How Your Metabolism Changes in Your 20s, 30s, and 40s

A.K.A. why you need to start strength training right now.
When you’re a kid, you can wolf down candy bars, fast food, and frozen pizza bagels without a second thought—you know it won't impact your weight. Now, you're a hardcore veggie eater and struggle to lose those extra few pounds. Why does this happen? As you likely know, your metabolism takes a nosedive over the years and ultimately impacts your waistline.

 

Now that we've got that out of the way, here are all the ways your natural calorie-burning power transforms as you age—and what you can do to keep it in high gear.

 

In Your Twenties...

 

 

 

You Hit Your Peak 

Most women enjoy their highest basal metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn by just being alive), in their late teens or early twenties, says Christopher Ochner, Ph.D., weight-loss expert at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Some women will hit it a bit earlier, others later, which has a lot to do with genetics, but your activity level also plays a big role. After all, the more you hoof it around campus, play on intramural teams, and hit up the university weight room, the more calorie-torching muscle you’ll build and the higher your metabolism will be, he says. Plus, until you’re about 25 or so, your body is still building bone, and that process burns up calories.

 

But It Doesn’t Last Long

According to the American Council on Exercise, your basal metabolic rate drops roughly one to two percent per decade. “By the late twenties, many women notice that they can’t eat the same things they used to without gaining weight and that the weight doesn’t fall off as easily as it once did,” says Ochner. Since this drop starts right about the time people settle into the (largely sedentary) workforce—and start losing muscle—your office job might actually be to blame, he says. Buzzkill.

 

 

In Your Thirties...

 

 

 

The Fattening Cycle Continues

As you lose muscle, your natural calorie-burning ability slows even more. And as you lose muscle and gain fat, fat can develop into the muscle and cause weight gain and metabolic dysfunction, says Caroline Cederquist, M.D., creator of bistroMD and author of The MD Factor. To add insult to injury, during your thirties, you aren’t producing as much human growth hormone as before (no more growth spurts for you!), which also leads to a dip in your metabolic rate, she says.

However, strength training can help you build muscle and produce more human growth hormone, both of which keep your metabolism running as fast as (or faster than) it did when you were 20.

 

Pregnancy Can Go Either Way

If you decide to bring a baby on board, pregnancy can give your metabolism a bump—but not enough to start eating your normal diet times two. “Yes, you need to eat for yourself and the baby, but that baby might only be a couple millimeters large, so you don't need that many extra calories,” says Wesley Delbridge, R.D., a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

During pregnancy, you'll likely burn about 200 extra calories a day, says Delbridge. Women who are at a healthy weight before pregnancy should only gain about 25 to 35 pounds during those nine months, he says. Unfortunately, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, almost half of women gain too much weight when they’re preggers—which can contribute to muscle- and metabolism-wrecking insulin resistance.

 

Breastfeeding to the Rescue

A huge calorie burn comes from breastfeeding. The average woman who's breastfeeding full-time can expect to burn an extra 500 to 1,000 calories per day, says Delbridge. Unfortunately, as soon as you start weaning your little one, your metabolism goes back to pre-pregnancy levels—as long as you haven’t lost any muscle since you got pregnant.

 

 

 

In Your Forties...

 

 

 

 

 

Your Hormones Tank

Around 40, your baby maker prepares to close up shop, and your levels of estrogen, progesterone, and (again) human growth hormone decrease, says Cederquist. So unfortunately, your metabolism follows suit. That means you'll have to focus on reducing your caloric intake during your forties in order to maintain your weight, says Delbridge. If you're working out, that might only amount to eating about 150 less calories per day, he says. But if you don't exercise and sit most of the day, you'll probably have to cut more calories to stay svelte.

 

Building Muscle Becomes a Non-Negotiable

Okay, so this is a must at any age, but around age 40, your body’s natural decline in muscle mass, called sarcopenia, sets in. To combat the loss of lean mass and keep your metabolism revved, you really have to turn to strength training. (But, hopefully, you have already!) According to research from the Harvard School of Public Health, people who lift weights put on less belly fat as they age than cardio bunnies.

 

While any exercise will help you burn calories while you’re at the gym, strength training gives your metabolism the biggest boost after your workout ends, says Ochner. On top of pumping iron, eating enough protein (about 100 to 120 grams a day) will boost your efforts to get stronger. “A woman who was sedentary in her twenties and thirties can actually have a higher metabolic rate in her forties if she exercises and changes her diet,” says Cederquist. 

Via: MSN

13 Candy Alternatives to Give to Trick-or-Treaters

Admittedly, no one wants to be like that weird neighbor down the street. You know, the one who gave out Bic pens or cough lozenges for Halloween. At the same time, if you’re working on getting fit, you probably feel at least a tiny bit guilty dumping a handful of sugary junk into trick-or-treaters’ bags, especially with child obesity rates at an all-time high.

