Looking to lose weight over forty? Here’s the truth about slimming groups, and why they might not work for you.
It’s incredibly common for women over 40 to have tried slimming groups in the past – perhaps you’ve even tried them yourself. Most of the time, women who try these groups see little results in the mirror. Or, they do see results… yet the weight piles back on faster than they lost it.
Both of these outcomes can be incredibly frustrating. They often leave women feeling trapped and unable to lose weight, no matter what they try. These women end up living in elasticated waistbands, not enjoying beach holidays, or even disliking shopping for clothes!
This is never a nice situation to be in.
Some women are able to see fantastic results from slimming groups, and there are some positives which we’ll cover later. But, most of the time for women over 40, the truth about slimming groups is that they deliver poor results and lead to a cycle of yo-yo dieting and disappointment.
In our most recent podcast episode, we reveal the truth about slimming groups. We discuss why they aren’t ideal for women over 40, and what to do instead to drop 1-2 dress sizes in as little as 12 weeks!
The good parts
Slimming groups are not all bad; there are definitely some good points about them! Yet, the fact remains that for most women, they simply don’t deliver results.
A benefit of slimming groups includes the sense of community. Accountability is really effective for keeping people on track. Being part of a community of people on the same mission as you it’s a great way to stay accountable!
Another benefit includes the simplicity. Keeping things simple is brilliant, especially for women over 40 with busy careers and family lives.
Sometimes, some groups include exercise and mindset work. This should be an essential part of any fat loss approach, because your mind is what decides whether you exercise, and what foods you put in your body!
With all of this in mind, we still don’t recommend slimming groups for women over 40. Here’s why…
The bad parts
There are plenty of reasons why swimming groups aren’t sustainable. This is a huge reason why many women always end up going back to them: they don’t work. Here are just some of the reasons you might not be seeing the results you want to see.
Being able to fill up on ‘Free Food’
Most slimming groups allow you to eat ‘free foods’. For the sample, zero points soup, bananas, salmon, etc. This may seem positive from the outside, but it can lead to plenty of poor results in the long term…
The problem with this is that you can easily consume an extra 500 calories per day. This could be all it takes for you to see no results in the mirror. Doing this is like pouring a glass of wine wearing a blindfold, you don’t actually know how much you’re pouring.
Instead, you can track it using apps or old-school methods. This way, you’ll know exactly the number of calories you’ve eaten in a day. There’s no need for guesswork or inaccuracy, so you can be certain you’ll see the results you deserve.
Non specific exercise
In the past, mainstream diet approaches didn’t focus on exercise. They were all about eating less in order to lose weight. This is likely because it can be hard for someone to create healthy habits with regular exercise.
However this can be detrimental. The problem with this is that, for women over 40, doing the right type of exercise is vital for seeing sustainable results. Younger women and men get away with doing a little exercise, but women over 40 require a specific type of training to get the scales moving.
We recommend LIST training (low impact strength training). Lifting weights in a slow and controlled way is incredibly effective for losing body fat and toning up. Additionally, it’s easy on the joints which is an important thing to consider!
Lack of REAL accountability
It’s incredibly common for women on these slimming plans to struggle once they go back to normal eating. This is often why they regain the weight. This starts to happen because there’s no one there to chase you up, to find out why you haven’t showed up, or to help you get back on track.
In reality, most people know how to lose weight! They know they need to eat better foods and do more exercise. What’s missing is actually the accountability… This helps you stay consistent enough to see results! For women over 40 with a busy careers and family lives, this can be extremely difficult.
Instead, stop paying to be told what you already know. Invest in having someone help you do what you haven’t been able to: stay consistent. This is a key way to develop new habits.
Tracking ‘points’ which only make sense on a diet plan
Almost all diets involve points, set meal plans, shakes, or similar. These are simply just different ways to control your food intake, as all weight loss comes down to is eating the right amount of food for you.
The perfect amount of food for you depends on your age, lifestyle, hormones, and previous dietary history. This is something we work out for every single woman we work with!
The energy in food is commonly shown as an amount of calories. The problem with using any other measure, is that it becomes irrelevant in the real world. For example, if you start measuring distance in terms of the length of your sofa inside your house, this makes sense compared to everything else in your room. However, in the real world, if someone asks you how far it is the town… 146 sofas doesn’t make any sense!
So, unless you plan on tracking points for the rest of your life… It’s better to learn how to track what you are eating properly. They helps you to control your nutrition – even when you aren’t on a diet.
Not teaching you how to do it on your own
Most diet plans and slimming groups have an element of mystery. They create a system for you to follow, yet they don’t reveal the magic by scenes. This is almost like they are intending to keep you relying on the diet plan forever…
Now, we are sure you eventually want to get to the point where you’re not on a diet anymore. You likely want to achieve your goals, and then go back to taking control of your life. If this is the case, you’ll need to know all of the magic behind-the-scenes so that you can keep these results long-term.
So, instead, we recommend you find something which actually teaches you how to maintain your results long term – rather than just teaching you how to lose a few pounds on the scales. As the old saying goes, give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime! This is exactly what we aim to achieve in our Fit Over 40 program.
If you’re interested in finding a long-term, sustainable diet designed for women over 40, you can find out more about working with us here!
