How to Jump Start Weight Loss After 40

When you are in your twenties everyone feels a bit invincible and doesn’t really think about weight loss. After 30, we notice some muscle cramps, aches, and pains.

But after 40 your metabolism slows down as we start to lose muscle, but how can we jump-start our weight loss?

Portion Control – don’t go for seconds
Cut back on Alcohol
Drink more water
Start by going for walks
Resistance training (Lifting Weights) You don’t need to lift heavy weights

To lose 1 pound of body fat, you will need to reduce your calories by 3500 a week. You could achieve this by adding in a little bit of exercise and cutting out some of your bad eating habits.

How to Jump-Start Weight Loss After 40?

Giving up some foods and beverages may be your best bet.

Yes, giving up soda/fizzy drinks full of sugar could contribute to weight loss. Not only will this help with weight loss but it may help reduce bloating and reduce the chance of getting diabetes. Diet soda/fizzy drinks also cause bloating.

Try water with fresh lemon instead, it will help hydrate you and lemon is a great cleanser.

Have healthy snacks (baby carrots, sliced strawberries, granola) throughout the day, instead of sugary snacks.

Some individuals may discover this increases energy without any crash effect that you would get with sugary snacks.

Especially if you’ve decided to give up soda/fizzy drinks, the lack of caffeine that you find in some of these drinks will make you feel slower than normal, but drinking more water can help combat the lethargy.

But, packing in the proper nutrients your body has been craving, you should start to notice the changes in your body.

The reward will be well worth it.

Remember that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A nutritional breakfast will help get through the morning without needing snacks.

If like me you cannot eat breakfast when you first wake up, look at making something you enjoy the night before and take it to work with you. I make my overnight protein oats, here is my recipe.

Here is a list of weight loss programs that can help you with your weight loss goals. (These will open in a new tab)

Portion Control

No more going back for seconds. Going back for a second helping is an easy way to overeat and add on those additional calories. What do extra calories equal? Weight Gain.

Portion control can work better than counting calories, in your 40’s. The reason for this, as we get older the bad habits are embedded in our minds and we don’t realize what we’re doing.

It just becomes 2^nd nature to overeat.

Just reducing your portion size could be enough to start losing weight, you need to start watching the amount of food placed on your plate.

Alcohol

One of the worst culprits for weight gain is alcohol, lots of hidden calories in alcohol… try cutting back to one glass of wine or one bottle of alcohol per week.

Alcohol has a calorie count and is often the hidden factor in making us all a bit heavier after the age of 40. As we get older we might prefer to have a glass or 2 with our evening meals to help us relax.

Alcohol is just empty calories.

Is it Possible to Lose Weight After 40?

Of course, yet it might feel more difficult to lose weight than it did in your twenties. As a twenty-year-old, we could go 7 days a week working out and felt like we saw immediate results.

In our 40’s, our bodies are naturally slowing down and losing lean muscle mass, we all tire out a bit quicker and now what we eat becomes an important factor.

To ensure we maintain muscle mass instead of it decreasing (yes, muscle mass decreases after 40.) its’ recommended to start weight training.

You don’t have to become a bodybuilder unless that is the goal, even lightweight training included in our exercise routine is beneficial.

I lift weights 5 times a week and I don’t look like a bodybuilder as that is not my goal.

Weight training is the best way to maintain muscle and lose weight after 40. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn.

It also has the added benefit of helping to increase and maintain your metabolism.

If you have never been weight training, it would be wise to consider hiring a personal trainer or asking a family member that knows the correct form.

You don’t want to injure yourself by doing it wrong. As this could set you back or even worse put you off weight training altogether.

Personally, I love weight training and prefer free weights. If you’re not sure there are normally plenty of machines to get you started.

We always see older individuals out enjoying a walk, right?

It’s a well-known fact that those daily walks are a good way to stay in shape. Daily walking helps promote joint health, hip flexibility, and can help reduce and maintain your weight.

It is possible to lose weight after 40 even if you have hit some plateaus. It is very common to hit plateaus no matter what age you are when trying to lose weight. I have experienced this myself

Calculate Your Calories

This is when you should look at your nutrition. Figure out your BMR, I have a calculator that you can use. You just need to enter your height, weight, sex, age, and activity level. BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate the link will take you to our article on BMR.