In light of that, we thought we’d offer you a few healthier options, some culled from our experts, some from you! Here’s our list of candy alternatives you can hand out tomorrow night. And, consider this, since most houses will be handing out candy, your treats will stand out (in a good way) from the bunch!

Sunflower Seeds Mini Pack
Sunflower seeds are incredibly labor intensive, so kids tend to reach satiation or boredom before they can overeat. The sodium is a little dodgy, but the fats are all good and they pack a nice little bit o’ fiber.

Crayon 4-Packs
No kid can have enough crayons. And they inspire creativity instead of obesity. You’re not going to get much healthier than this, provided kids don’t eat the crayons, of course.

Pretzels Mini-Pack
Yes, we know, refined flour. But no fat and little or no chemicals. A 100-calorie pack of pretzels is such an improvement over, well, any candy.

Bubbles
This simple toy can lead to hours—or at least minutes of entertainment.

Temporary Tattoos
Rebellion, man! That’s what Halloween is all about. Kids will walk away from your house happy and healthy and, if you’re lucky, you’ll really annoy a few parents. Those things don’t come off in the bath, ya know. (They do, however come off with a little rubbing alcohol.)

Fitness Passes
Crystal (@Crickey13) had the great idea of inspiring fitness in a fun way. She “bought swim/skate passes for the kids! Great exercise and fun too!”

Fruit “Snack” Rolls
They may not be as good as a real piece of fruit, but they’re individually wrapped and they usually contain about 1 gram of fiber for every 12 grams of carbohydrates.

Pirate’s Booty
Katheen Larsen (@Markaval) likes to hand out this cheesy snack. “I tried to do glow-in-the-dark fangs, but they aren’t individually wrapped.”

Finger Trap
Remember these little bamboo puzzlers? Stick your fingers in each end of the tube—and you can’t get them out!

Stickers
There’s something about kids and stickers. They’ll be happy to sticker themselves, each other, and all sorts of stuff with Halloweeny stickers. Can’t find Halloween stickers this late in the game? Pick up animal or fantasy themed ones!

Halloween props
Most stores carry bags of spider rings, bouncy eyeballs, or snakes. Or consider handing out Halloween-themed pencils and erasers. The fun of these will last long after the Halloween sugar high is gone.

Glow in the Dark Sticks
Courtney (@Wolfey10101) likes to hand out glow sticks! We loved these as a kid and kids will have fun waving them around as they trick or treat.

Finger Puppets
If you can find them, those little monster finger puppets are super fun at Halloween both for terrorizing siblings…and parents.

What do you like to hand out for Halloween?

Via: Team Beachbody

Cryotherapy - Can You Freeze Your Way To Weight Loss?

This is very interesting but not sure I am into freezing myself.......I will stick to my workouts and clean eating for now.

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie: Strip down to your skivvies and step into an icy chamber cooled with liquid nitrogen, where temperatures plummet to nearly 200 degrees below zero. In just a few minutes, the frigid temps — colder than any part of Antarctica —can supposedly zap inflammation and boost metabolism, giving you a killer endorphin rush in the process.

But whole-body cryotherapy — or “cold therapy” — has actually been around since the late 1970s (the same decade that gave us Alien, the first Star Trek feature film, and Star Wars), when it was introduced as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Since then, localized cold therapy has proven effective for destroying skin lesions (ever had a wart frozen off?) and whole-body cryotherapy has gained popularity among elite athletes as a way to soothe sore muscles (Kobe Bryant and LeBron James swear by it). Marcus Elliot, MD, founder and director of P3, an elite training center and research lab in Santa Barbara, CA explains. “It appears there is a large, whole-body decrease in inflammation. This can improve recovery post-training [and] in some cases reduce chronic pain. The mechanism isn’t really well worked out, but it appears to reduce the levels of at least two pro-inflammatory chemical intermediates.”

Now, devotees claim that cryotherapy can also speed up weight loss. The theory is that your body goes into survival mode when exposed to the brutal cold; this supercharges your metabolic rate and torches about 800 calories in the process. Cryo spas claim this type of therapy can also boost energy, banish stress, improve sleep, and alleviate skin conditions like psoriasis. Not bad for a three-minute spa treatment.

