Weight Loss Tips for Women Over 40

Weight loss after 40 isn’t the easiest feat to conquer. As women get older, our bodies change. Our metabolism slows down making it harder to shed unwanted weight. You could be burning 300 fewer calories a day than you did in your early 20s, which means you have to be more cautious about the food you put in your body and create a workout plan that sheds fat and also builds muscle.

Losing weight over 40 is also more difficult due to falling estrogen levels in perimenopause and menopause. This dip in estrogen levels can cause insulin sensitivity, which can make your blood sugar levels more prone to spiking and crashing, making you crave high carb, sugary snacks.
Weight Loss Tips for Women Over 40

If you’re wondering how to lose weight in your 40s, here are 3 of the best weight loss tips to help you get to a healthy, happy weight!
1. Reduce Refined Carbs

Cutting back on refined carbs has many health benefits, especially when it comes to weight loss. Refined carbs are foods like cookies, cakes, pastries, candies, fast foods, breaded or battered foods, sugary cereals, pastas, bagels, pizza, sugar-sweetened beverages, and the list goes on.

Cut back on these foods as much as you can. Refined carbs are absorbed into the bloodstream quickly, causing spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels. Many of the foods are highly addictive, but the more you wean yourself off of them, the easier it is to stay away.
2. Downsize Your Portions

Meal portions in North American are getting bigger and bigger, and if we’re not careful, our households are going to massively overeat. This is especially dangerous for women over 40 since your metabolism is slowing down and your body uses fewer calories to get through daily activities.

Some of the best ways to avoid overeating?Meal prep and use portion control containers to stick to suggested servings
Share restaurant meals, especially if they’re large portions
Eat slowly and stop when you feel satisfied
Don’t just eat to eat – eat when you’re actually hungry
3. Increase Your Fiber

Consuming adequate fiber is a great way to manage your weight in your 40s. You should be eating at least 25 grams of fiber a day to reap the benefits. Fiber helps with your digestive health, disease prevention, weight control, and foods high in fiber help you feel full for longer. To increase your fiber, eat foods such as lentils, black beans, peas, broccoli, raspb

Weight loss women | Weight loss over 40

Plan for Good Nutrition

There’s a lot to be said for planning. Adopt the boy scout motto, “Be Prepared”. If there isn’t a plan for eating, it will likely be easier to grab the Cheez-It box in the pantry rather than going for a healthy alternative. Stop buying junk food, if you are like me, it is too hard to resist.

Make a few changes that will work for you. The kids like chips, but I do too. So, instead of completely denying the kids all of their junk food – I only buy the individual bags now because I can resist opening a bag.

Dinner planning is a big deal. It used to be so easy for me to grab fast food or visit a favorite restaurant when life was busy with no planning ahead.

Not to mention, cooking isn’t my favorite thing to do anymore like it was 10 years ago. We may not have fancy dinners every night, but there are certain components I make sure to have on hand for quick, good healthy meals.Salad. We have a simple salad with almost every meal.
Chicken breast – I keep chicken in the freezer for a throw together meal. As long as I think about it by lunchtime, I can do something with it. Marinade, dry rub, bake, BBQ – so many easy healthy options for little to no work.
Water. We rarely drink anything else. We keep milk and sometimes juice for the kids in our house. I always have a water bottle with me whatever I am doing or where ever I am.
Protein bar or healthy snack to go. Okay, this is one area where I can mess up big time if I am not super duper careful. Picture this…I’ve been out of the house for a few hours. Went horseback riding, ran some errands and now I am in the checkout aisle at Target with those candy bars staring at me. Very tempting and some days, honestly, I just can’t resist. But here’s the good news…no, the great news.
Protein powder or meal replacement shakes can be a great way to get your macros for weight loss balanced.

Weight Loss Guide for Women Over 40

Weight loss guide for women over 40 from personal experience. Don’t get fooled by the gimmicks…this is the real 411 on weight loss. Fast weight loss for women over 40 is possible and can be done in a healthy way – I know because I did it! I can walk you through what I did to lose weight.

About 4 years ago I made the decision to not be fat anymore. I had crept up to 175 lbs and a size 14. My life had taken a huge turn and there were things I wanted to do that would not work well with weighing 175 lbs.

I made some necessary changes in my life, incorporating 7 habits that were the catalyst to where I am now – 35 lbs lighter, a size 2, so much stronger and feeling better than I could have ever hoped for.

Notice I didn’t say the best I have ever looked, although many say that about me now – it wasn’t really my goal or reason for changing my lifestyle.

Of course, it does work hand in hand, but looks are not the most important reason I choose to live the way I live.

It’s more about how I feel mentally and physically.

That’s the reason for living these 7 habits after 4 years with no plans to stop.

Mistakes to Avoid When Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 40

A while back, I wrote a post about intermittent fasting for women over 40. Most of the information is based on a video I had enjoyed from Thomas DeLauer. It includes tips that I don’t even follow like avoiding grains on fasting days and working out at a lower intensity when fasting. As I said before, people seem to like rules when it comes to health, so health experts make up rules for them! Obviously, some guidelines are helpful, that’s why I do what I do. I share what I am learning and what’s working for me because I wish I had known what I know now 15 years ago.

However, one thing that is becoming increasingly clear to me is: Fasting rules are meant to be broken. You will need to find what works for yourself. Nobody knows you the way you do. So, in this post, I am not giving women over 40 rules to follow when intermittent fasting. Instead, it’s a quick overview of some of the most common intermittent mistakes that you may be making and not know it.
Top Intermittent Fasting Mistakes for Women Over 40

First of all, how is intermittent fasting for women over 40 any different than younger women? Women over 40 tend to have a slower metabolism, may have hormonal imbalances, and may find it more difficult to change their lifestyle. These top intermittent fasting mistakes address some of these differences that affect women over 40.




1. Choosing a Fasting Window That Is Too Short

Women in general benefit from a longer fasting window that isn’t implemented every single day of the week, but particularly women over 40. Not only will a longer fasting window help insure that your caloric consumption decreases enough to lose weight (if that’s one of your goals), but it will also help you benefit from the metabolic switchover you want.


Ketosis

Switching to fat burning (or ketosis) is what I enjoy most about intermittent fasting. It is what makes it so effective at improving your metabolic health and losing weight. Most people start exhausting their glycogen stores after fasting for about 12 hours. However, for your body to produce enough ketones to be in ketosis, you most likely need to fast for at least 16-18 hours (unless you eat keto, of course!). Then, you would want to enjoy this metabolic switchover for a while. I tend to recommend a 20-24 hour fast for everyone, but women over 40 will find it even more helpful as they may struggle with insulin resistance.


Alternate-Day Fasting Benefits



Fasting longer and less frequently is an effective option for women over 40. Alternate-day fasting, in particular, has some major benefits. Alternate-day fasting has been shown to increase lifespan in mice. Also, a study where the metabolic effects of fasting were observed at the 12, 36, and 72-hour marks, found that the resting metabolic rate of the subjects increased at 36 hours. Read What Is Alternate-Day Fasting and Why It Works to learn more.