Weight Loss for Middle-Aged Women: The 2021 Guide

nagina-abdullah

Nagina Abdullah

MOLECULAR & CELL
BIOLOGY, UC BERKELEY

November 3, 2020

weight loss food

Are you middle-aged… and feel it’s impossible to lose weight?  

You notice that your metabolism is slowing down. Maybe you’ve hit pre-menopause or menopause. Whatever you do, you can’t seem to get rid of those extra pounds. 

Today, I show you step-by-step what it takes to lose weight in your 40s, 50s, and 60s to get results like this:

anjali weight loss client

Want to learn more about weight loss for middle-aged women? Read on. 

Want to boost your metabolism?

Get your own downloadable Sweet Spice Cheat Sheet PDF with the sweet spice that helps you get off of sugar. (You also get my late-night sweet & slimming tea recipe!)

My strategies have helped busy women lose 40 pounds and beyond and melt off their belly fat.

Why it’s harder to lose weight the older you get

I hear you:

You want to get your dream body. You’d LOVE to wear a bikini to the beach or the clothes you love wearing without feeling like all you think about is how your stomach sticks out. 

I remember feeling that way myself. I’d even avoid going to the beach because it was such a stressful experience. And if I DID go, I’d sit there with my cover on without ever going into the water. 

weight loss transformation

The thing is:

When you turn 40, your metabolism starts to slow down. And that means: The things you did before to lose weight don’t work anymore. 

For example, if you have a weekend where you eat out, your body doesn’t bounce back as quickly as it used to. 

Unfortunately, as we age, our bodies start working against us. Research shows that as we get older, lipid turnover in the fat tissue decreases and makes it easier to gain weight. 

What does this mean? That the rate at which fat is removed and stored goes down the older we get. 

From your 30s on, you lose muscle mass every decade that’s replaced with fat. Because muscles use up more calories than fat, less muscle means a slower metabolism. 

Plus, the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone start declining in your early 50s for women. That makes it even harder to lose weight. 

Oh, not to mention pregnancies and all the changes your body goes through. If you have kids, childbirth might have changed your body shape and made you put on extra pounds. 

So, with this in mind — can you ever lose weight? 

Yes, you can! I should know. Not only have I lost and kept off 40 pounds, but my clients do it all the time. But it DOES take a different approach than the one you’ve had up until now. 

nagina sethi boat
In my 40s and I love being active! Like here, where I’m enjoying time with my kids.

Let’s find out what it looks like. 

How to lose weight when you’re middle-aged 

Back when I was struggling with my weight, I saw a persistent pattern repeating itself:

First, I’d start using a new diet. Sure enough, my weight would drop… Only to bounce back again. 

This happened time and time again, all while I was obsessing about how much I was eating.

Unfortunately, this type of yo-yo dieting is extremely harmful, especially if you’re middle-aged and up. 

I’ve talked to hundreds of women who have lost up to 45 pounds and then put it all back because they followed a restrictive diet. 

As research shows, your metabolism gets messed up if you diet and restrict yourself. 

That’s why you need a solution that works for your lifestyle. Otherwise, it’ll be extremely difficult to lose any weight. 

Losing weight comes down to this one thing 

Figuring out how I could make my weight loss a part of my lifestyle was also how I ultimately lost all my extra weight. 

After many unsuccessful years of trying desperately to lose weight, I finally realized that enough was enough.

At this point, I had two kids and a very busy job. I just couldn’t afford to be sluggish and tired all the time or waste my time and energy on thinking about diets and what I couldn’t eat. 

I also realized that I needed to make changes NOW to build up my health for years to come. You see, extra weight will increase the risk of various illnesses, such as diabetes, heart diseases, and cancer. Not to mention that you have more energy and avoid other health-related problems, like aching joints. 

When I had this “aha” realization, I started to dig into what weight loss really comes down to. The answer?

It’s 80% about what you eat. Prioritize this, boost your metabolism, and your weight will melt off. 

fruit bowl

Add in exercise when you have more energy (strength training to build your dream body) or keep it up if you’re exercising already. 

All of this should work with your lifestyle. 

So if you have a busy job and a family, you can’t really expect yourself to spend hours cooking or figuring out what and when to eat. 

That’s why you need support and accountability. 

Want to boost your metabolism? 

Get your own downloadable Sweet Spice Cheat Sheet PDF with the sweet spice that helps you get off of sugar. (You also get my late-night sweet & slimming tea recipe!)