If these whole-body benefits are legit, it’s no surprise that cryo spas are suddenly popping up all over the country. But is it too good to be true? The short answer: It’s too soon to tell. “We saw an initial increase in metabolic rate, but no consistent results for lasting weight loss,” says Dr. Alan Christianson, a naturopathic medical doctor (NMD) in Phoenix who has studied cryotherapy.
Dr. Elliott was among the first — possibly the first — to open a cryotherapy chamber on the West Coast after hearing rave reviews from a sports scientist for the San Antonio Spurs, but is cautiously optimistic about the potential weight-loss benefits. “We were one of the earliest adapters, but my interest was from reading the literature on reducing pro-inflammatory components…I was very dubious of the weight loss claims,” he says. “However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a caloric bump post-cryotherapy. There is definitely a big release of norepinephrine or adrenaline, and subjectively, it feels like you are utilizing more energy.”

One potential snag for long-term weight loss is the price tag. While a few minutes of extreme shivering might sound a lot easier than an hour-long spin class, treatments typically cost between $50-100 per session, making regular visits difficult for those of us whose paychecks don’t come from the NBA. So even if the calorie-burning claims ultimately prove to be true, it’s just like any weight loss effort — without repetition, you won’t see results. And repetition can get costly.

Still, if you’re intrigued by the idea of becoming a human popsicle, the procedure is relatively safe to try. Unlike the bone-chilling effects of an ice bath, the lack of moisture in a cryo chamber keeps the cold air from penetrating your skin by more than a half-millimeter. “When the treatment is done per guidelines, there are no substantial risks,” Dr. Christianson says. (Following the rules is crucial, though; track star Justin Gatlin reportedly got frostbite after wearing damp socks into a cryo chamber.)

So what is cryotherapy actually good for? The studies are few and far between, and mostly focus on its effectiveness for pain relief. “It can be helpful for inflammation and in speeding recovery from rigorous physical training,” says Dr. Christianson. Even if it’s not a magical weight-loss chamber, cryotherapy may help you recover more quickly and get back into your regular fitness regimen. And in the long run, that might help you see faster results.

Via: Team Beachbody
         

Banana Berry Oat Bars

Ingredients

for strawberry topping

• 2 cups(330 grams) finely minced fresh or frozen strawberries 
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 medium lemon, juiced

for banana oat bars

• 2 cups (162 grams) uncooked rolled oats, divided (certified gluten-free if necessary)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 medium (262 grams) ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons honey, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine strawberries with 1 tablespoon honey and lemon juice (note: if using frozen strawberries, thaw first). Toss with a spoon until well combined. Set mixture aside to chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
In a food processor, process 1 cup rolled oats until it reaches a flour consistency and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, mashed banana, vanilla extract and remaining 1 tablespoon honey. Stir with a spoon until well combined.
Line an 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Transfer one-half to two-thirds of oat mixture into the baking dish and press into dish with a spatula.
Strain liquid from strawberry mixture and spread berries in a single layer over the oats in the baking dish. Crumble remaining oat mixture on top of the strawberry layer.
Bake the bars for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove and cool before cutting into bars.

BUDGET TIP: Fresh berries too expensive? Buy a jar of low- or no-sugar jam at your local supermarket and use it in place of the strawberry topping.

Nutrition Information

Serves: 4 | Serving Size: 4 small bars (2-inch by 2-inch bar)
Per serving: Calories: 296; Total Fat: 3g; Saturated Fat: 0g; Monounsaturated Fat: 0g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 641mg; Carbohydrate: 62g; Dietary Fiber: 8g; Sugar: 27g; Protein: 8g
Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 355mg; Iron: 3%; Vitamin A: 1%; Vitamin C: 80%; Calcium: 2%

Energizing Tips (optional)

• Spread the bars with 1 tablespoons of nut butter to up calories, protein and fat. (Per serving: Calories: 401; Fat: 12g; Carbohydrate: 65g; Dietary Fiber: 9g; Sugar: 28g; Protein: 12g)
• Enjoy your bars with 1 cup of reduced-fat milk to increase calories and protein. (Per serving: Calories: 418; Fat: 8g; Carbohydrate: 73g; Dietary Fiber: 8g; Sugar: 39g; Protein: 16g)

Via: My Fitness Pal

Cinnamon Coconut Protein Pancakes

Deliciousness!! Pancakes + protein = Heaven! 😋

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
1/4 cup vanilla Shakeology
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together.
Spray a nonstick pan with coconut flour or non stick spray (coconut or olive oil).
Turn your heat to medium/high.
Once the pan is sizzling hot, pour your batter on it. Then turn the heat back to medium/low to make sure the pancakes cook through without burning.
Flip once bubbles start to appear on the pancake's surface then flip again!

