Weight Loss After 40? It's Different But Possible

You’re over 40 years old, you’ve probably noticed that weight loss can become harder.

When we’re younger, in our teens, 20’s and 30’s, we can often (not always) get away with a lot. We can eat more carbs without gaining weight, and keep up our energy and strength levels.

But after 40, things change. And this is a factor in aging. A factor related to changes in our hormones as we age.

These changes affect our metabolism — how our body regulates the use of energy sources such as carbs and fats.

When we’re younger, our metabolism is faster and energy from carbs is burned fast without adding weight, but as we get older, with hormonal changes, it can slow down, to the point where some people can eat a single muffin and gain weight.

In this article we’re going to dive into what’s happening here and what you can do about it. Even more, we’re going to cover how weight loss at this age doesn’t just lead to, well, weight loss, but can actually “de-age” us.

Let’s dive in.

ESTROGEN, TESTOSTERONE & WEIGHT GAIN OVER 40

We know from this article that estrogen is not only an important hormone for reproductive functions, but is also a body fat-promoting hormone.

When it gets too high, it can increase insulin and cortisol levels, which lead to excess body fat, while at the same time lowering thyroid and progesterone, two hormones which help to burn body fat.

So this should be great then when we hit menopause, because our estrogen levels start lowering and we lose body fat, right?

Unfortunately, no.

While too-high estrogen leads to weight gain, estrogen that’s too low… also leads to weight gain.

That’s right. When estrogen levels get too low, as they do in menopause, this can lead to excess body fat being created, especially around the middle, along with a decrease in muscle and even body density.

And it does this in part by affecting our appetite, increasing cravings for high calorie and sugary foods.

But it also affects men.

Just as estrogen starts lowering in women, testosterone levels start lowering in men around the age of 40.

This testosterone is crucial to keep up one’s metabolism, muscle mass and bone density. And its lack makes it much easier to gain weight, especially around the middle, and much harder to get rid of it once it’s there.

Let’s look a bit deeper.