Losing belly fat over the age of 40 can be torture! If you’ve sacrificed your fitness over the years of raising kids and working a career then you may have what feels like a long road ahead of you. It probably feels a little overwhelming and impossible, but you’ve tried several kinds of diets in hopes that something would work. Then you find yourself getting discouraged after a few weeks with no results, so you throw in the towel. It’s a cycle and it can be so discouraging, but I can show you how to lose belly fat and keep it off.
I have four steps that will change your weight loss and belly fat results. I’m not prescribing a certain kind of diet or workout, but I am telling you four things that you must change in order to get the results you are looking for. Once you’ve applied these four steps, you will feel and look better than ever and then be able to maintain these results as a lifestyle. Check out my video here or keep reading to find out more.
You’ve probably heard it said, “Weight loss is 30% from the gym and 70% from the kitchen.” It’s true, but I like to change it to 99% made in the kitchen. You can’t have one without the other…exercise and nutrition…so you have to be intentional with both. This is how to lose belly fat with nutrition.
Start with your TDEE. This is a formula that gives you the numbers you need to manage your food intake and energy output everyday. Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculators take account for your age, height, gender, weight and activity level. This produces a calorie amount that your body needs for maintenance. Meaning if you ate that many calories in a day you would maintain your current physique.
Once you have generated that number, if you are looking to lose weight, then you will deduct about 500 calories from the TDEE calculations that you get. The reason I suggest 500 calories is because 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories. If you deduct 500 calories each day then you can expect to lose 1-2 pounds a week. Which is a good starting point for weight loss.
After you’ve figured out your calories, you need to decide on a food tracking device that is right for you. My favorite is My Fitness Pal because it is so easy to use and has almost every food and restaurant available in it. Plus, it’s an app so you can access it anytime.
Watch my video on how to use the app here.
This can be a sticky subject (no pun intended). As you’re reading you are probably hoping I’m going to lay out some numbers of how much you can have, yet still lose weight. Well, if you really want to get the belly fat off and keep it off then here is the KEY.
You have to stay off of these until you hit your goal weight. For sugar, it is best to stay under 25 grams of sugar a day and most of this coming from fruit. No processed foods. I know it may be hard to manage this, but being conscious of food labels and especially by using your food tracker you can at least find yourself somewhere around that number.
For alcohol, this is a big no! Alcohol is basically a blank nutrient. It provides nothing nutritional and adds to sugar and calories. On top of that, you will typically want to eat more when drinking which will definitely take you beyond your calorie amount. If you even managed to stay under your calories when drinking, your body will still be apt to hold onto fat, especially the belly fat due to all the sugar and carbs that are in alcohol.
So the big take away is to steer clear of processed sugar and all alcohol until you hit your goal weight.
Your cheat meals are also called refeeds and yes, good news, your body needs these. The catch is to remember that this is a cheat MEAL, not a cheat DAY. When you are hitting a diet hard in order to get rid of belly fat you should plan to have cheat meals every 10 days.
The reason I give this number is because in the beginning, when we talked about reducing calories by 500 each day, it was to get you to a place of losing 1-2 pounds a week. Since 3500 calories equals one pound, you need to manage this calorie deficit for about 10 days before cheating in order to drop enough weight to handle the surplus that one meal can bring. You could have easily cheated every other day in your 20’s and dropped added weight in a day, but our bodies at 40+ cannot handle it anymore and it is ten times harder to get off.
When choosing this meal, make sure it is something worth the cheat. Something you love! For me, it is either Mexican food or a good cheesy, greasy hamburger. Enjoy it and then jump back into your diet.
This does not have to be done in a gym for hours a day. You can do a class, workout at home, play a sport…anything you can find movement in. If you are intimidated by a gym setting, hire a personal trainer or get a personalized plan written for you.
If you are just starting out then keep this in mind. Cardio will not do all the work for you. I’ve met a lot of women that are intimidated by weights at the gym so they just stick to cardio machines. At the age of 40+ you need more strength training than cardio. It is the strength training that challenges and stretches your muscles which causes your metabolism to increase. Not only will it make a major impact on your physique as you start to lose weight, but it is incredible at benefiting your bones and heart.
I have more videos coming on the topic of strength training and cardio based on your body type so stay tuned to my channel and subscribe so you don’t miss it.
I have a long list of supplements that I like to recommend to women over 40, but let’s start with three of my favorite. A multi-vitamin. This is just necessary because we aren’t getting everything we need in our food each day. I go between several different brands.
Smartypants Multivitamin Gummies: https://amzn.to/3Amacbd
Garden Of Life Multivitamin: https://amzn.to/3Blmgek
The second vitamin I take daily is B12. This is almost a miracle worker for energy. With your added nutrition plan of lean meats and veggies and then exercise you will find that you have more energy anyway. This is just a vitamin that benefits your immune system and adds the B vitamins that may be missing from your body.
Nature Made B12: https://amzn.to/3lkMqZ3
Last, I take a DIM vitamin everyday. I had never heard of this until my gynecologist recommended it because my blood work showed slight hypothyroidism. DIM works to increase estrogen to balance out the hormone that starts to dissolve in your late 30’s and 40’s. Not only that, it can promote weight loss, boost moods and help reduce PMS symptoms.
DIMS: https://amzn.to/3lkMBDH
Common sense is we need sleep, right? Of course, but it’s a priority when you are losing belly fat. Without sleep your cortisol levels will remain high and this is what makes belly fat stick. You need between 6-8 hours of sleep every night and it’s so important to be consistent with a bedtime for this reason.
Sometimes sleep is in an issue for me just because age can bring on restlessness. I’ve tried medication prescribed by my doctor, but found that they left me groggy. I find melatonin to work great because it keeps me asleep all night and I wake up feeling rested.
The three steps before this are a must, but without this fourth step of sleep your body works against you and could leave you in a cycle of maintaining your weight. And honestly this can be because when we are so tired we reach for carbs and sweets. So even if you managed to workout early in the morning and burn 500 calories, that extra donut for a sugar spike midday will cancel out your workout.
So make sure you sleep!
These four steps are what I have followed since I decided to get serious about my health after my second baby. It is a cycle that has to be in place everyday and it takes TIME, but the benefits of following this plan pay off once you start to see your energy come back and your body take your desired shape.
If you want to know more about your body type and what specific diet and exercise would work best for you, reach out to me on social media or email for a free consultation.
