Weight loss for women over 40: Top tips for success

Weight loss for women over 40 is a complex topic that has always had plenty of questions and misconceptions surrounding it. The challenge is created by shifting hormone levels, decreased physical activity, and muscle loss. These and other factors can make it harder for women to drop unwanted pounds as they age. Luckily, it’s possible to do this with a bit of effort.

Here are some effective tips on how to jumpstart weight loss after 40:

• Calculate the calorie deficit
• Focus on healthy meals
• Don’t skip meals
• Consume most calories early
• Control snacks
• Always sit at a table and eat slowly
• Cut down on sugary drinks and alcohol
• Increase daily activity and incorporate regular exercise
• Manage stress and get enough sleep
• Check the thyroid if there is no progress

Aging is a natural part of every person’s life that opens up new horizons and opportunities. Unfortunately, sometimes, it can be dulled with certain challenges, one of which is a more complicated weight loss, especially in females.

As we age, our essential hormone levels start changing, affecting nearly everything in our bodies, including our metabolism. For this reason, aging is one of the most common causes of unintended weight gain, and losing the pounds you put on tends to get harder and harder.

Luckily, it’s possible to maintain a healthy weight and toned body at any age. You just need to find the right approach. And here, we’ll tell you about the best strategies for seamless weight loss for women over 40.

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The Challenges of Losing Weight After 40

When you cross the 40-year point, your body starts going through a range of hormonal changes. These changes are linked to perimenopause and menopause. These stages in a woman’s life are frequently associated with weight gain, due to several reasons, such as:

• Decreasing levels of essential sex hormones often trigger weight gain, especially in the abdominal area.
• Muscle mass typically decreases with age, which slows down the metabolism and increases fat storage.
• The overall daily activity rate usually goes down with age.

These factors, along with individual aspects such as genetics, lifestyle, diet, and habits, can contribute to gradual weight gain in women after 40. To complicate matters, shedding newly gained pounds often becomes harder as you age. This happens because of hormonal shifts, slower metabolism, increased stress and cortisol levels, and changes in sleep patterns, which all can make the number on the scale more stubborn.

Luckily, losing weight after 40 is still possible despite all these challenges. It just requires a holistic and strategic approach.

Weight Loss for Women Over 40: 10 Smart Tips

If you are wondering how to jumpstart weight loss after 40, it can be rather unclear where to start and what exactly to do to achieve your health and body goals. To help you get on the right track, we’ve gathered some of the most effective pieces of advice:

1. Rethink Your Calorie Needs

It’s no secret that weight loss happens in a calorie deficit. Still, no matter how plain this sounds, it can be rather tricky to create the right deficit. Your daily calorie needs are calculated based on your metabolism, body mass index, age, and physical activity. According to experts, the number of calories you need starts gradually decreasing after age 20, which is why the limits you stick to in your 20s may not work quite as effectively when you are over 40.

An average woman in her 40s with a sedentary lifestyle needs about 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day. The correct deficit should not exceed 500 calories/day. You can use calorie calculators to calculate the right deficit and track what you eat with specialized apps to stay in it.

2. Focus on Eating Healthy and Balanced Meals

If you are determined to lose weight, you need to start making better food choices on a daily basis. Overly processed or fatty meals can make you consume more calories than you need and contribute to weight gain. However, if you focus on healthy and balanced meals, unwanted pounds will start disappearing.

The best diet for women over 40 should prioritize whole foods, healthy meal prep options (e.g., grilling, broiling, or baking), and a good balance of nutrients. You need to consume fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins in sufficient amounts every day. The Mediterranean Diet is considered a good diet option to take as a foundation.

3. Don’t Skip Meals

Women who are on their weight loss journey often experiment with different approaches, such as intermittent fasting and meal skipping. However, when it comes to weight loss for women over 40, this might not be the right approach to stick to.

While there is generally nothing wrong with skipping meals, it can potentially result in nutritional gaps, hormonal imbalances, and muscle and bone loss. Besides, it can interfere with your medications (if any). Generally, the best approach is to have at least three normal meals a day to fuel your body with energy and prevent midday hunger that can make you overeat.

4. Consume Most of Your Calories Early

Effective weight loss for women over 40 requires discipline and certain limitations. In particular, we would recommend limiting your calorie intake at night. This should help you increase calorie burn, decrease hunger, and support your weight loss. Besides, according to Harvard Medical School, eating late can also disrupt your circadian rhythm and the work of leptin and ghrelin hormones that regulate appetite.

