What To Expect From Your Body During Your 30's

Your 30s and your 40s are a time during which your hormones tend to balance out. This means most of the changes that happen to your body are influenced by lifestyle choices, explains Jane Mitchell, a nutrition and weight loss expert, and founder of Jane Plan - a diet delivery service.

You lose muscle tone.

According to Jane the process of muscle atrophy, which is basically when the muscles shrink, begins in your 30s, although it is more pronounced in later life.

She says: 'At this point a lot of women start looking in the mirror and thinking "I'm not as a toned as I used to be"'.

She recommends adding resistance training or weight lifting to your exercise plan to help tackle muscle shrinkage.

Stress at work will cause weight gain

'There is a myth that women start to gain weight during this time,' says Jane, 'But this depends more on your lifestyle than your age.'

The nutrition expert says that women who are still working are likely to spend a lot of time at their desk and have a sedentary lifestyle, which can be conducive to an expanding waistline.

 Women who have children later than their 30s often say they never get their pre-baby stomach back and this gets worse the longer you leave it to have a child

What's more, high stress levels can cause a reactionary release of hormones encouraging you to store weight around the middle

She explains: 'When we are stressed our fight or flight hormones kick in, which make the body think "I should protect myself" and so you store weight around the vital organs. This is what causes the weight gain in the middle.'

Your face becomes slimmer and more angular 

Dr Maryam Zamani an ophthalmologist, oculoplastic surgeon and leading aesthetic doctor says that a woman's face will be come noticeably thinner in your 30s.

She explains: 'Women experience volume loss in the mid face and chin because we are producing less collagen. The face can become more angular and slim, which can also look ageing.' 

Your body stops bouncing back.

As your metabolism slows down your body will take longer to bounce back, says Jane, but this is most noticeable when it comes to pregnancy.

'Women who have children later than their 30s often say they never get their pre-baby stomach back and this gets worse the longer you leave it to have a child,' Jane explains.

She says stay-at-home mums are in the most fortunate position to get back to their post-baby weight as they will be active at home running after children, while women who return to work soon after giving birth will struggle the most.

'If you have just had a baby and you're back at work you will be stressed and pushed for time so you'll be grabbing food to eat and probably not having much time to exercise.

'That's when a lot of women struggle with weight issues.' 

Watch out for the next post - What to expect from your body during your 40's 

Source: dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3269613/What-expect-body-decade-20s-50s-combat-it.html#ixzz3p174QG1b