Maintain a Healthy Weight to Enjoy Your Retirement Life

Once you cross the threshold of fifty, there is a tendency to become overweight. When you enter your retirement period, the inclination is to take life easy and your activity level comes down significantly. At the same time, you have more time in your hand to enjoy good food, especially when you are visiting exotic locations for sightseeing. Since your body needs fewer calories due to reduced activity, this automatically leads to putting on more weight. Being overweight has the potential to cause bone issues, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and even heart disease. At the same time, you can also find several senior citizens being underweight. This may be due to illness, disease or malnutrition. Many of them may not be having proper arrangement for eating adequate amount of food since they live alone and have nobody to look after them. Being underweight also can also lead to several health issues and they are prone to falls and fractures. When you enter your second innings of life, maintaining healthy weight is crucial. Trying to shed the extra weight by eating less may lead to nutrient deficiency. The solution to this would be to eat food which is nutrient dense. Such food items include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat or fat-free milk products, seafood, poultry, eggs, seeds and nuts. It is also important to avoid calorie rich food, which lack nutrients. These types of food include sugar drinks, refined grains, butter, fats and desserts rich in sugar. Healthy weight varies for each individual. An indication of this would be your BMI score, which based on your body weight and height. A healthy BMI for an adult would be between 18.5 and 24.9. However this may vary for you depending on your body condition and age since BMI may not indicate the body fat of those who have lost muscle. Your doctor would be a better judge of your required BMI. Another indication of healthy body condition would be the circumference at your waist. Increased heath risks are indicated if the waist circumference is more than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. Having a healthy body weight is essential to enjoy life after 50. Nevertheless, it is important to consult your doctor before venturing into any diet control or exercise program to reduce or increase weight, especially when you are entering the golden age of retirement. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7695070