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I attended with my husband his 30 year class reunion recently and was shocked how many men had big bellies. Including my husband who is skinny every where else except for his belly. I noticed just about every other thin or skinny guy his age has a big belly too. What is it about middle aged men and big bellies?
Do you know anyone over 45 who has a rock hard stomach who is not working out 3 hours a day? Is a big belly just part of a middle aged man's experience?
I am almost 60 and have no gut. I can't say that I have rock-hard abs, but then I'm not trying for them. I either jog or work-out on an elliptical four times a week, and I play competitive basketball (I know it's competitive because I usually lose) on Saturday morning for a couple of hours. I pretty much go full-blast on the elliptical. I'm sweat soaked after the 30 minutes. I also lift weights three times a week.
However... as in most things, results from exercise may vary. Your husband could go nuts on athletic equipment and see minimal results. Also, dieting and exercise is a tough combination to pull-off. Especially when a person is older and not in great shape. After all, it's calories that make a body function. Deny calories and the body protests exercising.
I'm a long way from resembling Schwarzenegger. Fact is, I never could have even remotely resembled him no matter how much I tried, and neither could most men. Genetics has a lot to do with these things. I'd like to look good, but my main goal is to be physically fit. A guy with skinny arms and a gut can still be relatively physically fit, though being overweight is never a good thing.
How about an evening walk at a speedy clip coupled with a few less calories consumed at meals? See how it goes and if it seems reasonable, make the jaunt a must-do daily habit.
I go to the gym twice a week for 30 minutes to an hour lifting weights, do leg lifts and the elliptical days I'm not at the gym, don't eat bakeries. Over holidays, I may gain 5 pounds, but if you go back to normal eating/gym, it'll fall off.
I'm in my early 50's here and don't have a gut BUT, I have to work out 4 to 5 days a week to maintain muscle and keep weight off. I don't eat a lot of carbs or high fat foods. Bottom line is, regardless of how much you exercise, studies have proven that even with weight training, we continue to lose muscle mass with age, just as we lose bone mass. With less muscle comes more fat. Men begin losing testosterone by their 30's and with a decrease in testosterone comes more weight gain and loss of muscle. So, unless you are exercising regularly and eating healtful foods, you are going to gain weight somewhere; for men it tends to be the stomach and mid-section. Just a reality of aging. I fight it every day but you cannot stop it, only slow down the process.
So, unless you are exercising regularly and eating healtful foods, you are going to gain weight somewhere; for men it tends to be the stomach and mid-section. Just a reality of aging. I fight it every day but you cannot stop it, only slow down the process.
I'm in my early 40's and had a huge beer belly for at least 15yrs. I got a wake up call last year from my doc and had a BMI of 31.31 (officially OBESE), and I was also needing a change in my life.
I joined a gym and 1 yr later I'm at 23.27 BMI, a clean bill of health from my doc and I feel great. I'm running 5k races and bike 10miles regularly and I've got a flat stomach, rock hard legs and some nice muscle definition in my chest & arms.
And guess what?, I don't give a rats@ss about getting older as long as I keep a clean diet and exercise regularly - life is good after 40
well actually, cortisol imbalances AREN'T part of aging.
there is a somewhat serious medical condition called Cushing's Disease, a result of cortisol overproduction, that causes thin limbs and an enlarged trunk. It could just be lifestyle or diet, but Husband should get checked out ASAP.
Cushing's SYNDROME is an extreme form of cortisol imbalance and has many causes. Aging causes problems with homeostasis. You may not get the buffalo hump or the striated skin, but you will probably get some gut.
Cushing's DISEASE is caused by a pituitary tumor causing ACTH secretion which then causes cortisol secretion.
Skinny legs and a big ol belly? Whats up with that? If a person wanted to, they can do something about it, Its called excercise. And I dont mean just walking around the block, you need to do something that controls the muscles in the targeted area.
My husband falls into this pattern and certainly there is a lot he could do to help the situation. He has started taking our dog for walks a couple of days ago for fitness for both of them so that is a start. He really needs to cut down on massive snacking though. Eating an entire pound of M@ M's a night is normal plus cheese, popcorn, gummy worms, peanut butter and whatever else he feels like. Not good for a diabetic. So no surprises he is overweight there.
i am 62 and very fit. lots of aerobics and dieting. i lost 30 lbs when i retired. i am single. if i were married i would weigh 300 pounds. women cook well and they are fun to eat with. when i was married i was fortunate to be married to a woman that hated to cook and ate in front of the TV usually alone.
The key here is "Diet"! Basically the old adage that "You are what you eat".
As some other posters mentioned as we age, we naturally loose muscle mass and have increase fat. Also, for many when we were young we could eat/drink what we wanted, ocassionally watch our food intake and everything seemed to work fine.
However, instead of getting more comfortable in our routine as we get older we need to be more focused, and disciplined about our diet.
I just turned 50 and I'm currently 6'3" , 192lbs and have a muscular swimmers build, and though I do have some slight luv handles, my abs show. They are not perfectly sculptured like some 20 something, but I do get compliments when I'm shirtless. I also look very young for my age. I probably have to chalk it up to good genetics, but also lots of disciplined hard work.
I would have been the 50yr old with skinny arms and legs and a gut if I didn't change my way of living. When I was 30 I made a life committment to myself that I will excercise and watch my diet for the rest of my life.
In my late 20's I was 6'3", and 168lbs, I swaggered in strong winds. I ate what I wanted, and drank (alcohol) moderately, couldn't gain weight and was sluggish.
I worked out with weights at 30 and became more disciplined as I got older and learned more, however I ate pretty much whatever I wanted. Then at 40 I started to notice my body making slight changes, like "luv handles". I knew that diet was the key, I finally had the mass I wanted but now more than ever diet was going to be key to maintaing a lean, muscled frame.
I started to read labels, and healthy cook books. I still enjoy occassional sweets and moderate alcohol, but I'm constantly aware what I put in my body and balance it out. Basically weight training/cardio/ and dieting are now a natural part of my daily life. To me its actually fun balancing my diet and workouts.
So yes, as we age, the body is not going to automatically keep its youthful shape that might have came naturally in the 20-40yr age period.
One has to say to themselves, do I want to have the fit body I might have had in 20-40yrs, but now I have to work for it, watch what foods I put in my body. One might even have to start exercising to maintain what came naturally in youth.
Some things I suggest: 1) Drink lots of water at least 8 glasses a day. 2) Moderate intake of sodas, caffeine products, candys, cakes, etc. 3) Eat lean chicken, beef, and fish. 4) Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Nuts. 5) At all possible limit proceessed foods, they are either high in fat, or sodium.
I'm not so hard core, that I don't have occassional cookies, cakes, candies.
I still enjoy a rich dinner occassionally when dining out. However, it's about moderation. I just came back from a fun partying vacation in New Orleans.
You got it fried foods and alcohol. For the past week, I have ate very healthy, limited my sugar, fat,etc.
You can approach mid-life one of two ways: 1) Treat things as status-quo and if you get out of shape and over weight, blame it on aging; or 2) be proactive and make up your mind to be physically fit and work at it.
No one ever wants to bother with doing it what it takes to look good. You HAVE to exercise and eat well or you're going to look like this. There is NO quick fix, it takes HARD work and the older you get, the more you need.
One has to determine what is more important, eating what they want and not moving or working out and eating right. That's it, no other choices.
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One's Diet and Excercise is Key as we Age
