Why Is It So Hard to Lose Weight After 40?

You eat the way you always have. Maybe less. You walk, you skip dessert, and the scale still won’t move.

If you’re over 40, you’re not imagining it. Losing weight does get harder, and it has very little to do with willpower.

Your body changed. The plan that worked at 25 didn’t change with it.

You’re carrying less muscle

Muscle burns more calories than fat does, even while you sleep.

After 30, you lose a little muscle every year unless you train it. By your 40s and 50s that adds up, and your body burns fewer calories than it used to. The same meals that kept you steady at 30 now add a pound here and a pound there.

Hormones play a part too. Perimenopause and menopause change where a woman’s body stores fat, and men lose a little testosterone each year. Both make it easier to lose muscle and gain fat.

There’s more on this in Why Your Metabolism Isn’t What It Used To Be.

Why eating less stops working

When the scale creeps up, the first move is to eat less. It works for a few weeks, and then it stalls.

Cut too hard and your body burns muscle along with the fat. You end up lighter but weaker, more tired, and burning even fewer calories than before. Then the diet ends and the weight comes back.

That’s why we don’t do crash diets at Create Fitness. Most diets fail because they’re too restrictive, so we make small changes that can yield big results, and you still get to have some treats.

Belly fat after 40

More of the weight lands on your belly after 40, especially for women going through menopause.

You can’t choose where you lose fat first, and no amount of crunches burns belly fat by itself. It comes off with the rest of your body fat when you follow the plan below.

Strength training for weight loss after 40

If you take one thing from this article, make it this: start strength training.

Cardio burns calories while you’re doing it. Strength training builds the muscle that burns calories all day, and it’s the best way I know to hold on to muscle while you lose fat.

Lifting won’t make you bulky. It makes you stronger, and you feel it in real life: carrying all the groceries in one trip, getting up off the floor without grabbing the couch, keeping up with your kids or grandkids.

Two or three strength workouts a week is plenty to start, with walks on the days in between.

Sleep and stress show up on the scale

Short nights make you hungrier the next day, and it’s a lot harder to pass on the break room donuts on five hours of sleep.

Stress does the same thing. Long workdays, kids, parents who need more help: that’s normal life in your 40s and 50s, and it leaves less energy for workouts and cooking.

Life won’t get less busy, so protect a few things instead: a regular bedtime, workouts that are already on your calendar, and a simple plan for your busiest days.

How to lose weight after 40

This is where I’d tell a friend to start:

1. Lift two or three times a week. Pick weights that feel hard by the last few reps, and keep good form.
2. Protein at every meal. It keeps you full longer and helps you hold on to muscle.
3. A daily walk. It’s easy on your joints, and the steps add up.
4. One small change at a time. Keep it for a few weeks before you add the next one. A perfect plan you quit in two weeks does nothing for you.
5. Track more than the scale. How your clothes fit, the weights you lift and how you sleep all count. The scale is the slowest of them to move.
6. Get someone in your corner. Since 2016, the people I’ve seen reach their goals are the ones who keep showing up, and showing up is a lot easier when someone notices when you don’t.

What a simple week looks like

You don’t need two hours a day. A week like this is enough to start:

• Monday: strength workout
• Tuesday: 30-minute walk
• Wednesday: strength workout
• Thursday: 30-minute walk
• Friday: strength workout
• Weekend: something active you enjoy, like a hike, yard work or a bike ride with the kids

Add a palm-sized portion of protein to each meal, keep a regular bedtime, and give it a few months before you judge it.

When to talk to your doctor

If you’re doing all of this and nothing changes after a couple of months, check in with your doctor. Thyroid problems and some medications affect weight, and they’re worth ruling out.

You can keep training while you sort it out. Tell your coach, and we’ll plan around it.

Where a coach comes in

I know how hard this is from the inside. Coming back from an injury as a college athlete, I lost over 50 lbs, and it took a real plan for training and eating.

That’s how our weight loss program in Kent and Puyallup works. You’ll have a coach with you every time you train. Your coach plans every workout, runs you through it, and helps with form, modifications and weights. Nutrition coaching and check-ins are included in every membership, and we reach out if we haven’t seen you.