HEALTHY BALANCE

Weight

I've been reading a lot about how losing weight becomes increasingly challenging as we age, and I have experienced this firsthand.

But what makes it more challenging to shed those extra pounds now than when we were younger?

​Age-Related Muscle Loss

​​The amount of lean muscle we have begins to decline 3 to 8 percent per decade after age 30. We also tend to lose muscle when we become less active due to age-related health conditions. 

Why is muscle loss such an issue when it comes to weight loss? Because lean muscle burns more calories than fat, even when not active. If we don't regularly engage in strength training with weights to maintain and build muscle, our bodies will require fewer calories each day. This makes weight gain likely if we continue to eat the same number of calories as when we were younger.

Many of us struggle to adjust our calorie intake. We often eat the same amount of food as we used to when we were more physically active, but now we have less muscle mass to help burn those calories.

The Struggle Is Real

Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I was already having a hard time keeping up with my running like I used to when I was younger. But after my diagnosis, it became even tougher. 

I really wanted to be one of those cancer patients who seemed to just hop out of the chair in the chemo room, and head out for a run. Sadly, that didn't happen.

It was difficult to get in any type of exercise other than the occasional short walk. And even that was very inconsistent due to the extreme fatigue, nausea, and other treatment-related issues.

I was told before my treatments that some people lose weight during chemo, but others gain weight. I lost weight pretty quickly at first because of the nausea. Luckily, once I found the right nausea medication, I only felt really sick for a couple of days after each treatment. There were a lot of foods I couldn't eat, but I soon found out mashed potatoes and ice cream were okay for me. With all the mashed potatoes and ice cream and not much exercise, I gained the weight back pretty fast.

Unfortunately, even though we got the nausea thing under control pretty quickly, the fatigue continued to be a pretty big deterrent in getting in any real exercise for quite some time, and it even continues today because of the meds I continue to take to fight that damn cancer.

And the aging process continues! Don't get me wrong—I'm very happy to still be here and fighting, and I'm thankful for the medications that continue to work. However, they do come with their own set of problems, and being older doesn't help with those problems.