2023-06-23 14:47:43
Why do we gain weight following 40?
Why are women more affected than men by weight problems?
Both men and women can gain weight at 40. However “women are particularly concerned, because often they have to manage the work, the house, and the children. This impacts the three pillars of health: sleep, diet and physical activity,” emphasizes Laurence Plumey, nutritionist.
“For men, the weight gain is more gradual. The life of a femme is punctuated by hormonal stages : pregnancies, menopause, which lead to several weight gains. The man is not confronted with that”, explains Véronique Liesse, dietician.
A slowing down of the metabolism
“We are not doomed to gain weight with age, but from a certain point the enzymes responsible for the renewal of mitochondria decrease. That slows metabolism. Differences are less forgiving. Indeed the mitochondria present in our cells are responsible for the calories we burn. The older we get, the less effective they are. Moreover, over time we have a loss of insulin sensitivity which also decreases the number of calories burned. The latter is a hormone that helps maintain a sufficiently low level of sugar.
Enemy number 1: stress
In times of stress the brain secretes cortisol. The latter is increased by lack of sleep. There is a increased lipogenesis, that is, from the synthesis of deep abdominal fat. The adipose tissue present in the deep abdominal fat is particularly sensitive to cortisol. Result: weight gain, especially in the stomach.
Enemy number 2: lack of sleep
On average, the alarm clock is at 7 am. With evening duties, a mother often goes to bed around midnight. As the nutritionist explains, that’s “6 hours of sleep when you need 8. Every day, there’s a deficit. A daily deficit of an entire cycle of 1 hour 30. Over a week, we lose the equivalent of an entire night, one sleepless night per week. The brain is sleep deprived. This implies tiredness which manifests itself in the morning and is accentuated throughout the day. »
Fatigue promotes nutritional imbalance
Fatigue increases snacking, especially compulsions to sweet products. We want to eat starchy foods, sugar, sweet products, cookies, cakes, chocolate. After a short night, the body unconsciously equates fatigue with hypoglycemia. This is where the urge to eat sweets comes from to try to regain energy. “Which is illusory since fatigue comes from the brain”, underlines Laurence Plumey.
Lack of physical activity also to blame
The large number of things to do in a day impacts physical activity. When we are tired, we walk more slowly, we take the elevators rather than the stairs, and the desire to go and play sports is rarer.
Move to remedy this weight gain of the quarantine
Weight gain is not inevitable, and solutions exist to lose weight and regain a balanced life.
These are exactly the same recipes as for the other age groups: it’s really food balancing. You have to move, manage your stress, and sleep. Sport is essential. And above all pay attention to the quality of the food.
Véronique Liesse, dietitian
Exercise as soon as possible
If you are a morning person, if you are lucky enough to start work around 10 a.m., you can do your morning sport at home “for example, the exercise bike or the elliptical, or even dumbbells. »
“For those who work in a company where there is a gym, lunch is an ideal time to go and do half an hour of sports in the gym before going to lunch”, advises Laurence Plumey or take the opportunity to go to the swimming pool.
If we finish work early, and if you like sport, don’t hesitate to go to the gym or “go out to go for an hour of invigorating walking, or cycling. In short, move because to lose weight or control your weight, you need at least 1 hour of relatively intense physical activity during the day,” insists Laurence Plumey.
These moments will allow you to decompress, better control your weight, and increase the quality of your sleep.
Don’t stay in your chair
It’s necessary seize every opportunity to move in the office : going up the stairs rather than taking the elevator, going to the toilets which are three floors above, and not on the same floor, going to see colleagues far away, rather than sending an email when you can…
“All opportunities to exercise are good because you absolutely have to avoid getting stuck in your chair,” emphasizes the doctor.
Eat healthy to limit weight gain
Eating appropriately at each meal is essential.
Breakfast
We tend to skip breakfast, for lack of time, or because of a last-minute wake-up call, or simply to take care of the children. We swallow a coffee, two cookies, and we go running.
Consequence: in the morning, we start to be very hungry at 11 a.m., “with a risk of nibbling cookies or chocolate from the vending machine. As a result, we are less hungry at lunch, and very often lunch, which is the most important meal of the day, is reduced to either a sandwich and a pastry, or a quick meal in the canteen of the company or a dish at the restaurant, not always balanced”, observes Laurence Plumey
“It is better to have a lightly buttered traditional bread for breakfast, a little bit of jam, natural yogurt or fromage blanc, fruit and unsweetened coffee,” she advises.
At noon
At lunch you have to eat properly, no meals on the go.
The early evening aperitif to ban on weekdays
At the end of the day, we want to decompress. So very often, there is the aperitif, with the little piece of bread and cheese…
dinner
When you have children, teenagers, very often, dinner is made up of meat (ground steak, chicken, etc.), pasta, cheese, then a sweet dessert, accompanied by bread, sometimes with a little bit of alcohol for adults. The stomach that fills at 8 p.m. is empty at midnight. So we feel hungry, when normally we should be sleeping and not feel that hunger.
In addition, the metabolism is slowed down, and storage predominates over caloric expenditure.
” It’s necessary eat light in the evening. Lean meat, fish, eggs, seafood, shrimp with raw or cooked vegetables. Add a little starch, if desired, no more than 3 to 4 tablespoons. Cheese is avoided; it is rather reserved for lunch. We prefer yogurt or cottage cheese and end with fruit rather than a sweet dessert,” adds Laurence Plumey.
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