The #1 Diet For Fat Loss Over 40

Want to eat your favourite foods and still lose fat after 40?

As a fat loss coach for over 25 years, I help my clients make smart adjustments that restart fat loss, even after years of struggle.

So, in this video, I'll show you exactly the nutrition strategy you need after 40 so you can burn fat and feel amazing without any crazy restrictions.

Why a Calorie Deficit Is the Foundation of Fat Loss

Now, before we get into specific foods or macros, we need to cover the one principle that every successful fat loss plan depends on, whether you're 25 or 55. The calorie deficit is the foundation of fat loss. Maybe you've heard that your metabolism slows down in your 40s and that fat loss is automatically a lot harder with age. But that's not actually true.

More likely, you're struggling because your calorie intake hasn't adjusted to your current lifestyle. Most of us just move less as life gets busier. Work and family responsibilities all add up.

Energy balance is really just like keeping a budget. You can increase your income by burning more calories through movement or reduce your spending by eating less or some combination of the two. It doesn't matter how you create the deficit. They're just different restrictions that reduce your calories.

Different Ways to Create a Calorie Deficit After 40

So you can be counting calories, reducing portion sizes, eating fewer high calorie density foods while eating more low calorie density foods, having fewer meals, or any trendy diet that makes you eat less through unnecessarily leaving out certain foods like carnivore or keto. Lots of options that can work, not all of which I recommend, though.

One way to get started is to build calorie and macro awareness. Track your food intake for a week using an app like My Fitness Pal or My Net Diary. Don't change anything. Just see what's going on. Then the following week, you can subtract 200 to 300 calories per day to create a moderate deficit.

Now, you can certainly do ongoing calorie and macro tracking to keep your calories under control. Some of my clients love it and use it to manage their intake for the long term, but for most people, it's best to use it for short periods to get some general food knowledge and move on to creating your own meal plan.

Why Cutting Carbs or Fat Doesn’t Work

I don't count calories and I've only really done it when preparing for fitness competitions and when I did a video about calorie tracking last year. I tracked what I ate for 100 days. If you don't intend to track what you're eating for the long term, you need to learn how to naturally reduce calories.

This is where many people go wrong. They hear carbs are bad and make you fat or that fat makes you fat. Neither of those things are true. Eating too many calories overall is what causes fat gain. Cutting out carbs or fat completely not only leads to cravings. It can hurt your energy, mood, and your ability to stick to your plan. And if you can't stick to it, you won't get long-term results. That's really what you're looking for.

The Balanced Plate Method for Fat Loss

I have a simple plan for my own meals. I'm not much of a cook. My husband cooks most of the dinners at home, but I know how to put together meals that give me the protein, fibre, carbs, and fat I need, and they also keep me satisfied so that I'm not tempted to snack.

For fat loss, the balanced plate method can be really helpful.

Half of your plate is veggies, a quarter of your plate is lean protein, a quarter is starchy carbs like sweet potato, potato, rice, or noodles, and one small portion of fat, about a tablespoon.

Here are a few examples of meals that can fit into this method:

• Grilled chicken breast with roasted broccoli and carrots, baked sweet potato, and a drizzle of olive oil.
• Salmon fillet with steamed asparagus, green peas, rice, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
• Extra lean ground turkey stir fry with mixed peppers and snap peas and noodles.
• Sirloin steak, a lean cut with green beans, broccoli, and boiled baby potatoes.
• An open-faced turkey sandwich plate with one slice of whole grain bread, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and one tablespoon of hummus.

This structure keeps you satisfied and gets in your protein, fibre, and fat.

Balanced Snack Ideas

A couple of balanced snack ideas that could work are Greek yogurt for the protein with fresh berries and a few almonds for the fat, or cottage cheese with cucumber slices and carrots, maybe some nuts as well. If your main meals generally follow the balance plate method, you're probably set.

Increase Protein to Stay Full and Preserve Muscle

But even the perfect meal won't leave you satisfied if you're distracted, rushing through it, or not paying attention to how full you feel. So, you'll want to add this powerful nutrition strategy to keep your hunger under control and protect your muscle against aging.

