Is It Too Late To Lose Weight In Your 50’s? (Short Answer: No)
If you’ve been stepping on the scales week after week only to see zero change — despite working hard — you’re not alone.
We’ve worked with thousands of women over 40 who were doing everything they knew to try and lose weight… cutting calories, increasing workouts, skipping meals, saying no to treats. But the results just weren’t showing up.
Sound familiar?
If you’re wondering whether it’s too late to lose weight, especially during perimenopause or menopause, the good news is: It’s absolutely not too late. But the methods that worked in your 20s and 30s often don’t work anymore. Why? Because your body has changed. And so should your approach.
In this post, we’re looking into exactly why weight loss feels harder after 40 and — more importantly — what you can do right now to turn things around. You’ll discover simple, science-backed changes that work with your hormones, not against them, so you can finally feel confident in your clothes, drop 1–2 dress sizes, and feel great again.
Why It Feels Harder to Lose Weight After 40
Before menopause, your body was running with optimal hormone levels. Oestrogen helped keep fat in check, supported your metabolism, and regulated hunger. But once you hit perimenopause and menopause, those levels drop.
This hormonal shift can cause your body to store more fat—especially around the middle. Your stress hormone cortisol also tends to rise, which can lead to even more fat gain. And to top it off, muscle mass naturally starts to decline from your 40s onwards.
Less muscle means a slower metabolism. So even if you’re eating the same amount and doing the same workouts, your body may still be storing fat.
Common Mistakes Women Make Trying To Lose Weight After 40
Mistake 1: Starving Yourself to Be Skinny
Cutting calories to the bare minimum may have worked in your 20s, but it’s one of the worst things you can do now. When you undereat, especially over a long period of time, your body doesn’t just burn fat—it burns muscle.
That means your metabolism gets slower and slower, making it harder to lose weight and easier to gain it back. You’ll also feel tired, sluggish, and constantly hungry. Plus, extreme dieting can trigger hormonal chaos.
Cortisol rises, which kicks off what we call the Weight Gain Triangle: leptin resistance (you never feel full), insulin resistance (your body stores more fat), and thyroid deregulation (your metabolism slows down even further).
Instead of starving yourself, focus on eating the right amount of food to support your body and hormones. Many of our clients are shocked by how much they can eat and still lose weight. It doesn’t feel like a diet, instead it feels like freedom.
You want to eat plenty of protein, lots of fibre-rich vegetables, and keep meals balanced. The key is focusing on fat loss, not just weight loss. That means keeping your muscle while shedding the unwanted fat.
“Before Trinity I used to think dieting meant leaving certain foods out of your diet and feeling hungry most of the time! I know a lot more about nutrition now. I’m now a lot healthier and fitter and feel amazing. I have lots of energy and no longer feel like a beached whale when I’m trying to move. I’ve lost over 2 stone, something which I never thought possible.”
– Tracey White (49), Trinity Client
Mistake 2: Thinking Cardio Is the Answer
It’s been drilled into us for decades: if you want to lose weight, do more cardio. But if you’re over 40, this is one of the biggest myths keeping you stuck. Long runs, high-intensity spin classes, body pump, or CrossFit might feel like a good workout… but they’re often doing more harm than good.
Cardio, especially high-impact or high-stress versions, breaks down muscle—exactly what you don’t want after 40. It also ramps up cortisol, which contributes to belly fat and slows your results. And let’s not forget, it’s tough on your joints.
Running puts 4–7x your body weight through your knees with every step. For many of our clients, that leads to injury and burnout.
The better approach? Low Impact Strength Training. LIST is designed specifically for women over 40. It’s gentle on your joints, low-stress on the body, and builds lean, toned muscle while helping you lose fat.
Just three sessions a week, 30–45 minutes each, is all it takes. It even gives you the same heart health benefits as cardio, without the downsides.
Mistake 3: Thinking Plant-Based Is Automatically Healthier
There’s a lot of hype around vegan and plant-based diets right now. And while going plant-based for ethical or environmental reasons is completely valid, doing it purely to lose weight can actually make things harder—especially after 40.
A recent study on Netflix’s You Are What You Eat showed that participants on a vegan diet lost muscle mass, even when they lost some fat. The problem? It’s incredibly hard to get enough high-quality protein from plants alone. And protein is essential for fat loss, muscle tone, balanced blood sugar, steady energy, and even reducing hot flushes.
If you’re plant-based, you’ll need to work harder to get complete proteins and enough total protein. We recommend at least 1–1.5g of protein per kg of body weight.
But for most women, a better approach is to follow a diet rich in whole foods, lots of veggies, and quality sources of protein from unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, and dairy. This approach makes it much easier to get the results you want without feeling restricted.
Mistake 4: All or Nothing Thinking
This is a big one. So many of our clients fall into the perfectionism trap. If they eat one biscuit, they feel like they’ve blown the whole day. If they’ve got a birthday or holiday coming up, they give up for the month. Then promise themselves they’ll start again Monday. The problem is, the perfect time never comes.
Life is busy. There’s always something going on. Careers are demanding, kids (even grown-up ones) need support, and many women are also caring for elderly parents. It’s the sandwich generation squeeze—and it’s exhausting.
The key to success isn’t being perfect. It’s being consistent. Think of your fitness and nutrition like a dimmer switch, not an on/off switch. You can turn things up or down depending on life’s demands, but never switch off completely. 80% is good enough.
In fact, it’s more than good enough, it gets results. And when life does get in the way (because it will), having the tools to keep going in some capacity is what keeps the weight off long-term.
Mistake 5: Trying to Figure It All Out Alone
If you’ve tried everything and still aren’t getting results, it’s easy to think you just need more willpower. But that’s not the problem. The truth is, this stage of life requires a different strategy—and trying to figure it out on your own can be overwhelming.
