded with calcium, which as you’ll get older you’ll need more of.

So those are the three changes to diet I recommend. It’s vital that you become more aware of your own body, though, and that would be my fourth area of advice: be more aware of your own aches and pains, be more aware of your own fatigue, and identify after which food you feel most healthy and energized, and after which food you feel tired and depleted. Reduce the latter and increase the former.

My fifth and final piece of advice is to exercise more. With your new reduced calorie intake (and this can include a moderate reduction in carbs, but I don’t believe it’s advisable to entirely cut them out), with your newly increased daily dose of fruit and veg, and with your increased daily intake of low-fat proteins, you should be filled with more energy than you’ve felt for years, and more able to start exercising. Now this doesn’t have to be anything too strenuous, around 45 minutes a week will do, and soon you will be seeing results, not only in reduced waist line, but in feeling healthier and happier.

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