Avoid the Thirties Fat Traps

It’s amazing how excess weight creeps up on you in your thirties
without you becoming aware of it. Suddenly you catch sight of
yourself in a shop window or you see a picture taken at your
friends wedding and you can’t believe how much larger you’ve
become. How did that happen? It feels like pounds of fat
appeared overnight.

The bad news is that your metabolism (the rate at which you burn
calories) does drop quite naturally from your thirties onwards.
So you will start to put on weight more easily. But before you
get too depressed be aware that the effect is so marginal that
piling on the pounds does not have to be inevitable. It’s more
likely that you have been getting into bad habits and eating
more or moving less than you were before.

If you want to avoid the extra 10lb that the average woman gains
in weight between thirty and forty take care not to fall into
the following lifestyle traps.

Lifestyle Trap 1 : Too much going on

With partner, kids and/or career all taking your attention, life
in your thirties suddenly becomes much more complex than it was
before and the time you have for yourself seems to disappear
somewhere between school runs, getting the report finished and
keeping the house one step above chaos. Almost inevitably you
end up taking less exercise and eating out more or using
take-aways to cope with getting meals on the table. Try and give
yourself and your health a higher priority by asking for help,
reducing your commitments and letting less important things
slide.

Lifestyle Trap 2 : Matching portions

There’s a time of danger when you move in with a partner, which
often takes place in your thirties. You start cooking for him
and eating the same meals and often the same portion sizes.
Whereas you might have made do with something on toast or soup
some evenings it’s now full dinners with dessert. While your man
can probably take the calories – all that excess lands just
where you don’t want it – on your tummy and thighs. Take care to
eat only what YOU need and don’t try and match your partner meal
for meal.

Lifestyle Trap 3 : Eating for two

For many thirty-year-olds weight problems coincide with having
children. Although you need just 300 calories more a day after
the first 3 months of pregnancy, it’s easy to use having a baby
as an excuse to eat and eat. And that excess weight can be hard
to lose afterwards. Often the problem is compounded by a second
pregnancy before you’ve lost the weight from the first. To avoid
excess weight gain keep exercising as long as it’s safe to do so
throughout your pregnancy and continue to walk the weight off
afterwards – something you can do with kids in tow! And keep
eating sensibly and healthily throughout. Pregnancy is a great
time to get in the habit of eating well.

Lifestyle Trap 4 : Losing Muscle

If we don’t do anything about it, we start losing some strength
and muscle each year from our thirties onwards. As each pound of
muscle burns about 50 calories a day even when you are at rest,
it’s important to gain that strength back through resistance or
weight training. You should also avoid any diet which advises
losing more than a pound or two of weight a week. More than that
and you are likely to lose muscle as well as fat. And if you end
up putting weight back on, as many people do, it’s all fat. This
is a major reason for avoiding the yo-yo diet syndrome – you end
up fatter (literally) than ever.

Lifestyle Trap 5 : Complacency

In your thirties you’re unlikely to see the symptoms of the poor
health choices you’re making. It’s probable that heart disease,
diabetes and other nasties have yet to show their face but these
silent killers are loitering in the background. Don’t take your
health for granted. You’ll regret it very quickly in the years
to come which will be here soon enough. Give your health a top
priority and do something about your health and your weight
while you still have plenty of time.

Of course you can still look great in your thirties, forties and
beyond. There’s no real danger in hitting the big-30 (or any
other birthday for that matter). The danger always comes with a
change in lifestyle. And that’s something that you choose – so
it’s all up to you whether you want to be fat or fabulous by the
time you reach 40.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

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