What worked in your 30s no longer applies. You’re dealing with new hormones, new stress levels, and a new lifestyle. And when results don’t come quickly, it’s easy to lose motivation and give up. That’s why support is essential.
Our most successful clients all say the same thing: they didn’t just need a plan. They needed someone to guide them, support them, and hold them accountable. Someone to take the stress and guesswork out of it.
And that’s exactly what our Fit Over 40 programme offers. With a combination of 1-1 coaching, proven methods, and a community of like-minded women, our clients typically drop 1–2 dress sizes in 12 weeks—even when nothing else had worked for years.
“Coaching calls have also taught me that I cannot be a perfectionist all the time, and carving out time doing nothing and relaxing, is vital. I love the support from the Trinity community groups and belief my coach has in me, to help me achieve my transformation. I was stuck before Trinity, it’s now integral to my daily life.”
If you’ve been relying on cardio to keep your weight in check, it’s easy to feel frustrated when it stops working. The issue is that cardio burns calories during the workout, but it doesn’t do much to build muscle — which is the real key to a faster metabolism after 40.
Without enough muscle, your body burns fewer calories at rest, making it harder to lose weight and easier to gain it back.
Strength training, on the other hand, improves insulin sensitivity, protects your joints, builds lean muscle, and encourages your body to burn more fat — even when you’re not working out.
What to try instead:
Incorporate 2–3 full-body strength workouts per week that focus on progressive overload (gradually increasing weight or reps). If you’re new to it, start with bodyweight exercises and resistance bands, and slowly work up.
You don’t need to spend hours lifting weights — short, consistent sessions done properly are enough to make a huge difference.
Consistency is key. And with a low-impact plan, you’ll actually be able to stick with it — which means long-term results.
Step 2: Work With Your Hormones, Not Against Them
When your hormones shift, so should your habits. Here’s how to take back control:
Consider HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy)
If you’re struggling with hot flushes, mood swings, or stubborn belly fat, HRT may help. Speak to your GP about whether it’s right for you.
Reduce Alcohol
Alcohol blocks fat burning and can suppress your metabolism for up to 24 hours. Plus, it lowers testosterone (a key hormone for keeping fat off and muscle on). And during menopause, alcohol calories are more likely to be stored as belly fat.
Want to enjoy a drink without the damage? Try alcohol-free swaps like:
Lucky Saint Lager
Becks Blue
Seedlip (non-alcoholic gin)
Eisberg Sparkling Wine
They’re lower in calories, won’t trigger cravings, and let you stay social without the weight gain.
Better sleep
Poor sleep in midlife is more than just annoying, it directly impacts your hunger, cravings, and fat storage. Sleep affects hormones like leptin (which tells you you’re full) and ghrelin (which tells you you’re hungry). When you don’t sleep well, your body tends to crave sugar and quick energy, and stores more fat as a result.
Add in night sweats, hot flashes, and racing thoughts, and it’s no surprise so many women feel stuck in a cycle of poor sleep and weight gain.
Step 3: Clean Up Your Environment
Willpower is not the answer. Especially if your life is busy, stressful, and full-on.
Instead, control your environment so you don’t need willpower. This is something we teach our clients with the Cupboard Cleanse — a simple process to reduce temptation and make healthy choices easy.
Here’s how:
Clear out your home of junk food, snacks, and alcohol
Store “treats” somewhere inconvenient (e.g., garage or top shelf)
Stock up on easy, healthy options
Out of sight = out of mind. And your results start to snowball from there.
Step 4: Watch What You Eat — But Not in the Way You Think
To lose weight, you need to be in acalorie deficit. But not an extreme one — and not one that leaves you starving, exhausted, or bingeing on the weekend.
Instead:
Eat enough protein to support muscle and satiety
Track your food using an app or journal to find your baseline
Don’t fall for cookie-cutter numbers like 1200 kcal — your needs are unique
We calculate personalised nutrition plans for every woman in our Fit Over 40 programme based on their age, weight, height, hormones, and dieting history — because your body isn’t like anyone else’s.
Step 5: Balance Your Mind as Well as Your Body
Weight loss isn’t just physical, your mindset matters more than you think.
When you’re constantly on the go, overwhelmed by responsibilities and stress, your cortisol levels stay high. That makes belly fat even harder to shift — and increases emotional eating and burnout.
That’s why we teach our clients to:
Take “me time” each week — even 30 minutes to read, walk, or relax can reset your system
Use simple mindset tools — like gratitude journaling or writing out stressful thoughts
Try meditation with apps like Headspace or Insight Timer
These habits don’t just help you feel better — they make the weight loss process easier and more enjoyable.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
Losing weight in your 40s, 50s, or 60s isn’t about punishment, restriction, or hours in the gym. It’s about working with your body and choosing a strategy that fits your life now. You’ve tried doing it alone. Now it’s time to try something that actually works.
At Trinity, we’ve helped over 7,000 women over 40 drop 1–2 dress sizes, feel amazing in their clothes, and finally take back control of their bodies—even after years of trying everything else.
You don’t need more willpower, more cardio, or another diet. You need a plan that works for your body now, with the right support to follow it through.
And that’s exactly what we do. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start seeing real, lasting results…
Here’s what’s included in our coaching:
A personalised plan tailored to your body, lifestyle and goals
Weekly check-ins with your own expert coach to keep you on track
Low Impact Strength Training sessions designed for women over 40
Nutrition guidance that works with your hormones (and doesn’t feel like a diet)
Daily support, motivation and accountability inside our private app
Access to a community of like-minded women who get it
Tools to overcome stress eating, all-or-nothing thinking, and hormonal hurdles