My strategies have helped busy women lose 40 pounds and beyond and melt off their belly fat.

Plan and get support – so you never fall off the wagon!

The key to sustaining your weight loss is to plan ahead and get the support you need to keep going, even when life gets really busy. 

In fact, research shows that support and accountability make it much easier to lose weight and keep that weight off. 

This way, you build a system that works at all times. Even in situations where you can’t control it all — like in quarantine. When you have to stay inside, you’re not as active. This makes a huge difference the older you are. If you’re not eating perfectly and you’re not getting exercise, you’re going to gain weight. 

The only way is to get a structure and plan of what to eat while you’re at home and some easy activities you can do inside or outside the house. 

There are different ways to get the support and accountability you need.

You can team up with a friend or join a local group.

What’s even more effective is to sign up with a professional health coach. That’s how I work with all my clients, through my accountability weight loss program, Slim Down Transformation.

Here, we have accountability coaches who help our students stay on track at all times. We also create a tailored plan depending on age, diets, and more, and give students the tools to keep on going after the program (so important!). 

How to lose weight after 40, 50, and 60

Now you know how weight loss for middle-aged women works. 

But as you age, you need more personalized advice. Losing weight in your 40s is not the same as losing weight in your 60s. 

That’s why I put together step-by-step guides for each age group. They will guide you to your dream weight, irrespective of your age. 

The results you can get with these guides 

Some of the results my clients have been able to get with these strategies? Here are a few middle-age weight-loss “before and after” stories:

Tree (in her 40s)

Tree is a busy, professional woman in her 40s. She works 12+ hours at a Fortune 500 company — and that means extremely limited time for things like weight loss. When she joined my program, she was at her heaviest. She specifically did NOT want to exercise, but to instead find an alternative way to lose her pounds. 

Thanks to non-restrictive weight-loss strategies, she quickly started getting results. Within three weeks, she fit back into her size 4 jeans and she lost all in all 20 pounds while enjoying chocolate cake and without spending a day at the gym. 

weight loss client tree

Stephanie (in her 50s)

Stephanie, a Director of Quality & Assurance at a big pharmaceutical company, had high blood pressure and cholesterol and was diagnosed with prediabetes. Now, in her 50s, she’s in the best shape of her life since she had her daughter (who is now in her 20s). 

After joining my program, Stephanie lost 17 pounds, was able to lose 3 inches off her waist and 3 off her hips, and went from size 10 to size 4. Even better, her blood pressure returned to normal, her cholesterol dropped 20 points, and she’s no longer diagnosed with prediabetes. Thanks to being more energetic, Stephanie even decided to pursue a PhD. 

lose weight after 50

Pam (in her 60s) 

Pam is in her 60s and one of my star students. Within five months after joining my program, she had lost a total of 50 pounds. Within seven months, that was 70 pounds. Overall, she’s lost a total of 100 pounds. 

Not to mention that Pam is a diabetic. She can’t eat everything, but she decided to make it work for herself. 

Pamela health coaching client

Get the three guides now!

Read on for the best strategies for weight loss for middle-aged women:

How to Lose Weight After 40 

How to Lose Weight After 50

How to Lose Weight After 60

Want to boost your metabolism?

Get your own downloadable Sweet Spice Cheat Sheet PDF with the sweet spice that helps you get off of sugar. (You also get my late-night sweet & slimming tea recipe!)

My strategies have helped busy women lose 40 pounds and beyond and melt off their belly fat.

Want to take your weight loss to the next level?

There you have it. Now you know all about weight loss for middle-aged women. 

Take a look at one of these guides — and apply it. What it comes down to is that you take strategic steps (no restrictive dieting!) and find a system that works for YOUR lifestyle. 

Next:

What have you tried so far? Why do you think that didn’t work?

Avatar photo

Nagina Sethi Abdullah, BA, MBA

Nagina Abdullah is a health coach for middle-aged women and professionals. She coaches women to boost their metabolism naturally, shed pounds and keep them off. Her work with weight loss clients led to the creation of Masala Body, an online weight loss platform that provides an easy and accessible system that helps women sustainably lose weight. She has helped over 1200 women successfully lose from 10-80 lbs and create a sustainable lifestyle change. Nagina earned her degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

See The Before And After Photos Of My Midlife Women Clients

Pin
Share
Tweet
Share