The older I get, the less I understand the notion that getting fat is a natural part of aging

I’m 5 days out from a 1/2 that was 14 weeks of preparation. I’m committed but it’s just difficult to put together consistency at this phase of life. Sick kids, work disasters, home maintenance, car maintenance, sick parents. There is quite literally always something each week. I think the original respondent was correct it is maybe five or 10% age but mostly your life just has so many more responsibilities as you move into your mid 40s. Also you guys gotta understand that not everyone can burn 1000+ per hour like those of us who grew up exercising. So fatties gonna stay fat. Job, kids, relationships. AND there is a percentage of friends, whose only form of recreation is eating and boozing. It’s not hard to eat/drink yourself fat, and I do think that once you’ve gone to the fat side, coming back is terrible. So it’s up and at em’ at 5:15am, or forget about it.

Hubby and I aren’t parents yet but I feel this hard. If it’s not work, it’s family, or my in laws. His grandmother is in a home and we try to see her often. Family is constantly coming to town. House stuff piles up, we need to clean and fix our space. Laundry needs done, meals need cooked.

N=1 studies are the best. No one else gets hurt.

Not true, many people are naturally skinny with or without cardio. Before I took up running or cared about fitness, I was sub-19 BMI; after I started running and soon after also started weight training, I went up to nearly 21 by happy choice. I am quite sure that if I stop working out and just eat by hunger, I’d go back down in weight.

Some people are just more prone or less prone to gaining weight because of genetics and hormones.

This thread is useless without pics. You may not consider yourself fat but others do.

you may think you aren't getting fatter, but medical imaging would show your innards gradually building up layers of fat to replace your wasting tendons, cartilage, ligaments, bone density. It all gets soft and jellylike until you can't even stand up straight.

You think 38 is aging? Come back when you are 70 and tell us how good you look.

You get about 3x as much exercise as the average Amerocan and eat a diet that sounds pretty healthy. I don't mean to be condescending or confrontational, but there is very little mystery as to why you are able to maintain a healthy weight. And...good for you! Your habits will save you a lot of the downside of aging as it progresses.

You can say whatever you want and come up with any excuses, but at the end of the day, gaining fat is always a matter of lifestyle. You can just not put as much food in your mouth. Very controllable. Insane that even a running forum has so much of the fat American mindset.

Everyone has an opinion on this topic and individual life experiences/challenges make people opinionated/sensitive to the stories of others.

While the original poster's experience is an n=1, there is truth that the majority of Americans do not have the suggested amount of physical activity. That plus the interaction of level of physical activity (or lack there of) plus each person's average caloric intake can lead to weight gain.

Here are the mid 2010's guidelines developed by the American college of sports medicine

If adults are not getting around 150mins of moderate aerobic activity per week with some strength training, they are not meeting the nationally approved guidelines.

A 2020 study data suggested that only 20% of American adults meet those guidelines.

This is not 150mins of hard running. This is 30mins of a stiff walk 5 days a week. or biking.

Its hard to work in exercise with work and family. That being said, a huge portion of US adults do not do this. And at last measured over 40% of America was obese.

Im not saying people do not struggle to meet this. But a lot of America over eats, some over drink, and most are not doing any physical activity per week.

First of all, you are not old. Old is, in this scenario, defined by a point where your T-levels drop and your insulin levels (as a natural by-product of aging) start to fall off as well. Metabolic changes that can cause slow but steady weight gain are real. It has to do with resting metabolic rate, which for a lot of active runners might not really change until they hit their late 40s or early 50s.

Weight gain is the result of two factors, not just one: calories eaten AND calories absorbed by the body (metabolic process).

So two 160 lbs people both running the same mileage and eating the same food can have different body weights after a year. That is why "calories in" doesn't matter if you are an 18 year old boy. They eat many more calories than we do but they are often rail thin despite running lower mileage than most of us.

Nope. Running is the biggest "metabolic process" there is. Calories used by running will dwarf anything else you do and if you're doubling you could burn more calories running than you do the rest of the day combined around 140 mpw.

Sadly, for him, the OP will not understand this comment, as he would not have written his profoundly stupid post if he did. He's lived almost 40 years and still can't understand the simplest things. Imagine living almost 40 years locked inside that prison of a mind.

40 is nothing. By the time you hit 55 your BMI will be way past 30.

Are we talking USA fat or Asian fat?

If you're BMI is over 20 you're fat. Simple.

This. Around 45 your metabolism slows. And this slowing continues. In early 2022 my (57M) metabolism slowed noticeably, and I quickly gained 5kg. Losing it has been a struggle.

But the OP will be surprised as to how little he should eat 20yrs from now.

Taking on more responsibilities in ones prime seriously impacts priorities and imparts some necessary sacrifices toward ones lifestyle. Unfortunately fitness is often one of those sacrifices that carries a long duration, but takes a back seat in urgency of activity. My retirement has revealed it to be a great time to make up for some of that. Some age related injuries cause a required reduction of intensity of workouts, but lower level of workout is better than none at all. So now at 72 "running" is 9:00 minute miles rather than 6:30 miles as in my 50's and the pleasure of watching elites 13:00 5 kms is as a viewer only.

Your take is missing the point. Of course we'd all be rail thin if we ran 140 mpw. Duh.

The question is, why can the same runner at 18 do 40 miles a week and eat 3000 calories a day but when he is 52 years old, he drops the calories to 2500 and ups the mileage to 60 and gains weight?

That is the reality that humans with livers, cortisol levels, insulin levels, testosterone levels, and metabolisms experience. People who say those things don't matter have never had a middle-aged friend who started taking T and watched their weight drop as they ate more.

Yes. I could live on almost no food at this point. If I ate a piece of toast and a half a sandwich and a bowl of soup all day, I'd maintain my weight (while running 50 miles per week). If I ate like I did when I was 18, I'd weigh 300 lbs.