By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 29, 2012
Maintaining weight loss can be a challenging task that becomes more difficult with age.
Post-menopausal women have it particularly tough as hormonal changes and the aging process slow energy expenditure.
Researchers have found that some behaviors that help a woman lose or control her weight earlier in life, may not be effective or sustainable for the long term.Researchers thus suggest that attention to these behaviors may improve long-term obesity treatment outcomes.
Long-term improvements in weight control are tied to learning to eat a healthy diet, such as enhanced consumption of fruit and nuts, rather than the total avoidance of substances such as fried foods.
Lead investigator Bethany Barone Gibbs, Ph.D., explains that a number of factors work against long-term weight loss.
Not only does motivation decrease after you start losing weight, there are physiological changes, including a decreased resting metabolic rate. Appetite-related hormones increase. Researchers studying the brain are now finding that you have enhanced rewards and increased motivation to eat when youve lost weight.
Thus biological changes in response to losing weight and as a function of the aging process, contribute to make it very difficult for older women to lose weight and maintain weight loss.
Traditional behavioral treatments for obesity, focused on caloric intake, have had poor long-term results.
In the study, investigators sought to determine if changes in eating behaviors and selected foods were associated with weight loss at six and 48 months in a group of overweight post-menopausal women.
Read the original here:
Post-Menopausal Women Have Special Weight Loss Challenges