10 Reasons Women Should Lift Weights

Many women believe that the only way to lose weight is to do cardiovascular (aerobic exercise). So they jog or take aerobics classes five times a week. Eventually, though, they notice that while their bodies are a little smaller, there are still a lot of flabby and jiggly bits. Sound familiar? Aerobic exercise is important for good health, but it’s only half of the equation. Keep reading for the other half.
For optimal fitness, longevity, and a lean body, weight training is essential. If you avoid pumping iron because you’re afraid of getting “bulky,” then you’re missing out on one of the best fat-burning methods around.
When you’re weight training, you shouldn’t rely exclusively on the scale to gauge your progress. You can use a body fat tester or a tape measure to track how many inches you’re losing. The size of your body will shrink as you shed fat and build muscle, but your weight may not change as dramatically as you expect. Besides, what’s more important, the number on the scale or how you look in your skinny jeans?
If you’re still not convinced that you need to lift weights, here are 10 reasons you should reconsider.

1. Burn more fat. Researchers at Tufts University found that when overweight women lifted heavy weights twice a week, they lost an average of 14.6 pounds of fat and gained 1.4 pounds of muscle. The control group, women who dieted but didn’t lift weights, lost only 9.2 pounds of fat and gained no muscle. When you do an intense weight-training program your metabolism stays elevated and you continue to burn fat for several hours afterward. During regular cardio exercise, you stop burning fat shortly after the workout.

2. Change your body shape. You may think your genes determine how you look. That’s not necessarily true. Weight training can slim you down, create new curves, and help avoid the “middle-age spread.” Dropping only 3 percent of your body fat could translate into a total loss of 3 inches off your hips and thighs. And no, you won’t bulk up—women don’t have enough muscle-building hormones to gain a lot of mass like men do. If you keep your diet clean and create a calorie deficit, you’ll burn fat.

3. Boost your metabolism. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism will be. As women age, they lose muscle at increasing rates, especially after the age of 40. When you diet without doing resistance training, up to 25 percent of the weight loss may be muscle loss. Weight training while dieting can help you preserve and even rebuild muscle fibers. The more lean mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you’ll burn all day long.

4. Get stronger and more confident. Lifting weights increases functional fitness, which makes everyday tasks such as carrying children, lifting grocery bags, and picking up heavy suitcases much easier. According to the Mayo Clinic, regular weight training can make you 50 percent stronger in 6 months. Being strong is also empowering. Not only does it improve your physical activities, it builds emotional strength by boosting self-esteem and confidence.

5. Build strong bones. It’s been well documented that women need to do weight-bearing exercise to build and maintain bone mass, and to prevent osteoporosis. Just as muscles get stronger and bigger with use, so do bones when they’re made to bear weight. Stronger bones and increased muscle mass also lead to better flexibility and balance, which is especially important for women as they age.

6. Fight depression. You’ve probably heard that cardio and low-impact exercises such as yoga help alleviate depression, and weight lifting has the same effect. The endorphins that are released during aerobic activities are also present during resistance training. Many women find that regular strength training, in conjunction with psychological treatment, helps lessen their depression symptoms substantially.

7. Improve sports fitness. You don’t have to be an athlete to get the sports benefit of weight training. Improved muscle mass and strength will help you in all physical activities, whether it’s bicycling with the family, swimming, golfing, or skiing…whatever sport you enjoy.

8. Reduce injuries and arthritis. Weight lifting improves joint stability and builds stronger ligaments and tendons. Training safely and with proper form can help decrease the likelihood of injuries in your daily life. It can also improve physical function in people with arthritis. A study conducted at the University of Wales in Bangor, United Kingdom, found that mildly disabled participants who lifted weights for 12 weeks increased the frequency and intensity at which they could work, with less pain and increased range of movement.

9. Get heart healthy. More than 480,000 women die from cardiovascular disease each year, making it the number-one killer of women over the age of 25. Most people don’t realize that pumping iron can also keep your heart pumping. Lifting weights increases your “good” (HDL) cholesterol and decreases your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol. It also lowers your blood pressure. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that people who do 30 minutes of weight lifting each week have a 23 percent reduced risk of developing heart disease compared to those who don’t lift weights.

10. Defend against diabetes. In addition to keeping your ticker strong, weight training can improve glucose utilization (the way your body processes sugar) by as much as 23 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 weeks of strength training can improve glucose metabolism in a way that is comparable to taking diabetes medication. The more lean mass you have, the more efficient your body is at removing glucose from the blood, which can reduce complications from diabetes or even help prevent type 2 diabetes in the first place.


Via: Team Beachbody

Caprese

Ingredients:

Tomatoes
Mozzarella Cheese (part skim)
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
Pepper


Directions:

Slice cheese and tomatoes into thin slices
Pick basil off stalk, wash and pat dry with a paper towel
Stack however you wish, drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste
Salt and pepper to taste



Maria Doney