Table of contents:
- Don't focus too much on losing weight
- Then, how to control weight in old age?
- 1. Do sports that train muscle strength
- 2. Eat lots of protein
- 3. Limit foods high in calories and sugar
- 4. Drink lots of water
Losing weight can be one way to reduce the risk or severity of disease. For example, the risk of fractures due to osteoporosis can be more prevented if you are not overweight. However, if you are overweight in old age, it seems that reducing your food intake or going on a diet is not the best way. Diet that is done to control body weight in old age may be slightly different from the usual diet.
Don't focus too much on losing weight
Losing weight can indeed help reduce the risk of various diseases and improve your overall health. However, for the elderly, significant weight loss may not be a good thing.
Older people may experience greater muscle mass loss if they lose excess weight. This makes the elderly suffer from physical limitations to carry out various activities.
For this reason, elderly people should not focus too much on losing weight. What must be done is to control body weight so as not to increase, as well as prevent excess body fat and increase muscle mass.
Then, how to control weight in old age?
The two main things that must be done to control body weight in old age are maintaining food intake and doing regular exercise. Some tips that can help you control your weight are:
1. Do sports that train muscle strength
Doing exercise can burn more calories that enter the body through food. That way, there will be no accumulation of calories in the body. Over time, this can also help you lose weight little by little.
Choose a type of exercise that strengthens your muscles. This is done to prevent loss of muscle mass. That way, the body will also burn more calories. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body can burn. Examples of sports that you can do to build muscle strength are yoga and pilates.
2. Eat lots of protein
One way to maintain muscle mass in old age is to eat lots of high protein foods. At least, you must eat protein sources of 1 gram per kg of your body weight. For example, if you weigh 65 kg, you must consume 65 grams of protein.
Examples of high protein foods are meat, chicken, fish and eggs. Not only to maintain muscle mass, protein can also keep you full longer, thus preventing you from overeating.
3. Limit foods high in calories and sugar
Foods high in calories and high in sugar can contribute to excess calories in your body, so this can actually make you gain weight. In addition, foods that are high in calories and sugar usually do not contain many important nutrients. Thus, it does not provide any benefits to your health.
Eat lots of vegetables and fruits because they contain lots of nutrients. Vegetables and fruit also contain carbohydrates and are high in fiber which can help you stay full longer. Fiber can also help maintain your digestive health.
4. Drink lots of water
As you get older, you may not even notice that you are thirsty. In fact, you need a lot of water to maintain normal bodily functions. Drinking water also prevents you from starving excessively.
At least, you must drink 8 glasses of water per day. You can check the color of your urine to see if you have drunk enough or not. If your urine is a little dark yellow, it means you should still drink more water.
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