Are you a woman over 40 and noticing it’s getting harder to lose weight?  Got some extra stubborn fluff and puff around the middle?  Maybe you’re finding that the diets you did in your 20’s or 30’s don’t work as fast as they used to or don’t even work at all!  If you’re already well past 40, chances are you’ve found it’s harder to lose weight.  And, those inches around your waistline won’t budge.
While it seems like ankle weights should help our leg muscles tone faster than without the weights, our legs aren’t designed to carry around heavy feet. There is more risk for injury of tendons and ligaments than toning leg muscles. If you want to focus on leg toning, your best option is some body weight workouts or exercises such as lunges with weights.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is where you exert maximum effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise followed by short recovery periods, and it’s a great way to amp up your weight loss. If you’re currently only using doing steady state cardio workouts like jogging or elliptical weight loss exercises, for example, you could benefit from incorporating HIIT workouts to your regimen. Because the intervals get your heart rate more elevated, they help you work harder, not longer. Studies show that HIIT also burns more fat than other workouts. If you’re looking to try HIIT for the first time, check out these HIIT workouts on Get Healthy U TV!

When you’re under-rested, your appetite-regulating hormones get short-circuited, so your appetite goes into overdrive, but the hormones that tell you you’re full don’t kick in promptly. Studies also suggest that when you’re sleep-deprived, it alters the way you think about food, so you have stronger cravings for sweets and other less healthful eats.
A 2014 study found that the type of fat we consume might make all the difference. Participants in the study were asked to eat 750 extra calories every day for seven weeks. Those having excess calories from saturated fats had activated cells that promoted fat storage in the belly and increased insulin resistance. However, individuals who had a high consumption of polyunsaturated fats found in fatty fish, nuts and seeds, gained less abdominal fat and were more likely to increase muscle mass instead.
1.  Eat less added sugar, processed food and refined grains (white bread, bagels, pasta, white rice, you know the drill). A lot less.  According to the sugar science department at UCSF, added sugar is hiding in 74% of all packaged food.  And, the majority of carbohydrates in the typical American diet is made of refined grains.  This means reading labels folks and knowing how many different names there are for sugar.  Just because it’s called “agave nectar” or “cane juice crystals” doesn’t mean it’s any better for you than the white granulated stuff.  Your body doesn’t know the difference and once you eat it, it’s all the same to your pancreas (the organ that produces insulin in response to sugar).  Click this link to see 61 different names of sugar then run to your pantry and read the ingredients on your packaged food.  Prepare for a rude awakening!

Why that’s so important: “The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn,” Kirkpatrick says. Even if it doesn't actually help you lose weight, it can help keep you from gaining it—along with all the other good things it does for your body, mind, and life. Lots of over-40 guys like HIIT, since its compressed timeframe ends up having a low impact on your schedule.


However, the important takeaway here is this: The biggest factor in losing muscle is the lack of physical activity, which makes exercise a crucial component when it comes to preventing muscle loss. If you want to figure out the real deal, enter your information into a calculator to learn how many calories you really need for your age and activity level.
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