The Science-Based Way To Lose Belly Fat Over 40

Are you worried that age is the reason your belly fat won’t go away after 40? Science shows it’s not true. After coaching hundreds of clients over 25 years, I’ve seen that people can lose belly fat in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.

So, in this video, I’m going to show you science-backed ways to lose your stubborn belly fat.

The One Rule That Never Changes

To start, let’s talk about the one rule that never changes, no matter what your age: to lose belly fat, you have to be in a calorie deficit consistently. That simply means burning off more calories than you take in. If you’re not in a calorie deficit, your body won’t burn off stored fat.

What Changes After 40

Here’s what changes after 40. Your lifestyle habits have probably shifted, maybe without you even noticing. You may be moving less, doing more, sleeping less, and feeling more stress from your responsibilities. That often leads to eating when you’re overwhelmed.

My client Geoffrey was convinced that he ate reasonably well and made healthy choices, but he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t losing his belly fat. I asked him to track what he was eating for a week. During the week, he ate the right amount of calories to lose fat — around 1,800 calories for him. But on weekends, he would often go as high as 2,500 or 3,000.

When I asked him about it, he said, “That wasn’t a typical weekend. I had a lot of family stuff with lots of food.” I had him track his food on weekends for another three weeks, and we found that high-calorie weekends were actually the norm. He always had an event and always ate much more than it would take for him to lose fat.

We came up with strategies for him to enjoy smaller portions and be more selective on weekends. He finally saw his belly fat start to go away.

Are Weekends Sabotaging Your Progress?

Many people eat pretty well overall, but weekends, vacations, holidays, or even busy workweeks push them over the calorie level needed to stay in a deficit. Could that be you?

Track your food intake — everything — for at least three weeks. You’ll learn about your food habits and get a better idea of your weaknesses and which foods are adding a lot of calories at once.

Vegetables and fruit are very low in calorie density, so you can enjoy more of those.

Why Calculators Aren’t Always Accurate

There are equations and calculators online that give you your approximate total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which estimates how many calories you burn each day. But most people underreport their intake and make errors — you might think you’re eating 1,600 calories, but it’s actually 2,200. This means those equations won’t always work for you.

Tracking your actual intake first helps you set a baseline. Then you can adjust your calorie goal based on your own data.

Focus on a Small Deficit

Try not to make extreme changes. If you do, you risk feeling tired and worn out, which affects your energy and activity levels — your calories out. Focus on your weekly averages rather than each day individually. Every day counts, especially the weekend.

Prioritize Protein to Stay Full

Calories aren’t the only factor. What you eat matters too. You need to eat in a way that satisfies you and keeps you full so you can manage your calories.

Prioritize protein at every meal. Protein helps you stay full, reduces overeating, supports muscle mass, and burns more calories during digestion. It’s essential for preserving lean mass during fat loss.

After 40, your body becomes less efficient at using protein to build muscle. That means you need more protein to get the same effect as in your 20s.

My client Mike said he was always hungry, which made it hard for him to reduce his calories. That’s normal — when you’re hungry, you want to eat. That’s actually how GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy work. They increase feelings of fullness, slow digestion, and reduce appetite.

When I looked at what Mike was eating, I realized he wasn’t getting enough protein. I asked him to start his day with 35 grams of protein from foods like Greek yogurt and eggs, which he enjoys. He added a couple more lean protein sources during the day.

Soon, he was able to get to lunch without needing a snack — something that had never happened before. As his hunger came under control, he made better food choices all day, and his belly fat started to decrease.

How Much Protein Do You Need?

Aim for at least 30 grams of protein per meal. Try to get a total of at least 0.7 grams per pound of body weight per day, or 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight.

As we age, our rate of muscle protein synthesis goes down. That means we need more protein per meal and more protein overall to maintain muscle.

Do You Need To Cut Carbs?

No, you don’t need to cut out carbs to lose belly fat.

I tell my clients that as long as their protein intake is where it needs to be, they can decide how much fat and carbs they want to include. If total calories are the same, the fat loss effect is the same.

Some clients prefer carbs like bread and potatoes. Others like to keep more fat in their diet with added oils or slightly higher-fat meats.

That said, some people experience carb and sugar cravings if they increase carbs too much. If that sounds like you, try keeping carbs moderate — especially at first.

Generally, the more active you are, the better carbs will work for you. If you’re training regularly with weights, make sure you’re fueling your body well.

The Food Freedom List

For over a decade, I’ve used a simple exercise called the Food Freedom List to help clients enjoy their nutrition plan.

Ask yourself which five staple foods you enjoy that you could eat regularly. These should be healthy options that you actually like.

Next, identify five lean protein sources you enjoy. Then choose five vegetables and five fruits you genuinely like and want to eat more often.

