Proteins, exercise and little bread

Do not set yourself the goal of having a slim figure like twenty or even more years ago. This is most likely not going to happen and it is pointless to set the bar so high, just as you should not try to lose a large number of kilograms, and what’s more, in the shortest possible time. You will feel better even if you lose, for example, five percent of your weight. But the goal should be a change in lifestyle and an increase in fitness rather than weight loss as such.

Even at an older age, of course, in order to lose weight, you have to burn more energy than you take in. However, you definitely shouldn’t go for it in the form of strict diets, because you can’t stick to them forever, you’re just begging for slowing of metabolism and also about the fact that you will miss important nutrients. Already after fifty, the ability to use them well decreases, which is why the fact that the food should be of good quality becomes more important.

Basic recommendation that you should stick to? Eat more vegetables, a reasonable amount of fruit, whole grain products, fish, legumes and less fat dairy products, choose lean parts of meat, you can alternate between poultry, lean pork and beef.

Avoid fatty sausages – sausages, sausages and salamis. Limit alcohol, sweets, including sweet drinks, a frequent sin is too many side dishes and baked goods, but you should definitely not skip them completely. And of course, move.

As you get older, you lose muscle mass – to reverse this, you should exercise two to three times a week for about half an hour. It is not necessary to go to the gym for this, but find instructions on the Internet that will suit you: it is ideal to exercise with some kind of aid, for example light dumbbells, which will increase the effectiveness of the activity. Exercise or physical movement in general, for example walking, is also a great prevention of osteoporosis.

It is essential to monitor the intake of proteins, which are both in meat, eggs and dairy products, as well as in plant sources – for example in legumes – it is ideal to combine both types of protein. Proteins fill you up for a longer time than carbohydrates and at the same time help your body to maintain muscles. Attention, it works reliably only if you exert yourself physically at the same time, the increase in protein intake alone will not have a general effect.

Although it doesn’t seem like it, hunger is sometimes difficult to distinguish from thirst – we don’t feel it as much as we get older. At the same time, sometimes it is enough to have a drink instead of immediately reaching for food. If you are not sure if you are getting enough water, check your urine, it should be light yellow in color.

People in their 60s sometimes find it convenient to divide their food into several smaller portions a day, including small snacks, but try to make lunches, and especially dinners, even smaller, for example, they can take the form of vegetable salads with a bit of pastry with some quality protein (chicken, fish, eggs, tofu, etc.).

Don’t skimp on sleep, you need it both for strong immunity and to lose or maintain a lower weight. If you don’t sleep at least seven to eight hours a day, it will throw off the level of hormones that, among other things, affect your appetite. Do you go to sleep during the day and then you can’t work at night? Try to break up or shorten the daily rest, the most important thing is an uninterrupted night’s sleep.