What is middle age spread?
Middle age spread is not a medical condition, but perhaps it should be… it is understood to be the accumulation of fat around the hips, bottom, and belly in both men and women as we get older.
Dr. C W Randolph an American gynaecologist; describes abdomen expansion in middle age as a result of hormonal imbalance.
- “The levels of hormones that maintain muscle mass tend to fall off. At the same time, we tend to become less active, causing our muscles to atrophy or shrink through decreased use.”
Metabolism, Muscles, and Fat
Metabolism is the amount of energy that is required to maintain our body in a living state. The energy needed includes the breakdown of nutrients from our food, the building and repair of our body.
Metabolism links closely to nutrition and the availability of quality nutrients from the food we eat.
Muscles are a complex network of soft tissue fibres; they are responsible for blood transportation throughout the body, any body movement, posture, heat generation, and feelings of well-being.
Muscle is highly active tissue and uses considerable energy to maintain.
Fat is an energy storage and regulating cell; it means energy not required by the body stores in tiny “sacks” called adipocytes. Fat also stimulates certain hormones to ensure that the body has enough fat stores to maintain the mechanics of its existing state.
In the absence of muscle mass, fat storage becomes the body’s primary focus. Recent research has shown that thin people with low muscle mass, can have a high body fat percentage, and suffer many, if not more metabolic conditions than an overweight person.
The number of fat sacks is fixed by age 20, after that the sacks either increase or decrease in size but stay the same in number.
Dr. Kirsty Spalding of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found while dieting causes loss of weight including fat from the fat cells, it does not reduce the number.
Further, Dr. Hernandez of the University of Colorado Denver, Endocrinology Division, found in his study of adult patients who had fat removed by liposuction from their hips and thighs regained the weight lost by the end of a year. Further, the fat was redeposited in the fat cells of the abdomen!
Why abdominal fat deposits?
The body is an efficient machine, and the simplest explanation is, as we age and lose muscle mass, the body must be redistributed weight closer to its centre of gravity for it to be carried efficiently.
It is the reason why babies are carried in the belly!
A more elaborate explanation stems from the food we eat, the amount of sleep we get and our stress levels.
- Food we eat: Alcohol and foods rich in refined carbohydrates, and simple sugars, such as white bread, cakes, sugary cereals, cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin levels, leading to an increase in belly fat storage.
- Sleep: Dr. Kristen G. Hairston, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, found that short sleepers (less than six hours) showed a 32 percent gain in belly fat, versus a 13 percent gain among those who slept six or seven hours per night.
- Stress: when the body is consistently in “fight/flight” mode, it increases the production of adrenaline, which signals fat cells to release their stores of fatty acids. If unused, the hormone cortisol is released to collect and store the fatty acids. Cortisol re-stores fat in the belly because of its proximity to the vital organs needed to react to environmental stress.
Is there any good news?
Most definitely yes!! BUT it does require the maintaining of muscle mass.
Maintaining lean muscle mass is an important strategy in combating middle-aged spread. Resistance training or strength training makes the muscles work against a weight or force.
The Australian government physical activity guidelines recommend that we incorporate muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days each week.
Our shape up circuit combines weight bearing exercises, with core and cardiovascular conditioning under time pressure. It means that our body during our 28-minute circuit will be forced to find the energy and must break down fat deposits to keep the momentum of exercise.
The focus on whole body strength and conditioning and the unpredictable nature of our Shape-UP circuit means that the body is better able to react to the unpredictable real world.
The good news is that your investment of 28 minutes twice a week in our Shape-UP class will help make the middle-age spread a foreign concept for you.
Further by maintaining your muscle mass, you will be able to enjoy a better quality of life; look better, feel better, sleep better and stress less.
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Keep up the good work!!
Live well and eat well!
Anna
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