If you’re a woman over 40, you must be familiar with the pain of easy weight gain, and die-hard weight loss. Don’t fret. It’s natural. As you hit 40, your body tends to go through a number of hormonal and metabolic changes that contribute to your plumping. You’ve signed up for Zumba class, you’ve said “no, thank you” to the most scrumptious of desserts, but your jeans still give you a hard time to pull up and button? You’re not alone!
We’ve rounded up a few tips that may help you lose weight after you turn 40. Just sneak a peek into these simple weight loss tips and start your weight loss journey.
1 Know Your Body Rhythm
The first step to control weight gain and to even lose some, is to acknowledge and realize the changes your body is going through. Next is to understand it. Weight loss after 40 doesn’t become any different than weight loss at age before that once you realize that. With metabolic and hormonal change, comes physical inactivity. Even if not completely, it is undeniable, that with age, there is a decline more or less. Keep that in mind.
If you ate a total of 1200 calories every day before and burned about 200, you were lean and fit. Now if you eat the same calories but don’t burn any, obviously it will have an effect. Adjust your calories accordingly.
2 Get Checked for Any Underlying Medical Conditions
Sometimes a condition known as hypothyroidism may be the reason behind your weight gain. Thyroid gland is a tiny gland in our body that controls a lot of things from our body temperature, much of our nervous system and even our weight. In case of an inactivity of this gland, there may be an unbalanced release of hormones and much more contributing to your body bulk.
This condition is mostly associated with women over 35 to 40 years of age. There is no harm in ruling out.
3 Adjust Eating Habits
Know that you can’t succumb to your temptations and cravings like you did at age 20. You can’t just eat a cupcake now and think you’ll burn it with your 20 minute cardio exercise later during the day. There is no denying there is a decline in your energy level.
It would be best to eat enough to keep your energy level constant and feel full enough to fight temptations. To achieve this, eat about 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day. This will keep your energy level constant, and any bouts of immediate fatigue wouldn’t give you a reason to eat unnecessarily just to boost you up.
3 Time Your Meals
Don’t like to eat breakfast? Sorry, but you don’t have a choice here. Extensive research has repeatedly suggested that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It keeps thin people thin. Whatever you eat at or after 8 pm goes straight to your stomach and hips. It is said, to have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar and you should be good to go.
4 Trick Your Metabolism
It’s not all about how much you eat, but also about what you eat. Keep in mind both the things. Try filling your fridge and ultimately your tummy with fat-fighting foods. Meet your daily calorie intake, but make sure you meet it with healthy calories.
5 Walk and Run
While it may not be optimal for you to carry out high intensity cardio workouts, you can always do brisk walk, or better yet jog or run. Running is best for fat loss, better than anything else. If you don’t find time to go anywhere, especially to train, just walk around your block for 20 minutes every day.
