Forty-ish and Fit!

More often than not, the age of 40 signifies the start of middle age for a lot of women. There is however no reason why a woman should look middle aged as she glides through this decade. This is the time wherein Mother Nature sounds the reality alarm: metabolisms slow down. Without a doubt, exercise plays a vital role in keeping a healthy and trim figure.

Debrah Waterhouse, nutrition counselor and author of Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell’, reiterates this fact by stating that women are genetically predisposed to storing fat and generally have bigger fat cells than men do (ouch!). She further states that exercise is the only strategy that effectively releases fat from the fat cells (of which women have a lot of!). Attempts to eat less fatty/starchy foods and controlling calories may prevent fat storage but do nothing to get rid of the fat already stored in your body. Why? Human beings have a built-in protective mechanism that ensured survival when faced with the prospect of starvation. When a woman goes on a “crash diet” (eating far less calories than her body usually expects), her body cannot tell the difference between famine and a diet adventure. Nature then commands the body to conserve energy by slowing the metabolism down. As a result, the fat-storing enzymes are activated and the fat cells become less efficient at losing fat. Whatever weight is lost in the body would be taken from much needed water and muscles. The result is a haggard, dehydrated woman!

To make matters worse because there is less lean body tissue present, the body now burns fewer calories. Weight is easily  regained in the form of more fat. Even though the body eventually recovers the lost lean tissue, the damage (gain in fat weight) has been done.

 Waterhouse concludes that exercise is the single most important health promoting and figure-slimming strategy that a woman could apply.

Uptown/Downtown interviewed three fabulously formed women in this special age-range to get the skinny on their exercise and eating programs!

Sen Sanchez: Model, Jewelry Designer

“Four to five days a week Bikram Yoga 6 a.m. or 9 a.m. everyday or if I could, 7 days... After yoga, it is my Sen power breakfast that consists of no-milk no-sugar oatmeal, a banana, grapefruit, pineapple, fresh carrot juice, fresh calamansi juice on at room temperature water and no sugar and my black coffee. My Bikram Yoga is 90 minutes and you lose about 730 calories per session. Bikram Yoga is done in a hot room with 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit temperature — very good especially if you are healing any injuries in your body, of course with regular practice. I have done other workout program but yoga, especially Bikram Yoga, toned my body fast... It relaxes, detoxifies and realigns my body as well... This I can see myself doing it for another 40 years... forever... It is the tremendous positive energy I feel that makes me keep doing it and of course, I see and feel the results for almost two years of hardwork, should I say... I am just maintaining my weight now...116lbs, for my 5feet 5 inches height, I think it is just ideal... my waistline will not go back to 23 inches when I did not have two kids yet but 25-and-a-half-inches waistline now is definitely not bad at all, I think!”

Claire Barberis: Model, Mother

“I play touch rugby every week. It works out every muscle in my body. I also box, run and lift weights. I love eating seafood, chicken, rice, pasta, salads, soup, smoothies and cereal. The secret is in controlling my portions. I make sure that I expend more energy than I take in (in the form of calories.)”

Gela Corneliesen: Housewife, Mother

“I take jazz class, play tennis and go to the gym several times a week. Weight training is fantastic for one’s bone density. It is my first defense against osteoporosis. I am big on salads on the weekdays and reserve the splurges for the weekends.”