chalet tribalism: TheHghBlog - Plan your retirement, Ask : Am I healthy?

Am I healthy?

A healthy body is an essential component of quality of life in your retirement years. Even very old people may lead energetic, active, involved and effective lives if they?re realistically healthy and balanced. If you?re in illness or have a impairment, you?ll be restricted in what you can use with your spare time.

In planning your retirement, think about how emotionally active your thoughts will be. Do you see one self playing golf, playing tennis, strolling, walking or swimming? What about having fun with your grand kids or traveling? You have to be in good condition for these activities.

Before you decide to retire, have a good review of your health. Are you in shape now, or are you looking to take steps to enhance your wellbeing so that you can take pleasure in an energetic retirement? If you haven?t seen a doctor in a while, schedule a checkup.

If you have issues about your well being or have a chronic medical problem such as a heart problem or diabetes, speak to your doctor about steps you can take now to make sure optimal fitness as you get older. For instance, if you?re obese, speak to your doctor about a sensible plan for losing weight.

Putting together a practice of normal physical exercise now not only will help keep you in shape to enable you to enjoy a number of actions later but is a very good way to alleviate the stress of the transition to retirement. It also provides you with something to do on a regular basis and can serve as a base from which to investigate new sports or hobbies.

Healthy Weight and Aging

There have been a constant clamor for knowing what?s the right body weight for every single individual. It is not all about looking sexy and slim and fit but more about a longer life span, a healthier you.

There was news that America has become the most obesity laden nation in the twentieth century. Then again, the average life span for Americans have increased and not lessened a bit. If we use this as an indication, too much body weight has nothing to do with health. Or has it?

Well, weight loss has its own pros and cons. It can be good but it can also be bad as well. Weight loss is good when what you are trimming down is body fat. It becomes bad, meanwhile, when you are losing muscle mass rather than fat.

Sarcopenia, or muscle wasting in layman?s term, can be a trigger for making you feel older than your real age. It can ably lessen your quality of life.

The Good and the Bad About your Weight

We all know that excessive weight gain can lead to life-threatening health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart ailments. But did you know that being slightly overweight as you age could improve your quality of life? It could have a say on how long and how well you live.

This should not be an excuse for anyone to lazy around and eat as much as they want and can. We are only saying that you should not feel completely terrible about body weight because it has significant functions to keep us feeling good.

Body fat is a strongly active metabolic tissue in the body, producing a diverse range of hormones, such as leptin, adiponectin, and cytokines.

Excessive weight is often associated with the onset of type 2 diabetes but making a minor weight loss ? about five to seven percent of your total weight ? can already make an improvement in your blood glucose levels and overall symptom control. There is no need really to lose much because doing so may only make your life go downhill. The risk in losing weight depends on what you are actually losing, as what has been mentioned earlier. Losing as much of your body fat is good but if you are losing muscle mass as well, you will feel and look terribly older than your actual age. Definitely, that is bad all around.

The Healthy Weight

So what tip of the scale should your weight fall? There is something called BMI or the Body Mass Index. This is an indication of an ideal weight for every individual. It is not only about the desirable weight. Most of us know that if you want a supermodel body, you must only be around 90 pounds. For some, however, they could be underweight with only that.

Your ideal weight depends upon the size of your skeleton and the amount of muscle you have. It also depends on your height.

Experts say that generally, it is healthy for people to gain weight as they age, but not too much weight. A gain of ten pounds per ten years or a pound each is year is healthy. That, however, would still depend on a lot of factors. For example, if you have been overweight for the longest time, gaining more is definitely bad for you. You should always start with an ideal weight and that should be confirmed via the BMI index.

Losing Weight? That?s Not It!

People who are overweight should not only strive to lose weight but have a healthier wellbeing as well. They say that losing weight when you are sixty and above can be hazardous to your health. That is a very good boost for you to start early in life and do it seriously.

You know, losing weight is only half the battle. You will still be continuously challenged to maintain in that weight by modifying your everyday diet and increasing your physical activity. Your goal is to lose as much abdominal fat as you can.

There is no particular diet advisable for losing weight. For as long as you eat fewer calories than your body actually require, you will definitely shed those extra baggage. But keep in mind that you need to lose only body fat and not your muscle mass. That is where exercise comes in.

Involving yourself in physical activities while you are into a strict diet is the key. Exercise might slow down your weight loss because you are gaining more muscle but this is for the better. After all, there have been reports of how dangerous extreme weight loss can be. Aside from making you more vulnerable to another bout with rapid weight gain, it is also a known trigger for aging fast because it causes for you to lose muscle and body water.

When you have decided to lose weight, you must remember to keep a technique in mind on how to maintain it. Maintaining your weight and avoiding to regain what you have lost is the bigger battle. Even successful dieters have been challenged by this glitch.

How can you keep the weight off? The key is a significant lifestyle change. It will not help if you will only absent yourself from doing what you have been doing when you were gaining those pounds. You need to completely give that life up and embrace a healthier lifestyle permanently.

If you want to learn more, you can check out the National Weight Control Registry. It has been keeping track of people who lost at least thirty pounds and maintained that loss for at least a year.

What have they found? That exercise is critical for maintaining your ideal weight, especially after weight loss. It is definitely important that you make healthy choices regarding food as well. But exercise is obviously the key in your battle against weight loss and regain.

Exercise and Losing Weight

Yes, weight loss and weight gain is all about the calories. But it is not merely about the calories you gain by eating but how those calories are used up by your body. This is where strength training comes in. When you are involved with an exercise routine, you are able to have enough muscle mass beneath the body fat, which burns the calories continuously so you are able to eat as much without gaining weight.

A high metabolism brought about by stronger muscles and bones can give you the lean body mass that is ideal for a healthier weight and a younger-looking you.

Don?t make the same mistake of starving yourself. Because that will not only make it impossible for you to manage your weight but also make you looking too old for your age. When you have to lose weight, don?t lose your muscle mass. Instead, gain more muscles in order to have high metabolism and a stronger self.

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