Excess weight can become a particular health hazard with age, triggering cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancers, joint problems and other inflammatory conditions. This article looks at what can be done to help the elderly population maintain a healthy weight, while avoiding problems such as sarcopenia and bone loss. Weight tends to be carried more around the middle in the older person, which poses more of a risk for metabolic diseases than excess weight elsewhere — why this happens and how it can be avoided is discussed. This paper also looks at appropriate calorie intake and activity and explores weight loss and why it is harder and slower to lose weight with age. Preventing loss of strength and mobility is also important with aging, and, as immune function can decrease with age, how to avoid this declining significantly is also touched upon.