Now list your five favorite treat foods — the ones that feel truly worth it. Maybe it’s chips, donuts, red wine, or fries. Personally, I love cheesecake, chocolate, and ice cream.

Also consider which five treat foods you could live without. These are the ones that don’t really satisfy you or feel worth the calories. For example, I never eat donuts, potato chips, fries, or chicken wings.

Lastly, think about which foods or habits tend to throw you off track. These are your trigger foods or situations — maybe it’s late-night snacking or social settings.

Satiety Is Your Friend

I eat potatoes nearly every day because I love them. Potatoes have one of the highest satiety scores of any food. When you feel full, your appetite stays under control, and you eat fewer calories overall.

If you enjoy what you’re eating, you’re more likely to stay consistent. That’s how you’ll access those stubborn belly fat stores — both subcutaneous fat (the kind you can pinch) and visceral fat (the kind that surrounds your organs).

Visceral Fat: A Hidden Risk

When I used to measure body fat with calipers, many of my male clients in their 40s and 50s had a hard area under the skin. That’s visceral fat.

This type of fat is more dangerous. It’s strongly linked to heart disease, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. It even sends chemical signals to the rest of your body.

The good news is that visceral fat responds quickly to lifestyle change — often faster than subcutaneous fat.

The Best Training Combo

Strength training and cardio together seem to be the most effective way to reduce visceral fat and improve overall body composition.

You don’t need cardio to lose belly fat if your nutrition is in check, but in your 40s and 50s, heart health matters.

General recommendations suggest getting 150 minutes of moderate cardio per week. If you’re doing vigorous cardio, 75 minutes is enough. A combination works too.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can help. Fifteen to twenty minutes of HIIT two times a week is enough. Doing more than that might impact your recovery, especially as you age.

What About Ab Exercises?

It would be great if crunches could target belly fat, but unfortunately, spot reduction doesn’t really work.

One small study showed a minor belly fat reduction with ab exercises followed by cardio, but the effect was tiny and the study only included 16 obese men.

Even if targeting belly fat worked, building the muscle underneath is just as important as losing the fat above it.

Why You Must Build Muscle

After age 40, you can lose 0.8 to 1% of your muscle mass per year if you’re not actively maintaining it.

Muscle supports your metabolism. If you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down, making fat loss harder.

Strength training builds and preserves muscle while you’re in a calorie deficit. That helps you get a leaner, more defined look as the fat comes off.

It also helps regulate appetite — more muscle makes it easier to maintain your fat loss results.

Strength train three to five times per week. Focus on compound lifts like squats, rows, and presses. Your workouts don’t need to be long. Twenty-five to forty minutes of lifting, with a short warm-up and cool-down, is enough.

Move More Throughout the Day

What you do outside of your workouts also matters. This is where NEAT — non-exercise activity thermogenesis — comes in.

NEAT includes things like walking, cleaning, doing chores, or just fidgeting. It can vary by up to 2,000 calories per day between individuals.

If you’re not naturally active, make a plan to move more.

Start with a daily step goal. Seven thousand steps is a great target. You can walk while on phone calls, set a timer to stand up if you work at a desk, park farther away, or take the stairs.

Use a tracker to stay accountable, but ignore the calorie estimates. They’re inaccurate, and using exercise to justify eating more creates a poor relationship with food.

Don’t Overlook Sleep

Lack of sleep makes fat loss harder and can increase visceral fat.

One study showed that people who slept just 1.2 more hours per night ate 270 fewer calories the next day — without trying.

Sleep deprivation affects hormones like leptin (fullness) and ghrelin (hunger). It also reduces growth hormone and melatonin, which are essential for recovery.

After 40, lower testosterone (in men) and progesterone (in women) can further disrupt sleep.

Try to get at least seven hours of sleep per night. Wind down 30 minutes before bed, turn off screens, and avoid checking emails. Dim the lights and sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room. Cutting caffeine after 2 p.m. may also help.

The Final Truth About Belly Fat

Unless you have amazing genetics, belly fat is usually the last to go. That’s why consistency and patience matter.

If you’re losing fat elsewhere but not from your belly yet, stick with it. Many people quit just as their belly fat starts to decrease — especially if they used unsustainable methods like crash diets or extreme workouts.

You don’t need a 30-day challenge or sketchy supplements. You need time, consistency, and effective habits that work with your life.

Track your progress beyond the scale. Use progress photos and videos. Notice how your clothes fit — is your waistband looser? Are you tightening your belt another notch?

Keep track of your workouts to see your strength and endurance improve.

You don’t need extreme diets or long exhausting workouts to lose belly fat over 40. You need a consistent, science-backed approach that fits your lifestyle and your challenges.

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Ivana Chapman