Chronic stress can increase cortisol in your body, and lead to high insulin levels. You may even end up craving more sugary and fatty junk food,41 resulting in more stubborn pounds and belly fat. Managing your stress will increase your overall well-being and can help with weight loss. Breathing exercises, meditation, dance, gentle exercise, journaling, and listening to uplifting music are some of my favorite ways to lower stress.
Let me see if this sounds familiar: you’re over forty and exercising regularly. You eat a balanced diet and pass on dessert at parties. And yet, you can’t get rid of those extra pounds. If this scenario describes you, you’re not imagining things. Oftentimes, losing weight does get harder as you get older, even if you’re someone who has always been able to easily manage your weight with diet and exercise. Starting at age 30, most people begin to lose about half a pound of muscle per year. What does this have to do with weight loss? The more muscle you have on your body, the better your metabolism works. So it’s not just in your head: losing weight after 40 is more difficult than when you were younger. But you don’t have to feel like weight loss after 40 is impossible. Here are six ways to lose that extra weight after 40.
Hi Kathy - You are doing things right - I am a fan of bodyweight and dumbbells while doing HIIT and circuits, etc. You don't need to do the traditional free weight workout... BUT you do want to make sure you are challenging yourself enough to feel your muscles working - if you can go a little heavier, do it! Also - I don't know how much weight you have to lose - if it's only a few pounds - those are the hardest. However, if you have a lot of weight to lose and the scale isn't budging - you are doing a good amount of exercise - I would really analyze what you are eating - that is at least, if not more than 50 % of the equation. Have you checked out the Ultimate Healthy Eating Guide that you received when you signed up for Get Healthy U TV? If you need a copy, email [email protected]
Healthy fats such as avocados, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and ghee have a number of benefits. These include reducing the risk of heart attack, coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.23,24,25,26,27 They can keep you satisfied longer, reducing the risk of overeating and snacking. Healthy eating doesn’t mean deprivation! Healthy fats taste good and improve your brain health, and so may help you feel emotionally satisfied, lowering the risk of emotional eating.28
2. Exercise More. Contrary to what your body may want to do, you must exercise more regularly as you age, not less!  If you’re finding yourself slowing down, gradually start ramping it back up.  It’s not a good idea to go from taking an occasional walk to running a 10K.  That’s a fast track to getting an injury.  But start finding ways to fit more physical activity to your life.  The more you exercise, the more insulin sensitive you become (that’s the opposite of insulin resistant!)
_{In your forties, your body may have an increasingly difficult time digesting carbohydrates, which may lead to weight gain. Living a stressful life can lead to an increase in the stress-hormone called cortisol, which can make you more prone to gaining belly fat. Estrogen loss may also lead to fat redistribution in your body and cause belly fat gain.11}
^{Good stress management techniques and routine exercise will have positive effects on your sleep, but you may need to take additional steps to help you sleep better. For example, be proactive about going to bed and waking up at the same time most days, and allow yourself 30 minutes to unwind and disconnect from your digital devices at night. Eating a plant-forward, mostly whole foods diet that’s low in added sugar helps, too.}

Good stress management techniques and routine exercise will have positive effects on your sleep, but you may need to take additional steps to help you sleep better. For example, be proactive about going to bed and waking up at the same time most days, and allow yourself 30 minutes to unwind and disconnect from your digital devices at night. Eating a plant-forward, mostly whole foods diet that’s low in added sugar helps, too.

2. Exercise More. Contrary to what your body may want to do, you must exercise more regularly as you age, not less!  If you’re finding yourself slowing down, gradually start ramping it back up.  It’s not a good idea to go from taking an occasional walk to running a 10K.  That’s a fast track to getting an injury.  But start finding ways to fit more physical activity to your life.  The more you exercise, the more insulin sensitive you become (that’s the opposite of insulin resistant!)
As we age, we tend to become more insulin resistant which can put us at risk for type 2 diabetes. When you eat foods that break down into sugar, the pancreas pumps out insulin to escort the sugar out of your blood.  People with Insulin resistance don’t use insulin effectively so that cells have trouble absorbing sugar which causes a buildup of sugar and insulin in the blood.  Researchers still aren’t 100% in agreement as to why, but at the end of the day, people with insulin resistance gain weight, particularly around the middle.  And some research shows that lack of estrogen may cause insulin resistance.
Hi,I’m battling with my weight and it’s starting to get me down,I have a underactive thyroid,which is stabilised with medication I also had a big fibroid removed from my womb so had heavy bleeding but had to stop training,but all ended well there,so went back to training 2 weeks ago as I’ve been hit now with the menopause so gained the weight I trained hard to loose,I’ve been on the cross trainer,rower,treadmill etc but I keep gaining,swimming..i eat wholemeal,low fats is there any help out there for me.,I’m getting so tired and stressed with the training and getting nowhere
Good stress management techniques and routine exercise will have positive effects on your sleep, but you may need to take additional steps to help you sleep better. For example, be proactive about going to bed and waking up at the same time most days, and allow yourself 30 minutes to unwind and disconnect from your digital devices at night. Eating a plant-forward, mostly whole foods diet that’s low in added sugar helps, too.
If you're genetically predisposed to gain weight easily, that may be another strike against you. Even if you don't actually gain weight, you may still gain inches around the waist. This weight gain can be so frustrating, it's easy to become obsessed with losing it, starving yourself or exercising too much or maybe even looking into the latest plastic surgery procedure.