Increase protein to stay full and preserve muscle. Muscle is your metabolic engine. It helps you burn more calories throughout the day and get lean and defined. Starting at around 40, you'll lose 0.8 to 1% of your muscle mass per year if you're not physically active.

Why Muscle and Protein Matter After 40

That muscle loss is what can lead to the lowering of your metabolism as you age, but it can stay fairly steady if you work hard to maintain it. Overall, our metabolisms don't really decrease until we get to about 60, and then it's not rapid or a straight terrible decline either.

Strength training is the most important driver of muscle growth, but you also have to make sure you're getting enough protein.

Real Client Example: Steven’s Fat Loss Breakthrough

My client Steven had already lost 20 pounds with intermittent fasting, but he was stuck and couldn't lose any more fat. I saw that he was only getting about 80 g of protein a day. Not that surprising since he was only having two meals a day.

For his weight of 200 pounds, I wanted him to have at least 140 grams of protein, 0.7 grams per pound per day, and probably more since he was 60. Our rate of muscle protein synthesis goes down as we get older, so we need more protein to get the same muscle building effect as when we were in our 20s.

So, I asked him to add a protein shake with berries in the morning, something that he enjoyed. After a week, he noticed that he felt stronger and he didn't get as hungry as before. He eventually managed to add a few pounds of muscle and lost 2 in off his waist because he was finally eating enough protein for muscle building and fat loss.

How Much Protein You Need for Fat Loss After 40

Here's how to do this for yourself. Set a daily protein goal. 0.7 to 1 g per pound or 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilo of body weight per day. So if you weigh 180 lb, that's 126 g minimum. Divide that evenly across meals.

Going long periods without eating can make you hungry, which makes it harder to make good food choices. So, don't let yourself get too hungry. Pick your lean protein source first and then wrap the rest of the meal around it.

Why Starting the Day with Protein Helps Fat Loss

As a bonus tip, starting your day with protein can also be helpful. People who eat a high protein breakfast tend to eat fewer total calories throughout the day and have better appetite control in general. Managing your appetite leads to fewer calories eaten overall.

Mindful Eating for Long-Term Fat Loss Success

Another way to naturally control how much you're eating is how you eat it. Eat mindfully. No screens. Slow down. Enjoy. Many people overeat because they eat too fast. They eat while distracted by a screen or they eat to cope with stress or their emotions.

This ignores the body's natural hunger and fullness signals, often leading to chronic overeating.

The Japanese Point-and-Call Method for Eating

Another useful trick is called pointing and calling. This is known as shisa kangko in Japan where it's used to increase safety in railway operations. They physically point at an object and call out its status on off. Okay. It's been shown to significantly reduce errors compared to just looking at the indicators because it forces the operator to pay attention and that can be really useful for slowing down your eating.

So you just say to yourself chicken when you're eating chicken, potato when you're eating a potato in your head, preferably if you're eating with other people.

Why You Need to Include Your Favourite Foods

Because if a diet is going to work for you long term, it needs to include your favourite foods. So start thinking about the foods that you enjoy, both the more nutritious foods and treat foods that a lot of people will tell you you need to give up to lose fat. You don't.

What you'll want to do is reduce the portion size and probably the frequency of eating those foods, especially if there are a lot of high calorie density ultraprocessed foods that you love.

The Food Freedom List 

Being more mindful when you're eating is a great start because you'll learn to be satisfied with less. The first bite is the sweetest and there are diminishing returns for satisfaction after that.

I use something called The Food Freedom List to help my clients build their own nutrition plan. It's seven questions to ask yourself to start picking and eliminating foods from what you're currently eating.

I've included it in the FREE Lean & Strong 40+ Plan HERE.

Because the best diet isn't really a diet at all, but a way of eating that suits your lifestyle and preferences.

Sustainable Fat Loss After 40

But remember that fat loss is about calories in your nutrition and calories out your activity. To put it all together to lose fat sustainably over 40, watch the VIDEO HERE.

Ivana Chapman