At What Age Does Metabolism Slow Down?

“Visit MRC Lafayette to Learn More About Your Basal Metabolic Rate”

Recent studies suggest that overall metabolism remains remarkably stable between 20 to 60 years of age, which is contrary to popular beliefs that it starts to decline in both men and women during midlife. Today, experts suggest that changes in physical activity, eating behaviors, and less high-quality sleep are common culprits that adults experience between age 30-40 with the loss of metabolically-active muscle mass (sarcopenia) being a primary contributor.

Generally speaking, decreases in muscle mass of 3% to 8% occur per decade after age 30. Lean muscle mass even burns energy while the body is at rest during nighttime fasting, but calorie-burning naturally slows due to critical tissue loss and less calories are burned. Then a slowing metabolism will likely trigger fat storage. Moreover, cells in the body also begin to work more slowly, which reduces the total energy expenditure and increases the risk of unintended weight gain.

Since metabolism is the process that turns food intake into energy, it is important to keep your body working correctly as you get older. For starters, as your calorie needs start to decrease, prioritizing a personalized protein-forward dietary strategy can help with weight management issues like shedding unwanted fat gain by avoiding overeating, particularly of high-calorie comfort foods, fried fast food, and sugary drinks. Stress hormone (cortisol) also slows metabolic processes and increases cravings for fast-burning carbohydrates.

So what is my BMR and why is it important?

Your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is minimum number of calories that your body requires to function properly at rest (sleep). This includes providing the fuel necessary for essential life-sustaining tasks like breathing, circulation, and cell production. In general, your BMR accounts for 60 to 70% of your total daily calorie expenditure. As a baseline, it can be used to calculate your total needs. So, knowing your BMR helps you determine how much food intake is needed each day to lose, gain, or maintain a target weight. In other words, BMR is helpful in setting realistic nutritional goals as well as modifications to daily physical activities like the addition of resistance training to restore calorie-burning muscle mass. Whereas BMR normally decreases with age due to the loss of muscle, increasing muscle mass raises your basal metabolic rate. Typically, men have a higher BMR than women, but genetics can play a role in inherited metabolic function.

PROTEIN FORWARD STRATEGIES FOR WEIGHT CONTROL

Incorporating protein-forward foods like skinless chicken breast, Greek yogurt, pasture-raised eggs, fatty fish, spinach, broccoli, and tofu helps to manage weight by increasing satiety, reducing annoying food cravings, and maintaining lean muscle mass. Fact is healthy protein from both animal-based and whole food sources that help prevent overeating of sugary, high-calorie comfort foods and boosts metabolic processes for efficient use of available energy. Plus, combining lean sources of protein with non-starchy vegetables can maximize fullness.

Proteins are a unique macronutrient that are considered to be the building blocks in the body that make up bones, cartilage, muscle tissue, blood, skin, enzymes, hormones, and vitamins. In other words, proteins made from amino acids are essential for growth and development, repair tissue damage to prevent loss, and build new tissue like muscles. Since the body doesn’t store this macronutrient like it does for carbohydrates and fats, protein needs to be consumed throughout the day to promote hormonal balance to support losing and keeping weight off.

To reduce consumption of saturated fat, select lean, low-fat meat options like lean ground beef, pork loin, and skinless chicken breasts as these are excellent sources of high-quality protein and include important nutrients like iron and zinc. Although you can get essential amino acids from low-carb whole foods, most plant-based proteins are considered less complete as they do not contain all nine amino acids in a single meal. However, you can pair plant proteins with tofu or lentils to ensure you receive all nine amino acids within a 24-hour period.

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Basal metabolic rate (BMR), body mass index (BMI), and MRC Hormone Test Kit can provide important information about what is going on in your body at a given age. Understanding collected data and learning how to use it can be key to dietary and exercise planning for both long-term weight management and the adjustments needed for a more desirable body composition. Remember, BMR decreases with age primarily due to muscle loss and both dietary and physical interventions can help reverse sarcopenia. If you’re trying to decide whether a prescription-based weight loss plan or a more holistic metabolic weight loss program is right for you, contact MRC Lafayette today. One of our weight loss coaches will be in touch to discuss how hormone imbalances, genetic factors and key lifestyle habits may have slowed your metabolism and led to unintended weight gain. After all, hormonal balance can be restored and disrupted metabolic rates can be reset with a personalized approach.