Remember when you could eat anything at any time, before your metabolism slowed right down?
If you’re convinced that you’ve gained weight because your metabolism slowed down drastically in your 30s, here’s good news. Research shows that didn’t happen.
Yes, your metabolism does determines your weight. But the mid-30s metabolic shift is a widespread myth. Recent studies have shown that metabolism does slow with age, but not until we reach our 60s. Read on to find out what does affect your metabolism and what you can do about it.
Your Stone-Age metabolism determines your weight
Metabolism is a complex system of chemical reactions responsible for converting the food we eat into the building blocks and energy our bodies need to stay alive. One of the functions of metabolism is storing energy.
If you’re carrying excess weight–fat–that’s just energy your body is expecting to use later. Like when you don’t manage to kill or forage any food for a few days. That isn’t a problem you’ll encounter because you don’t live in the Stone Age. But your body doesn’t know you’ve got constant access to supermarkets and Uber Eats–it’s only evolved to cope with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Constant access to energy and modern living has sent the system a little haywire.
And it’s not just food that affects your metabolism. Activity, stress, sleep and more lifestyle factors count. They’re all things that change gradually as you go through life.
The lowdown on the slowdown
Here's how metabolism actually slows:
👶 From birth to age one, your metabolism increases rapidly.
👧 Then decreases by about 3% per year until your early twenties.
👩🎤 From 20ish to our 60s, it remains stable.
👵 Post-60s, metabolism only slows down by approximately 1% per year.
So you can’t put your weight gain down to a slower metabolism based on ageing alone. If you identify other factors that affect your metabolism, you can make some quick changes.
6 factors affecting your metabolism as you age
💪 Muscle mass: Muscle burns more energy than fat, even at rest. After the age of 40, you start to lose skeletal muscle naturally, but you can work on preserving it through resistance training.
🚶 Physical activity: A sedentary lifestyle will slow your metabolism. That stone age body doesn’t like to be sat on its backside all day. General activity can easily reduce in your life as work gets busier, family life happens and you generally get more, you know, comfortable
🥱 Sleep deprivation: Whether you’re still partying, burning the midnight oil or sacrificing your sleeping hours to your offspring; lack of sleep can disrupt the hormones that regulate metabolism. Getting into better sleep habits will help.
💦 Dehydration: Water is essential for many metabolic processes. Being dehydrated can slow down your metabolism. Most of us don’t make time to drink enogh water. You know what to do about it!
🥬 Dieting and calorie restriction: Severe calorie restriction can cause your body to go into "starvation mode," where it conserves energy by slowing down your metabolism. It’s time you gave up dieting for good.
😖 Stress: Chronic stress can lead to hormonal changes that slow metabolism, such as increased cortisol levels, which can increase cravings for sugar and may also promote fat storage. The older you get, the more essential it is that you find a way to cope with the effects of stress.
It’s never too late to change your metabolism
Midlife does not automatically bring an automatic drop in metabolism. While your metabolism will slow down in later life, there's a lot you can do to slow that process.