This article doesn’t need a long intro. If you have found yourself reading this article, you presumably want to know tips and strategies for losing weight for one reason or another. Losing weight gets harder as you get older, so the tips and strategies below are more important to incorporate into your overall life if you are over 40.
Calorie-Deficit Dieting
If there is one thing to know about losing weight, it is to manage your daily calorie intake. In the simplest terms, if the number of calories in is less than the number of calories out, over time you will lose weight. You have to know how many calories it would take per day to maintain your current weight and eat less than that consistently over time and your weight will lower. This concept is commonly referred to as a calorie-deficit diet.
If you Google how to calculate the number you are looking for, there are many calculator tools out there. I have tried several of them and the results are not consistent. A calculator that is recommended by a peer-reviewed article on WebMD can be found at this link here. I assume it is more credible and accurate than random calculators found in Google search results. Be honest about the activity level when punching your answers into the calculator – you only cheat yourself by cheating on the calculator 🙂
Eat A Balanced Diet
Piggybacking off of the previous weight loss strategy, you need to eat a balanced diet. If you eat a sugar-rich, processed food-rich calorie-deficit diet that is low in protein and full of empty calories, your weight loss will not last and your overall health will likely suffer. Even your short-term weight loss will leave you feeling sluggish, potentially result in muscle loss, and likely not result in ‘the look’ you are aiming for. Your digestive system will slow down, you will be bloated from retaining more water, and your metabolism will slow down.
Instead, eat non-processed foods that serve as great sources of complex carbohydrates and non-saturated fats, and make sure to get enough protein. How much protein a person needs depends on the person, and you can find out more about how to figure out what your optimal daily protein level should be in a previous article on this website. The same is true for figuring out how much dietary fiber you should consume per day. Chart out your meal plan each day in a way where your meals are roughly 2 hours apart, aiming for 5 or more small meals a day until you reach your target daily calorie limit.
Drink Adequate Amounts Of Water, Limit Liquid Calories
Drinking enough water per day is vital to losing weight for several reasons, not the least of which is that it helps keep your digestive system moving. How much water a person needs a day depends on several factors, and you can find out more about how to find the amount of daily water intake that you need in a previous article found on this website.
Furthermore, you want to limit the number of calories that you get from liquid sources, especially alcohol. In addition to being associated with various serious health risks, alcoholic beverages are full of empty calories. Developing a ‘beer belly’ is a very real thing. Avoid sodas, sugar-rich juices, energy drinks, and ‘sports’ drinks, and if you drink coffee, try to avoid adding sugar or cream to it which raises the number of calories per cup. Many people do a good job of managing their calories when it comes to food, but fail at doing the same when it comes to liquids. Stick to water as much as you can – it is calorie-free.
Boost The Number Of Calories You Burn
I always urge people to ‘burn the calorie candle at both ends’ by coupling a reduction in daily calorie intake with boosting daily calories burned. How many calories you should burn in a day depends on a number of factors, which is a trend that you are hopefully picking up on as you read this article. There is no one-size-fits-all to fitness and nutrition. The human body and its biology are complex, and what may work for one person may not work for the next person. Check out a previous article to learn more about how much cardio you should aim for per day. You can learn more about cardio in general and get cardio exercise ideas via this website’s cardio category which is being continuously populated with new content on a rolling basis.
Build Muscle
When many people think of losing weight and getting in shape, they tend to only think of doing cardio on the exercise side of the equation. Cardio is very important, however, so is boosting your muscle mass. Every human has some amount of muscle even if they do not lift weights. ‘Added muscle’ is any amount of muscle that your body gains through exercise that it wouldn’t have otherwise. The more added muscle that your body has, the more calories your body burns while at rest. Couple regular weightlifting with boosting your daily protein intake as part of a balanced diet to increase your muscle mass. Similar to cardio, you can learn more about weightlifting in general and get lifting exercise ideas via this website’s weightlifting category which is being continuously populated with new content on a rolling basis.
Prioritize Sleep
Numerous studies have consistently found that a lack of proper sleep affects your weight and your ability to lose weight. One such study, conducted in 2021 by researchers affiliated with health and academic institutions based in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Georgia, found that “better sleep health was associated with greater weight and fat loss.” A separate study conducted in 2022 by researchers based in Greece and Romania found that “disturbed sleeping patterns lead to increased energy intake, partly from excessive snacking, mainly on foods high in fat and carbohydrates.” There are plenty more peer-reviewed scientific studies out there on this topic, but I assume that you get the point.
Reduce Stress
A 2019 study conducted at the University of California found that “stress can affect behavior by inducing overeating and consumption of foods that are high in calories, fat, or sugar; by decreasing physical activity; and by shortening sleep.” Stress makes you less likely to stick to every weight loss strategy listed in this article and presumably every other one that surfaces as the years go by. Reducing stress is no easy task, but it is vital to losing weight.
Winning The ‘Mental Game’
All of the above tips and strategies are only as good as your willingness to stick with them over the long haul. You can know all of the weight loss tips and strategies under the sun, but if you are not motivated to do them and get burned out at just the mere thought of it all, then you are doomed to fail. One thing that I recommend to people is to practice what I call ‘progressive discipline’ in which you don’t add too many things too quickly. Instead, start with one or two things on this list, and once they become second nature to you, add another thing.
Doing everything all at once can be overwhelming, but doing it in phases over time will boost your chances of success. You can learn more about motivation as it pertains to fitness and nutrition in general and get motivation ideas via this website’s motivation category which is being continuously populated with new content on a rolling basis.
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Disclaimer: The contents of this article and this website are not meant to substitute for the professional advice of a doctor, nutritionist, and/or certified personal trainer. This content is provided as an educational tool to help people on their fitness journeys. While we strive to research topics as much as possible and provide useful and accurate information to the best of our abilities, we also strongly recommend talking to your doctor, nutritionist, and/or certified personal trainer before starting any workout, therapeutic, or nutritional regimen, as each individual’s needs and situations vary depending on the person.