“Age is just a number”. We’ve all heard this, and in all honesty, it is. Today, 50 is the new 40. However, telling that to your abdominal area may take serious work. Although we lose up to 8% of muscle mass every ten years after 30, and way over past 60, flattening your stomach when you’re 50 and over is possible. This ultimately means that the tendency to accumulate fat around the middle area increases drastically for women.
The good news is that our muscles respond to exercise regardless of our age. It’s even better for women who are 50-plus flatten their stomach through exercise than going the cosmetic route. By building sufficient muscle area, the abdomen and reducing belly fat, will also help protect you from developing insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes.
What’s Behind Stomach Fat?
These three factors generally determine a woman’s weight:
- The number of calories you take in daily
- The amount of calories you burn through regular exercise and,
- Your age
The balance between the foods you consume on a daily basis and the amount of exercise you do will determine the excess weight you carry, and this includes stomach fat. Additionally, because muscle mass reduces as you age, fat generally increases. When we, especially women, lose muscle mass, the amount of calories our bodies use decreases, and this makes it even more challenging to maintain a healthy weight.
It’s not always that you’re gaining weight as we age. In fact, most women will notice an increase in stomach fat the older they get. The biggest culprit of this is the loss of estrogen, as it promotes the distribution of fat in our bodies.
Carrying and gaining weight around our waists – appearing in an “apple” or “pear” shape – also has genetic origins, so don’t always be hard on yourself.
Tip
Before you get into exercising, make sure that you take measurements around the middle area and write them down. Perhaps place the records of your measurement on the fridge, that way you’ll never miss it. Make sure that you make a record of your progress weekly to remain accountable.
Let’s Teach Old Stomachs New Tricks
So you’re 50 years and older, right? So, it is crucial to limit the work you do based on your age. These limitations can include how flexible you are, whether you have back or joint problems, and your health. However, here, we’re going to look at the most basic, yet practical core exercises for women over 50. These include
- Working the lower abdomen with sit-ups
- Doing crunches for your upper abdomen
- Getting into planks for a full-core workout
- For lower and mid-stomachs, scissors
- To increase flexibility and stretching doing torso twists
Focus On Balance!
So, it is crucial to have a balanced exercise routine. Throwing in aerobics into the mix is a great way to promote strength training. If you could dedicate between 150 minutes and 300 minutes every week of low-level activity exercises and between 75 and 150 minutes of intensive activity, you’re well on your way to flattening your stomach!
Fitness goals that include high-intensity interval training are effective. During these exercises, you’ll throw yourself into intensive workouts and then lengthy recovery intervals regardless of your exercise levels. However, you must modify this type of exercising with your age and remain safe throughout workouts.
Take It Easy
Whether you used to have an exercise regimen in your 20s and 30s, it’s important to remember that now that you’re a woman in your 50s-plus, you will need to take it easy. Try to go slower and at more steady progress to accommodate your age. Give it your best, but make sure you avoid injuries; you need to leave some energy in the bank so that you can maximize your strength and endurance as you carry on.
Your Diet Is Crucial
With any exercises for women over 50, you must consider your diet! With working out your stomach, there’s no specific diet, so common sense will play a huge role here – especially if you really want to shed the weight. Stick to, or adopt eating fruits and vegetables, lean sources of protein as well as grains.
At Fabulous50s, we believe in regaining our confidence even beyond our 50s. We understand the pressures and challenges that come with reaching menopause and having to struggle with how we look, our confidence and weight loss. But, we’d like to take this journey with you.
For more on stomach exercises for women over 50 and what we do, visit our website and social media pages for details on everything we do.