How To Eat and Be Healthy After Hitting 40

There are several reasons why women gain weight after 40. A lot of the times it is just the natural process of aging, and with age, your metabolism tends to slow down since you do not need it as much any longer. So you need fret over the last iced muffin you had been the sole reason for which you gained weight.

A lot of time, around this age, women go through menopause or are about to. This leads to changes in hormone levels. That itself develops an increased appetite. The hormonal changes in question are the reduction of estrogen and progesterone.

The lack of the former is responsible for retention of fat, and the lack of the latter is responsible for retaining water. Other factors include the use of medication. With age, it is natural to have a myriad of medication for various ailments, and the main culprits behind weight gain are anti-depressants and corticosteroids.

This isn’t to say you should stop taking your medication completely, it just happens to be a factor. Instead, try the following options to maintain your health and lose weight.

1. Maintain a nutrition-rich diet, but do not follow any fad diets: Ketogenic diets have it nailed down with their ‘high protein, low carb,’ policy. It is a great guideline to apply when you are planning and preparing your meals. However, you should not try crash dieting, or doing something like eating only fruits. Well, you can pick some inspiration from Steve Jobs. Maintain regular eating times, whether it be three meals a day or several small meals at regular intervals.

2. Cut down on refined foods: Anything that has the word refined in front of it implies that it has no nutritive value and are empty calories. Refined flour is terrible for your health, refined sugar causes obesity and heart disease, and refined rice simply adds more carbs to your system. While making meals like pancakes, you can use wheat flour substitutes or even rolled oats. Even white bread should be replaced by brown bread or whole wheat bread. Sugar can be replaced with nutritious honey. And rice can be replaced with brown rice or quinoa. 

3. Try some light exercise: There’s nothing better than brisk walking to boost blood circulation and build up some muscle, especially if your knees, back, and joints, in general, give you unrelenting pain. Things like lifting light weights, stretching, cycling on your back can help burn calories and build muscle from your already enriched diet plan.

4. Replace processed foods and snacks with healthy substitutes: If you crave nachos, try eating roasted chickpeas instead. Homemade air-popped popcorn is said to be the healthiest snack while still resembling a snack. You can pop the occasional grape and strawberry in place of candy or pastries.

5. The occasional pizza doesn’t hurt: If you are the kind of person who puts on weight after 40, chances are it isn’t your fault for gaining weight. Don’t be too harsh on yourself when it comes to sticking to a regime.

Just remember that dieting is important, but the occasional cake or pizza is actually beneficial towards regulating your metabolism. So, plan it accordingly and feel that life really begins at 40!