What is the secret to weight control in your 40s and 50s?

About a week ago I had a conversation with Amber Hudson who is a certified nutritionist hoping to pinpoint the “magic” weight control regime that “works” on the over 40s.

Being over 40 (actually over 50) myself I know all too well that weight control seems to become a lot more difficult as you get older. You feel like you are eating the same way, continuing with your exercise regime and yet slowly the weight is going on. It is comforting to console yourself with various reasons associated with hormones and advancing age as to why it is so much harder to keep control of your weight.

My conversation with Amber brought home a few home truths. Yes, hormones can play a small part in the reason why we slowly seem to put on weight as we age. But it is only a small part. There are so many other reasons – many of them lifestyle choices that can be changed or worked on to get us results.

Amber pointed out that when women are in their 40s:

• They go back to work or are in a position of more responsibility – so they have less time to exercise and they eat on the run
• If they have kids – the kids are more grown up and do not need as much help – which also equates to less movement
• They might start drinking more to relieve stress and for enjoyment
• They eat out more and do less cooking
• They do not sleep as well as they suffer hormonal changes
• They are more stressed and have higher cortisol levels.

So even though there are hormonal changes behind some of these things (like poor sleep) and less muscle mass (so less energy is required) that is not really the main reason weight starts to go on.

Less movement, more alcohol, more stress and less nutritious food all mean that slowly, slowly weight will go on as food excess to your needs get stored as fat. It is an uncomfortable truth – we can’t just blame old age, our hormones, “starvation mode” or other excuses. We need to find a way to eat slightly less, move a lot more, sleep better and stress less.

My approach is to slowly build new habits bit by bit until they become second nature. Work out what new good habits you can take on and then one by one add them into your life. Work on one thing at a time. It might be that you need to work on your sleep. It might mean more home cooked food. It might be more incidental exercise. It might be a weekly yin yoga class to build in some stress relief.

If what you are doing now is not working for you…..face up to it – and start doing something about it.