If you need to lose weight or are concerned that your body is getting a bit heavy in retirement you’ve undoubtedly tried healthy ways to improve your diet. You may have increased your physical activity but still the scale inches up incrementally. The answer to maintaining a healthy weight or losing excess fat may be retirement under the beautiful Costa Rica sun.

Talking about a healthy retirement in the sunshine might sound contradictory to most people. After all, the media has told us for decades with increasing intensity that the sun’s rays are dangerous and will inevitably ruin our health with deadly melanoma and other skin cancers.

But did you know that the sun is actually the key to good health and avoiding its light completely can be just as detrimental? In fact, sunlight may be the key to losing weight and keeping your weight under control by helping your body produce vitamin D.

Recent research studies on overweight and obese women show that weight loss is connected to increasing the vitamin D levels in the body. Studies have shown that overweight people tend to have low levels of vitamin D and some researchers think that lack of it may possibly be what causes a person to gain weight, even to the point of obesity.

This theory maintains that there is a central control system in the body that establishes a set point for the body’s weight and energy expenditure. When that set point is raised, you gain weight even if you’re carefully watching your calories.

One of the factors that can reset the body’s tolerance for fat over muscle is the lack of sunshine. More fat insures survival since you have more resources if food is scarce. The body registers the lack of vitamin D as a signal that winter has arrived and it needs to hoard fat.

In winter there is not as much sunlight as the days grow shorter and the weather keeps us inside. Therefore, the body does not produce as much vitamin D. One of the advantages of retiring in Costa Rica is its proximity to the equator; it gets an average of 12 hours of sunlight a day regardless of the season.

Most of us don’t get enough vitamin D even in the summer time because we slather our bodies in sunscreen. We’ve been systematically pounded with information campaigns that present the sunlight as an enemy that will give us cancer.

Without the sun’s rays to naturally stimulate the process of producing vitamin D we suffer deficiencies. We gain weight or find it difficult, if not impossible to lose excess weight no matter how hard we try.

Losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight under the Costa Rican sun is safe and easy. Just ten to twenty minutes a day in the sunshine without sunscreen will give your body what it needs to produce the vitamin D and other important vitamins your body needs.

You’ll also want to enjoy all the activities you can do in Costa Rica–golfing, swimming, kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, kite flying, or biking. You’ll be able to enjoy nearly any physical activity while you maintain a healthy weight or watch those pounds melt away.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1: How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, 2: Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore and 3. ¿Cómo Comprar Bienes Raices en Costa Rica, Sin Perder Su Camisa?

There is something for everyone in this beautiful Guanacaste residential community with affordable condos for sale from about $150K where you can easily walk to two beautiful beaches plus there are lots for sale should you wish to have your own home built by a proven U.S. builder and, if making money is your goal, you might want to consider buying one of their commercial spaces in the Commercial Center.

Becky Clower who is our Recommended Realtor in this area. Becky grew up in Buffalo, NY and graduated from Arizona State University. Becky is fluent in Spanish, thanks to her mother who is a Tica.

You can see Becky’s awesome video about the region from Playa Avellanas to Playas del Coco in Guanacaste by clicking here.

If you would like to chat with Becky about buying a home, condo or land on which to build your own dream home, please help us to help you by using the simple form below:

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.