Fat loss for women over 40

I was asked by Women’s Fitness to write an article on losing fat after 40. Before the article is released, I thought I would reveal my top tips and the re occurring trends I have seen when working with women wanting to lose weight post 40.

So why it is more difficult to lose fat after 40 and what should women be doing to ensure they are successful in achieving their fat loss goals?

The long and short of it is that when you approach or reach 40, the female body goes through some biological changes. The first is the loss of lean muscle mass. Muscle burns three times more calories than fat cells, which means a loss of muscle mass causes weight gain and an inability to shift fat.

A drop in testosterone levels and yo yo dieting are both strong contributors to this. Women generally lose muscle mass twice as fast as men post 40 so this must be addressed through changes in your nutrition and exercise programme. A loss of muscle mass also has a profound effect on ones metabolic rate (the rate in which we burn calories at rest).
As you age, your metabolism tends to decelerate by up to 5% for every decade of life past age 40.

So what is the solution to maintaining/building some lean muscle mass and keeping a high metabolic rate?

I have lost count of the number of ladies I have trained who come to me with the same issue. That issue is that now they are near or recently beyond 40, the old routine doesn’t seem to be working like it used to and body fat is accumulating in certain areas!

So I dig a little deeper and find out what the old routine consisted of. A cardiovascular-based routine is usually the answer. Alarm bells ring when I hear this as usually it is a classic case of ‘muscle tissue depletion’, which results in a slower metabolic rate. What I am trying to say is that cardiovascular exercise is less suited to your body now compared to a few years ago. The area that is missing is the weight training.

Weight training will directly improve your metabolic rate allowing you to burn more calories at rest. You can also expect to burn fat for up to 8 hours after a weights workout compared to only an hours worth after a cardio workout. Research has shown that regular resistance training can increase your Basal Metabolic Rate by up to 15% which could be as much as 300 calories extra per day every day!

I have noticed specific trends when dealing with these cases. Once I have re addressed the balance of weights and cardio making sure that there is at least two weight training sessions per week, you can expect consistent fat loss over a six week period.

Remember to think long term with any weight loss goal. It is essential that you get your muscles to do their bit and start burning calories for you, which is why weight training needs to be there from the start. I have noticed that a lot of women will drop overall body weight quite slowly over the first 6 weeks mainly due to the small gain in muscle tissue, which weighs more. However, whilst this is happening, your body fat will drop at a far faster rate.

So even though over 6 weeks you may only have lost 2-3 kilos, your body fat may have dropped 4-5%, which is noticeably leaner. It is important to note that there is more to a successful weight loss result result than what the scales say. Take your body fat % into consideration aswell.

A reduction of 5% body fat over 6 weeks can mean 2 dress sizes dropped! I actually value this reading far higher than the weighing scales because your % body fat is a true representation of your body composition rather than your overall weight. The classic short term approach of crash dieting and endless cardio might allow you to weight less but I guarantee you wont be leaner not to mention piling the weight back on once you start eating properly again. Think long term and focus on your muscle mass.