This is one of those “middle-aged fitness woes” which seems to affect so many women past the age of 45. Despite eating sensibly and staying active, your body is not looking and feeling good anymore.
The middle-aged spread. Jeans feeling too tight. A feeling of tiredness, stiffness. Feeling and looking older …
You know what worked in the past for you – you dieted and exercised.
So you get started. You believe you’re pretty consistent.
But STILL the number on the scales doesn’t move as much as you want.
It leaves you feeling like a failure. Like there’s no more choices. Your body doesn’t feel or look like yours anymore. Things that used to get the weight off fast just don’t seem to work. None of your clothes fit you. And shopping for new ones is a nightmare. Your self-confidence drops – and you might feel frumpy, exasperated, and miserable.
This article tells you WHY – and gives you a 6 Point Action Plan.
 |
The story here is one of age-related sabotaging. As you get older and reach 40+, what worked in the past may well stop working. You might diet and exercise and get no results. There are many factors at work. Your frustrating lack of weight loss will be a complex consequence of one or more of them.
Aging does very frequently result in weight gain, with obesity incidence peaking in women age 40-59. It definitely does become harder to maintain or lose weight with each passing year.
We all suffer from Sarcopenia – this is the natural loss of lean, active muscle loss due to age. It varies from 3-8% per year. This, plus lifestyle changes and/or injuries or medical conditions, results in a marked decline in metabolic rate around middle age (hate that term, sorry).
If calories are not adjusted, weight gain will inevitably occur.
Menopause in mid-life brings you a loss of estrogen. This results in a shift in the place your body stores fat. Postmenopause, the weight will settle around your midsection. You may find that at best your waist thickens, and at worst you develop a belly roll which makes you feel awful.
Changes in your appearance can, in turn, affect your mood and your self-confidence. This might result in more comfort eating and drinking, as self-medication. Then the excess calorie problems are compounded. The average gain during menopause is 5lb. It can have a snowball effect.
And then there’s the lifestyle …
 |
Biology plus lifestyle is having a terrible effect on many people’s health.
As you age, metabolism is slowing, so you have more fat and less muscle. You’ll burn less fuel. You’ll feel more tired all the time as a direct result of this. And your body will store the excess calories as fat.
- If you ate 1000 calories in your 20s, you stored 300 and used 700.
- If you eat the same 1000 calories in your 50s, that is reversed. You might store 700 and use 300.
- It’s that serious.
You’re also generally less active and more stressed – maybe due to everything going on in your life at 40+ – career stress, lack of time, demands of family, maybe caring for others, changes in relationships, ill-health…
So you have all this – plus menopause brain fog and growing dissatisfaction with how you look and feel.
6 Point 40+ Weight Loss Action Plan
Stop doing what you did before if it’s not working…
- Forget dieting and calorie counting. Just focus on Healthy Eating for 80+% of your week. That’s NOT SALADS. It’s better than that. It’s more whole foods, home cooking, plant-based and fresh foods. Drop the alcohol at least 5 days a week (as you get older you may find you can tolerate it less now anyway). You’ll feel loads better in 1 week.
- Portion sizes. Reduce the amount of food you eat, because you are using fewer calories. Small reductions in portions of the highest calorie foods on your plate will help. Replace them with more lovely veggies.
- Hydration. Drink more water, rather than calorie-laden smoothies, creamy coffees, or high cal “drinks” from coffee outlets which are actually desserts. All too often our brain mistakes thirst for hunger. Drink a small glass of water as you wake up, another mid-morning, another at lunch, mid-afternoon, and in the evening. IT’S EASY!
- Relax. Just take 5 mins of Your Time at least once a day. It will increase your energy, decrease your stress levels, AND more you more productive. Whether it’s time with the dog, a book, having a cuppa, a walk, or a chat with a friend. Include it as often as you can.
- Focus on the major muscle groups – look for strength.
Go for a very BRISK WALK 10 mins 3x daily.
Spend 5 mins on ABS & BACK 2x weekly with some easy workouts from me.
Get a great UPPER BODY workout 1x weekly. I have some fantastic ones. - And sleep. Get the zzz’s. Go to bed around 10 pm or earlier as often as you can.
You can do this.
Just make small changes as often as you can. And enjoy all those lovely health, appearance, and energy bonuses that will come as a result.
Your biggest problem will be smiling off all the compliments!
You can get all the exercise you need, in neat little small chunks which will fit in with your busy days, from me. On-Demand Workouts with Noelle is a members-only group on Facebook. It’s only £15 a month. And it really works for weight loss, energy, self-esteem. Each workout is specifically for women 40+.
You’ll love it!
 |