Do you struggle to lose weight as a woman over forty? Here are five things you might consider changing to see the results you deserve.
In today’s blog, we’re going to reveal the five main reasons that women over 40 struggle to lose weight.
Keep reading to discover our top strategies which have helped over 6,000 women to drop 1-2 dress sizes, fit back into all their favourite clothes, and feel incredible wearing anything they like – in just 12 weeks.
You can also listen to this blog on our podcast.
1. The wrong type of exercise
A key reason you might struggle to lose weight is due to doing the wrong exercises for your age and hormones. This means you might not see any results, no matter how hard you try.
A lot of people think that if they do a more intense exercise, it’ll help them to lose the weight faster. So, they try things like spinning, gym classes, and running.
However, extreme exercise is interpreted as a source of stress by the body. For women over forty, this can trigger the weight gain triangle, actually making it harder to lose weight, especially from around the middle.
The only way to see good results as a women over forty is to work with your changing body and hormones, rather than against it. We do this on our Fit Over 40 program.
2. Eating too much OR too little
Are you eating enough? Or too much? You can’t escape the basic science of weight loss.
Calories are a measure of how much energy is in food and drink. You must consume the right amount of calories consistently over the whole week in order to lose weight – not too much and not too little.
A lot of diets will hide this from you using points systems or other rules to effectively achieve the same thing. They make it seem like they’re doing something special. But essentially, all diets work because they cut calories.
But it’s not just about calories. Not all foods are created equal, even if the calories on the packet are the same.
Calories in food are measured by burning the food in what’s known as a “bomb calorimeter” and seeing how much heat comes off. That’s not a true representation of how our bodies digest food.
The makeup of food changes how many calories are actually taken in by the body. For example with protein, 10-30% of the calories are used to break it down by the body.
So, you need to track the key 3:
- Calories
- Protein
- Fibre
For all of these groups, it’s about finding the right amount for you – not too much, not too little.
Inside our Fit Over 40 program we give every one of our clients specific nutrition targets right for their bodies and hormones. They’re usually surprised by how much they can eat and they STILL typically lose 1-2 stone every 12 weeks! All in a way that’s flexible and mean they can still eat the things they like.
3. No support system
Many people don’t have anyone to turn to for help and support when life throws them a curveball. So, when there’s a family crisis, stressful week at work, holiday, weekend blowout or any other distraction… they give up.
A lot of people think that they should be able to do it all on their own. This may be based on the fact that in their 20s or 30s, they could just move more and eat less and shift the weight pretty quickly.
However, for the women we work with, not only have their bodies changed, but also their lifestyle is far more busy and stressful than it used to be.
This means it’s far easier to get derailed and think “sod it”, order a takeaway or open a bottle of wine.
Doing it alone is HARD.
There’s a reason why all our clients were stuck for years before joining Trinity.
It’s not just because we give them an approach that works with their changing body and hormones – but we provide additional things that make all the difference. This includes expert support.
4. The wrong mindsets
Many women fail diets because they don’t focus on changing their mindset (which is essential to MAINTAIN your results long term).
If you have thoughts like “It’s not working” or “It’s different for me” – it can become all too easy to give in when life gets hard/stressful.
Instead, use mindset tools to put your head in the right space every day – so you can be consistent.
We do this with our clients throughout their journey, focusing specifically on it in phase 2 of our program using a tool called the Stress Shield.
5. Lacking accountability
Accountability is essentially having someone checking up on you and making sure you do what you said you’d do.
Because let’s face it… when you’re stressed, tired and have had a bad week, it’s easy to let yourself down.
Having someone to be accountable to is a MUST.
Without someone to say “Did you do what you said you’ll do?” it’s all too easy to give up after a hard day or a hard week.
However, we don’t recommend this person to be a friend or family member – this almost never works! A friend will let you off the hook, or a family member might think you deserve a break.
Accountability is just one of the reasons our clients see such fantastic results. Every member of our Fit Over 40 program is assigned a coach who they check in with every week (and if they don’t it’s flagged up and we’re straight in touch to find out what’s not working!
