Best Weight Loss Tips After 40

The Secrets to Losing Weight After 40

When your 40s coming, it has plenty of benefits, such as earned wisdom, increased self-awareness, and self-confidence. Truth be told, though, it's tough getting used to some of the physical changes. A biggie is a downshift in metabolism, which can make weight maintenance trickier and weight loss more challenging. Losing weight after 40 isn’t impossible. You absolutely can shed pounds at any age, and do so while simultaneously optimizing overall wellness.

So it's no wonder why so many people over 40 end up hitting a weight-loss wall. But don't worry, you got this:

One of the reasons that it's difficult to lose weight in your 40s is that you are beginning to lose muscle mass, so the composition of your body tissue changes. Having higher muscle mass raises your metabolism, so your body burns more calories. So when you're dealing with the opposite—less muscle mass—that means a slower metabolism.

Another thing that can slow metabolism is menopause. Although, for some women, the process doesn't happen until their 50s, the transitional period into menopause can start in your 40s. And the hormonal changes associated with menopause can also make it harder to lose weight.

Why We Gain Weight After 40

There is a multitude of reasons for weight gain after age 40. Some are genetic, some are the natural course of things, and some are due to lifestyle choices.

The most important contributors to weight gain include:

Heredity: Scientists have found the specific genes that determine how many fat cells we have and where they're stored.2 This is something we can't really change and, if you look at your parents and relatives, you'll see those areas where your family may tend to store excess fat.

Hormones: One of the main culprits for weight gain is, of course, our hormones, which start to change right around the mid-30s and into the 40s.1 This change in hormones, less estrogen for women and less testosterone for men, cause the fat in our bodies fat to shift to the middle of the body while abandoning other areas of the body you could care less about. That's one reason you may get a little fluffier around the middle while other parts of you actually get smaller.

Loss of Muscle: Like our metabolisms, we also start to lose muscle when we hit our 40s, experiencing a steady decline each decade. Part of this, scientists believe, is that the motor units that make up our muscles decline as we age and that those motor units don't always fire with the same regularity.4 However, the important takeaway here is this: The biggest factor in losing muscle is the lack of physical activity, which makes exercise a crucial component when it comes to preventing muscle loss.

Lower Metabolism: There are a couple of things that happen to your metabolism after the age of 40. First, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) decreases and, second, you expend less total energy (TEE) during exercise. Some experts suggest metabolism can decrease by about 5% for every decade after 40, which means you need about 60-100 fewer calories every 10 years.3 If you sit more, eat more, exercise less and deal with more stress throughout that decade, you'll probably need even fewer calories than that. Add that to the fact that you burn fewer calories during exercise and you've got yourself an equation for weight gain.

The Over-40 Challenge

The number one reason it gets harder to lost weight post-40 is that your metabolism slows down every year, making it harder to burn calories. You also tend to lose muscle mass as you age, and muscle burns calories at a faster rate than fat does.

Falling estrogen levels during perimenopause and menopause can cause insulin sensitivity, which makes it harder for your body to control the amount of sugar in your blood. If your blood sugar levels constantly spike and crash, it can increase your cravings for unhealthy snacks.

Tips to Lose Weight After 40

Create a list of reasons you want to lose weight

Those who are most successful at losing weight after 40 do it when they have a very clear reason why they want to get leaner. Maybe you've been watching the scale creep up a pound or two every year and are ready to nix bad habits, or you've been given a wake-up call by your doctor that it's time to get serious about how your weight is impacting your overall health. You need to have a mental awakening that puts you in a state of readiness to change. If you’re not engaged mentally, it’s not happening.

Detox your digestive system

Part of the reason metabolism gets sluggish as you age is because build-up in the digestive tract clogs your system and prevents your organs from functioning at peak performance levels. Once we remove obstructions, everything functions better, including elimination, digestion, and metabolism.

To clear out the pipes, so to speak, very suggested consuming more enzymes and fiber together. Also, stay away from dairy, gluten, and refined sugars, which can clog you up by creating more mucus in your system.

Eat *more* protein.

Your body has to work harder  digesting protein than it does fat or carbs, sometimes the doctor recommends the strategy of upping protein intake to many of her clients, including women who are 40 and over.  Although I don’t promote very high-protein diets, increasing your protein intake from 15 percent of your total calories to 30 percent can help you boost the calories your body burns during digestion, which may just help speed weight loss..

Sarah Mirkin, RDN, author of Fill Your Plate Lose the Weight, recommends 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal. It’s important to take in that amount of protein at all your meals, and ideally include high protein snacks as well. This helps to prevent lean muscle protein breakdown that decreases muscle mass percentage, increases fat percentage, and slows the metabolic rate. Muscle burns calories. Fat doesn’t.

Don’t Skip Breakfast

The doctor often recommend a healthy morning meal like oatmeal or whole wheat toast with fruit. It can help curb that mid-morning hunger that leads you to grab something unhealthy on-the-go or overeat at lunch. Small meals or snacks every few hours can keep your appetite in check all day long.

Start your day with hot lemon water

Drinking hot water with lemon first thing in the morning. Water can increase metabolism by inducing thermogenesis, a metabolic process in which calories are burned, and lemons increase your metabolism and assist with weight loss. So basically, this super-easy concoction helps you burn more calories while you’re getting ready in the morning. It’s a no-brainer.

Drink More Water

When it comes to weight loss, what you drink is just as important as what you eat. Well-hydrated people ate up to 206 fewer calories each day than those who skimped on the H2O. And by "well-hydrated," we mean increasing water intake by just 3 cups a day! For middle-aged women, staying hydrated can have particularly profound effects; drinking ice water is a recommended solution for battling the hot flashes that often accompany menopause. For more ways to hydrate and shed those unwanted pounds, add the best teas for weight loss to your lineup.

Treat yourself to dark chocolate daily

Research backs something I can attest to myself and witness with my clients: building in dark chocolate as a daily treat helps curb cravings for both sweet and salty foods. Dark chocolate can also help reduce stress, a major emotional eating trigger. One study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed.

5 squares of 70% dark chocolate contains under 250 calories, yet provides antioxidants, fiber, and magnesium, a mineral tied to relaxation, improved sleep, and enhanced mood.

Knowing that they have a chocolatey treat to look forward to has helped many of my clients pass on other less satisfying and higher-calorie and carb-laden goodies. Spread it out throughout the day, or enjoy an ounce or so of dark chocolate as part of a daily “you time” ritual.

Up Your Omega-3s

We all know by now that adding omega-3–rich foods to your meals can aid weight loss—flaxseeds, avocado and avocado oil, nuts, and oily fish like salmon are all good options. Adding some omega-3s to the subjects' diet helped them lose more weight, keep it off longer, and stave off hunger pangs. But there are other health benefits that omega-3 fatty acids can have for women over 40. A study published in the journal Menopause suggests that it may help reduce the frequency and intensity of hot flashes, as demonstrated in test subjects between the ages of 40 and 55.

Get Support for Weight Loss

For many people, it’s easier to lose weight with others than to do it alone. You might enter a weight-loss contest at work, join a group on social media, or ask a friend to go for early-morning walks or classes at the gym. Other people who share your goals can help keep you accountable and cheer you on as you make progress.