Metabolism as we grow older.

What happens when you grow older? Bad news is you'll get there sooner or later. Things start slowing down including your ability to lose weight. Here are some of the common questions people ask.

1. Why am I suddenly gaining fat all over?

Answer: Mitochondria—the structures within cells that convert food into energy— slow down or die off after age 40. Subsequently, you can’t burn calories like you did before and can start gaining weight.

 Solution: To combat the loss of mitochondria, cut 100 calories from your daily intake. Easy ways to trim 100 calories include removing skin from chicken breasts; using skim instead of whole milk in coffee; drink black coffee minus the sugar. By eliminating 100 calories a day helps to keep weight off long term.

2. Why is it so difficult to lose weight as I grow older?

Answer:  Muscle burns 3 times more calories than fat cells, which means loss of muscle mass causes weight gain and an inability to shed kgs. Key factors that create loss of muscle mass include a drop in testosterone levels, crash dieting and disuse from aging.  Recent studies suggest that at 40, women lose muscle mass twice a fast as men. You lose the most muscle mass on the body’s largest surface areas like the core muscles supporting your shoulders and belly, as well as your thighs.

Solution: To fight muscle loss in your back and shoulders try plank exercises; you can do them during commercial breaks while you’re watching TV. Simple squats are great for firming up thigh muscles; you practically can do them anywhere.

 

Story of plus size clothes

Did you know Abercrombie & Fitch did not stock XL or XXL sizes in women’s clothing for many years even though its competitors like H&M did. In 2006, Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch  said the company deliberately excluded clothes for bigger women because it did not want to appeal to just everyone.

Here’s part of what he said in the interview with Salon:

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong, and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

Seven years and 70,000 petition signatures later, the company apologized and invited some teens to a meeting with executives.

“We look forward to continuing this dialogue and taking concrete steps to demonstrate our commitment to anti-bullying in addition to our ongoing support of diversity and inclusion,” the company said. “We want to reiterate that we sincerely regret and apologize for any offense caused by comments we have made in the past which are contrary to these values.”

Abercrombie & Fitch added a plus-size range this spring. Now isn’t that great.

Burger King's new diet chip: Satisfries !!!!

I just came back from the States. When I was there I went to the Burger King & guess what, they have  a new product. OK, I love fries so this one really catch my eye because of the “name” – they called it the new 'Satisfries', & claim that it contain 30 per cent less fat than standard fries !

Burger King Described it as : ….. …a new great tasting crinkle-cut french fries with 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories. Satisfries are cut from real, whole potatoes and fried to tasty perfection – so they’re always crispy on the outside, and hot and fluffy on the inside.

How is it? Well It’s ok, but got to say, pretty clever marketing J
Wonder whether we have it here yet?

Ever wonder which country has the fattest people on the average???

This report is done 2 years ago  : The estimates were compiled by using data from around the world to figure out body mass indexes and average height distributions. This number was multiplied by the population size to figure out the total mass or biomass. The average world body mass was 137 pounds.

The Fattest Nations

1. United States  2. Kuwait   3. Croatia   4. Qatar  5. Egypt

The Thinnest Nations

1. North Korea  2. Cambodia  3. Burundi  4. Nepal  5. Democratic Republic of Congo

According to the study, more than one tenth of the world population is obese, “The rise is being driven by increasing urbanisation, the growth of sedentary, office-based lifestyles and the substitution of Western-style fast foods for traditional diets.”

The study concluded that rising populations and rising rates of obesity spell trouble when it comes to feeding an ever growing population. Especially when you look at the other end of the spectrum, at the countries that due to political and economic strife can’t seem to feed their people.