Most people understand that you need help with getting and staying motivated in order to exercise and lose weight. You also need to keep it fun and mix it up. As the weather turn nicer, we all want and many of us need to lose weight.

Exercising with people you enjoy is a perfect way to stay motivated. Get a group of friends together who have similar schedules and can work out when you can. It has long been proven that exercising with friends is a great way to get healthy and lose weight.

Signing on with a personal trainer works well for people too. When you spend money on a personal training program you are more inclined to keep your appointments. Many find that the motivating nature of personal trainers help keep them motivating and working hard.

If personal trainers are not what you are looking for, many trainers encourage those who want to lose weight to join a gym. The social and community aspect of belonging to a gym is a great motivator for many. Being greeted as you enter, seeing friends, taking exercise classes that you enjoy can keep you coming back to the gym getting healthy.

Of course, as the saying goes, “misery loves company” so taking that really challenging group power or spinning class with friends actually makes that hard class fun.

For information on our Summer special at Answer is Fitness, contact us.

You are eating the same and exercising the same, but you have noticed that it is harder to lose weight, or perhaps you are even gaining weight. Nothing has changed, except… you are over 40. Actually, something has changed; your body.

As we age, we burn less calories because our metabolism slows down. There is no set age where this happens, but most people tend to notice between 40 and 50. So, the secret to weight loss over 40 remains the same as it was before 40: burn more calories than you take in.

So, since you burn fewer calories in a day as you age, you either need to eat less, or exercise more in order to lose weight. But sticking to the same routine as your younger years will have no effect on your weight loss or maintenance goals. You need to have a calorie defecit.

Our metabolism, (basal metabolic rate) accounts for 60 to 70% of the total number of calories we burn in a day. So when this slows, we need to adjust for our slower metabolism. There is where most of us drop the ball.
 
As we age, we begin to lose muscle mass which accounts for our slowing metabolism. The more muscle mass we have, the more calories our body burns at rest. So as we age, exercise is very important. There are many benefits to exercise, but for people over 40 the benefits of exercise are even greater.  As we age we begin to lose muscle mass.  The more muscle mass we have the higher our basal metabolic rate.  Regular exercise and activity will not only help build and strengthen muscles but will speed up your metabolism thus burn more calories.

For a free 30 day pass, or for help in setting up an exercise and nutrition plan for weight loss over 40, contact Answer is Fitness.