To prevent the negative impact of late-night eating, try to consume most of your calories before the evening. This will help you feel full and energized throughout the day and not overeat at night. For dinner, consider low-calorie meals.

5. Keep an Eye on Snacks

We are all living in a busy and fast-paced world. Having too much on our plates every day, we’re pretty used to eating on the go. And this is often a major problem for weight loss.

Although snacks are often small in size, they are often pretty high-calorie. Besides, grabbing them on the go makes it incredibly hard to control your overall calorie intake. In order not to let daily snacks ruin your progress, choose healthy snack options instead of traditional sweets, chips, etc.

6. Sit While You Eat and Take Your Time

When you are eating and getting enough food, your fat cells produce leptin that signals satiety to the brain. Typically, this hormone takes about 20 minutes to be released. Thus, when you are eating in a rush, your brain never receives the signal, and you can feel hungry even after having a meal.

To prevent this and stimulate weight loss, here is a simple trick – sit at a table and eat slowly every time. This will promote more awareness during your meals and improve satiety signaling. Also, this will activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which will enhance your digestion and the absorption of nutrients.

7. Watch What You Drink

Apart from the foods you eat, the beverages you drink also play a role in the weight loss process. Thus, it’s absolutely crucial to control what you drink throughout the day.

First and foremost, keep your focus on proper hydration and drink plain water throughout the day. Secondly, cut down on soda. Sugary drinks, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, and others, contain plenty of added sugar, which can significantly increase your calorie intake. Replace them with low and zero-calorie drink options instead. Finally, reduce alcohol intake. It’s well known that alcohol contains a lot of calories and causes water retention, so drinking it regularly can hinder your progress.

8. Get More Active

As you already know, losing muscle mass and gaining more fat is a normal part of aging. Hence, when it comes to weight loss for women over 40, physical activity becomes an absolute must-have because it not only stimulates fat burning, but also helps you drop pounds without losing muscle.

To get the most out of your weight loss efforts, first, increase your overall daily activity. Walk or cycle instead of driving, take stairs, and do light work around the house or yard every day to keep moving. On top of that, add regular exercise to your schedule. To maintain muscles and stay healthy, you need to do strength training at least twice a week. 

9. Relax and Rest Well

Stress can have a devastating effect on your body, both physically and mentally. It’s known to slow down metabolism and make it harder for the body to break down fat, which is why prolonged stress frequently results in a cortisol belly. In order to keep stress from slowing your weight loss progress, be sure to make enough me time, meditate, journal, walk, and try other stress-management techniques that will help you stay relaxed.

Also, we’ve already mentioned how a lack of sleep can make losing weight after 40 harder by affecting satiety and appetite-regulating hormones. For this reason, it’s important that you get high-quality sleep every day.

10. Check Your Thyroid

If you are active and eating in a deficit but not losing weight, there is a chance that the problem is in your thyroid. When it doesn’t work as it’s supposed to, this creates an additional hormonal imbalance, which can result in uncontrolled weight gain and other symptoms, such as fatigue, joint pain, depression, and others. So, don’t hesitate to see a healthcare provider if needed.

FAQ

Why is losing weight after 40 hard?

Weight loss is often a complex process that requires discipline and effort. However, with age, your body changes, which can make this process even harder. In particular, weight loss for women over 40 becomes harder because of hormonal shifts, reduced metabolism, reduced physical activity, and more active muscle loss.

How to jumpstart weight loss after 40?

Success in this matter requires a holistic and consistent approach that combines proper nutrition, physical activity, and other lifestyle changes. The top 10 tips that help include:

• Calculating the right calorie deficit
• Focusing on healthy meals
• Avoiding meal skipping
• Consuming most calories during the day
• Controlling snacks
• Sitting at a table and eating slowly
• Limiting sugary drinks and alcohol
• Increasing daily activity and incorporating exercise
• Managing stress and getting enough sleep
• Checking the thyroid if there is no progress

What is the best diet for women over 40?

For effective weight loss for women over 40, you should prioritize whole foods and a balance of nutrients. A perfect diet should include plenty of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, and lean proteins. A good example is the Mediterranean Diet.

Conclusion

Weight loss for women over 40 might feel scary and confusing. While putting on extra pounds is always easy, getting rid of them is a challenge, especially as you age.

Natural changes in your body, such as hormonal shifts and changes in metabolism, can make losing weight after 40 harder. But definitely not impossible. Succeeding on this path is real if you take the right approach, and now, you have a list of tips that should help you get started.

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