Grow old healthy: Track your weight and waist size

Tracking your weight and waist size helps you get useful information to diagnose some health problems related to overweight and obesity as you age. This will help you have plans to take care of yourself through proper nutrition and exercise.

Being underweight or overweight can have adverse effects on one's health. Being underweight can make your body more susceptible to infection or disease and put you at higher risk of breaking a bone if you fall. Meanwhile, excess weight, especially a large waistline, can increase the risk of metabolic cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
As we age, the body's energy needs can decrease, leading to weight gain. Everyone's body composition changes and we tend to lose muscle over time and replace it with excess fat. Because fat requires less energy than muscle to function, our energy goes down. Many people also become less physically active as they age.
If a person is using less energy that comes with not changing his or her diet, this will lead to weight gain. Hormonal changes as we age are also related to the accumulation of excess body fat. So, pay attention to your weight as you get older, because weight is easy to increase with age without us completely paying attention.

In addition to a commonly used index, the body mass index (BMI), the waist circumference of each person, especially the elderly, is also very important. A person with a large waist has a high risk of some diseases such as: Heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes. The larger the waist, the higher the risk of these diseases:
For men: Waist circumference over 94cm, especially the risk increases significantly when a man's waist circumference reaches 102cm or more. For women: Waist circumference over 80cm, especially the risk increases significantly when a woman's waist circumference reaches 88cm or more. It should be noted that the upper limits may be lower for people of Asian or Asian descent. Specifically, Asian women with a waist circumference over 80cm and over 90cm for men have a higher risk of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. These people are advised to seek help from doctors or healthcare professionals as soon as possible.

Whether a person is overweight or underweight is often not only based on the weight index to evaluate, but also needs to include the person's height. In a type of metric known as body mass index (or BMI) it is calculated using the formula weight (in kilograms) / height squared (in metres). The World Health Organization criteria for assessing a person's condition for BMI are as follows:

As for the elderly, some studies have shown that body mass index (BMI) is not necessarily a good indicator of a person's health status. However, the same BMI thresholds are still used as a way of relatively assessing whether an elderly person is overweight or obese.

In fact, you won't be able to completely deal with fat in any particular area of ​​the body, but fat storage around the waist and individual body weight distribution can affected by their diet and exercise habits. Some methods or exercise regimens that can help older adults reduce waist circumference include:
Be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day for a minimum of five days a week. Specifically, aim to spend at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of more vigorous exercise each week. Try activities like walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, and aerobics. Increase exercise intensity over time. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be especially effective because it boosts metabolism. Stick to a healthy diet and skip processed and fast foods. A healthy diet can have many options, but most include fruits and vegetables, lean protein, low-fat dairy, and whole grains. Always pay attention to product labels and try to choose healthy foods, avoiding saturated fat and added sugar. Adjust the amount of food consumed appropriately. Even eating healthy foods in large quantities means you're taking in more calories and that can lead to weight gain and waist size. In the case of eating out, should absolutely pay attention and limit processed foods and foods high in fat. Drink plenty of water but limit soft drinks and other sugary drinks that are high in empty calories. Limit the use of alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer and stimulants. The recommended amount of alcohol for older adults (over 65) is one drink per day, which is the equivalent of a small pint of beer or a glass of wine.

As a person ages, it entails a decrease in energy needs as well as activity time, so it is easy for them to gain weight as well as increase the amount of accumulated fat in the body, especially in the waist. Therefore, it is very important to regularly monitor weight and waist circumference in the elderly. Studies have shown that losing just 5 to 10 percent of body weight and waist circumference in older adults can greatly reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and heart disease. Cancer, diabetes....
In addition to maintaining a diet and exercising to reduce waist circumference in order to prevent many diseases of old age, the elderly should also actively carry out periodic health checks. . This is very necessary and important when helping our health to always maintain a state of balance.
General health check-up package - Vinmec International General Hospital is deployed for all subjects and ages. With the above package, the examiner will be assessed biological indicators such as weight, height, blood pressure, BMI, clinical examination. Perform tests of blood, urine, liver function, kidney, blood sugar, blood fat, Electrocardiogram, ultrasound, X-ray... Through the test results, the doctor will consider to advise you. inform customers about diet, sleep and medication in case of need.

Reference source: nutrition.org.uk