How to get rid of the belly fat & look fabulous at 40
There aren't a lot of people talking about what happens when you turn 40 -- maybe they are overwhelmed with all the new “fun facts” about their bodies... maybe they just don't know the answers. One thing I can tell you: Forty IS NOT for the weak.
Gravity does some asshole things, y’all... add in genetics & hormones .... all of a sudden you look down one day and think - what in the actual hell in going on?
You know what I’m talking about, the dreaded mom pooch.
I've done a lot of research + tried a LOT of things, because I wanted to figure out how to heal issues I was struggling with .... I was DONE settling.
We see “how to” videos all the time, YouTubers or Instagramers with these fitness tips & videos. They’re peppy and energetic, working out in the gym, telling you how to lean up + lose weight & how to get healthy in their cute outfits (bless their hearts). I'm not one of those cute little girls in the gym anymore - I was a long time ago & I’ve tried to cling to that glory for as long as I could until one day I literally heard my body scream out - “Girlfriend no!!”
I had to asking things changed, shifted & slowed down.
Squishy, dimply fat deposits came where they never were before, skin loses some of its glorious elasticity, you get tired more easily, hair thins out, your amazing friday & saturday nights are now spent reading a book or watching a movie aaaaaand falling asleep. We aren’t 25 years old anymore.
Today I want to share (what I've found) with you -- how to get rid of belly fat after 40.
But before we dive in, I want to explain a little mechanics of why it's there. Because watching these fitness videos, going on the internet finding general diets & jumping on different lifestyles & diets that are out there like Keto, Whole30, Fasting, etc won't help unless you understand that your belly fat is different than that 25yr olds.
Hormones start changing/ decreasing & going downhill at the age of 25 so when 35 or 40 rolls around for you that's when you start noticing all the shifts and the changes. That’s when many women fall out of love with their body, unfortunately. The 3 hormones that start going receding are - Estrogen, Testosterone and Human growth hormones. At 25, your body stops mass producing hormones and by 40 you realise - “Shit!....my body is not cooperating with me anymore.”
All those things that came easy with your body - not worrying after getting a bad haircut because your hair grows so fast, losing weight so easily or staying up late at night & still being able to work like a machine the next day....but by 40 your body is not cooperating and weight is one of those things. It all of a sudden becomes extremely hard to lose weight; not only that you are probably starting to notice you are getting fluffy or fluffier in the middle. You can't do those quick little fixes anymore. There are things that are going on in your body - let's understand what they are so I can tell you how to fix them.
I decided in January that I'm going to be 43 AND I'm going to have a before & after picture a year apart that's going to blow your damn mind. But I had to figure out how to fine tune things.
We talked about hormones - they are a huge things & not only are your hormones going down, you are also losing cells - muscle cells which means less muscle mass. Your muscles are “metabolically active” which means if you have more muscle mass you burn more calories just sitting around. So, if you are wondering why you are gaining 5 - 10 pounds a year even without changing anything it's because you are burning less calories doing the same things you normally do because you are losing muscle mass.
You haven't changed anything, you are still eating the same but you ALSO haven't done anything to combat the changes that are happening.
Another thing you notice when you turn 35 and definitely by 40 is your body fat distribution is changing. When you were 18, you had subcutaneous fat on your body. That’s the fat that you could pinch out in your stomach or on your arms but as you turn 40, it changes to visceral fat.
Visceral fat is that marble-y invasive a**hole fat that goes right to your tummy.
So here are some tips to combat that fat so you can be 40 and fabulous.
Disclaimer - Some of these tips you would have heard before, when you were 20 or 25 these were negotiable, you could choose to listen to these & follow them to tone up or loose a few pounds. But babe, if you are 40 + these are no longer negotiable for you.
These 5 tips are not negotiable anymore.
Avoid processed foods especially excess sugars. Without excess estrogen around anymore those sugars are not getting processed and are being stored as FAT: mostly belly fat. So the way excess sugar and processed food affects you and they affect your daughter are completely different.
Being aware on ACTUAL input/output i.e. what you are putting into your mouth vs how much you are burning. You are older, wiser, things are a little more difficult - no more guessing until you really get your lifestyle down. I use a food tracker. Anytime I'm playing with my goals I have a food tracker. You can go to Chipotle and be like - "Oh I'm going to get a bowl and not a wrap, I'm making a good life decision" - and you can blow your entire day's calories thinking you were doing the right thing. We ain't got time for that anymore. You just can't! You are going to have to use those food trackers in the beginning until you get your staples down.
Same thing, if you are getting back into the gym, you've worked your ass of, you are sweating & thinking “Oh I just burned 1000 calories!” ...girlfriend you just burned 200. You really have to get smart and be aware of what you are putting into your body calorie wise and what you are burning. It will open your eyes. You'll find some mistakes that will be easy to correct.
If you are 40 plus and you are in the gym working out on the stair stepper or you are on the treadmill or the elliptical and just going at it for 45 mins -- it's not doing you as much good as you think. Don't you want to go to the gym and make that ‘blood, sweat and tears’ actually count for something? Don't you want to see the changes? Just doing cardio day after day is not going to work for you anymore because you don't spend your energy the same. That cardio workout that used to give you a 200 calorie deficit is not doing that anymore. You've got to start lifting the weights. You've got to start lifting the heavy stuff because you are losing muscle everyday & the more muscle you lose the fatter you get. Doing resistance training, pick up the weights or doing Yoga with whole body resistance and putting pressure on the muscles to rebuild/build muscle mass will help you lose the stubborn fat.
Rethink alcohol - If you want to get into certain size pants or get rid of the mommy muffin & are done with the belly fat or even get ready for a bathing suit this summer then you have GOALS & for that time span you need to rethink the drink. With all the changes happening in your body, the alcohol you drink is turning into sugar which goes straight to your belly fat.
Dairy - Dairy metabolize as glucose in the body which again goes to the belly and stores. It's time to find alternatives - dairy free cheese, nut milk etc. There are dairy free alternatives to everything that you are using and you are not going to miss out. It's a great way to see a really good bump in your body composition. Dairy and some grains can work against you because of the way they metabolize into glucose.
These are the things you need to realise and start working with as your body is not working the way it used to before.
And to help me with my goals, I brought in supplements for my body because I'm older, wiser and I know my body needs help. My body needs help to supplement the journey i.e. to add to the journey because I'm not able to do this on my own anymore.
2 of my favorite supplements I use and have been using -
1. Waist trainer in a bottle - This supplement is so important because it has got collagen, hyaluronic acid & CLA that have scientifically been proven to reduce fat, specifically belly fat. It helps to improve the muscle tone -- so it builds lean muscle and inhibits fat storage. This is what my body desperately needs right now - losing belly fat.
2. The second thing I use every day is the Carb-blocker. It delays the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates & aids your weight loss journey by lowering the glycemic index/effect of higher carb meals & supporting your body.
If you want to know about these click on the button below. I’d love to customize some recommendations for you.
PS - If you have friends that need to hear this, share the video/blog with them so they can quit dieting like an 18 yr old or following diet trends like a 25yr old and start working with their body to get rid of the belly fat successfully.