The calculator will then work out how many calories you should be consuming a day. Here is the link to our BMR calculator.

Once you have your calories sorted out it’s then time to look at your exercise routine. Are you doing enough?

Fun Exercise

Have you included some high-intensity aerobic workouts as well, as some weight training? If you think that this sounds too much, then there are workouts that include both of these elements.

There are Zumba classes which include lightweights. Speed walking with ankle and wrist weights, even aqua-aerobics classes use water resistance to help tone your muscles. It’s just a matter of looking around and seeing what will suit you best.

We talk about this in our article how Zumba helps you to lose weight.

Does Your Metabolism Slow After 40?

After 40 our metabolism starts to slow down about 5-6% each decade afterward. Yes, your metabolism can slow down, some people are lucky and are not affected by this.

The key to reducing the impact that this has is staying active.

The true reason someone’s metabolism will decrease (no matter at what age) is if they decide to be stagnant not exercising and don’t take it upon themselves to be active.

Taking a walk every day can easily help to bring your metabolism rate up.

To help your metabolism and your health, look into probiotics. Probiotics can aid in the detoxing of a disruptive digestive tract.

As we get older our stomach becomes sensitive and we can’t eat certain foods that we used to be able to. Your digestive lining may be missing good bacteria, this is what probiotic drinks might help.

Consider, in the morning (try twice a week) adding a bit of fresh lemon to a lukewarm glass of water.

Water in the morning helps to keep our internal organs healthy. It can also help increase your Metabolism. A bit of lemon can be an added flavor if you’re not too keen on the water itself.

Hydration is an important factor in keeping your body healthy, drinking plenty of water throughout the day will also cut down the need for snacking.

Speaking of water, that whole theory about the more water you drink the more you look better? It’s true.

Our skin needs an abundance of water to keep hydration flowing, it is a lot easier for us to become dehydrated after 40.

How Can I Jump Start my Metabolism After 40?

It may seem a lot harder to jump-start your metabolism after 40, but it’s not impossible. We already have a few options above, but we are about to provide even more! One word, protein.

After 40, our muscle mass will start to decrease by the year, add in enough protein to supplement what your body needs.

How do you know if you need more protein?

Bruise easy
Lack of energy
Craving meat

Explore all your protein options. I don’t suggest just living off steaks. Explore the various types of proteins available through lentils, beans, soybeans, and chicken. There are more options than just these few.

We talked about staying hydrated, but now we must mention learning to eat after working out. Not immediately, but at least 45 minutes after.

This process will help send re-growth and strengthening minerals and vitamins to the muscles in need. Do not skip on this, otherwise, after 40 you can end up with significant joint and muscle pain.

Try drinking apple juice or orange juice about 30 minutes after a workout to get a shot of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is extremely beneficial to work muscles and allows for quicker recovery time.

What is the Fastest Way to Lose Weight After 40?

Like any way to lose weight fast no matter what age, exercise. Exercise is the key. Along with a well-balanced diet.

Fad diets should be avoided – quick fast result diets can help you lose weight, but that weight will easily come back because the diet is unsustainable.

Instead, work out how many calories you should be having a day, and change to a healthy balanced diet with good portion control.

Studies have shown that fast pace, fast burn intervals work equally as well as an hour of doing a cardio workout. These types of workouts are called HIIT or Tabatha.

I recently wrote an article called HIIT vs Tabatha.

But here is the biggest secret… sleep, shocking right?

Get those required 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Not getting enough sleep can aid in weight gain. When you’re tired you tend to go for the sugary treats.

However, if we receive the right number of hours, not only will our weight stay stable but, the body will not have to work overtime to keep up throughout the day.

Please, do not sacrifice your beauty sleep, because this is one benefit that aids in fast weight loss.

Conclusion

It is harder to lose weight as we get older and all too easy to put weight on, but it is possible and doable to lose weight after 40.

Here is a list of other articles on my site that will help you jump-start your weight loss after 40.