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Once a person hits age 40 their body begins to experience the accumulation of the wear and tear that it experienced since the start of your life. The individuals who have had an unhealthy lifestyle to date will typically begin to experience their first health problems around age 40. Thankfully, even if you may not generally be the healthiest person in the world, improvements to your health that you undertake at this age will often yield big benefits for the rest of your life. Here are some steps to take to stay in shape after 40.
Why is it Challenging to Stay in Shape After Age 40?
When you reach a certain point of your life, typically around age 40 you are likely at the peak of your responsibilities. Many people aged 40 are caretakers to young children at this age and have responsibilities that take a significant amount of their time. Beyond that, their careers are entrenched and they likely have a lot of responsibilities tied to work as well. If you are in an office job these responsibilities may add stress and keep you in an chair as a sedentary creature. Over time, this can add to poor health over the long term as a sedentary lifestyle with the inability to exercise for a long stretch of time can impact your health.
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Organize Your Time
If you want to stay in shape after 40 you will need to organize your time more effectively than you may have done in the past. This often involves you carving out time in your day to exercise and take care of yourself and some other aspects better than you have. Set aside 30 to 60 minutes to exercise a day, whatever that exercise may be. A stationary bike or treadmill can often prevent you from having an excuse not to exercise and can keep you active even on rainy days. However, a run around the neighborhood or some other active tasks like mowing your lawn can also contribute. Make sure you carve out time by organizing yourself with a schedule and make it mandatory to engage in daily exercise. This is a healthy step that will keep you in shape for the long run.
Know What You Eat
The problem with restaurants is that you simply do not know what you are consuming. While you will know when you order a pizza just what you bought, you will not know how it was prepared and if it was laden with bad oils, butter, and other ingredients that could make it taste good but also be unhealthy for you. Eating out once in awhile is fine, but keep it in moderation and spend time preparing your own meals.
Cooking for yourself is one of the healthiest ways to stay in shape past 40. Begin by making some small and relatively healthy dishes like rice and beans, pasta with vegetables, and a stir fry, and be sure to add in tasty elements to enhance the flavor the meal without needing to resort to unhealthy additives like oil. Know that even when you add these elements you are likely doing it less in quantity than a take out restaurant does. Measure what you are adding and estimate calories in these dishes in order to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Add in fiber rich ingredients and vegetables. If you don’t care for the taste and texture, disguise them in the meal by cutting them up tiny or using bland alternatives. This will add health and nutrition to your meals and keep you filled up so that you don’t resort to snacking.
If you don’t like to cook than organize around simple frozen alternatives or dishes like unsugared cereal that can be a healthy meal with added health. Make a list of healthy meals you like such as scrambled eggs that are your go to dishes when in need for a meal, and this will keep you from takeout options.
Knowing what you eat and sticking to healthy options are a greaet way to keep in shape after 40.
Add in Positive Tasks to your Life
As illustrated above, when you are aged 40 or over you will have to decide what is important to you and devote time and effort into being a healthy and happy person. Finding ways to balance out your life can be made easier by inserting some healthy activities into your life. Sometimes these events can be small such as waking a dog every day and other time’s these require big commitments such as training for an exercise event.
The more positive items that lead to Better health the more you will be able to maintain yourself as you get older.
