Why You’re Gaining Fat Over 40 (NOT Your Metabolism!)

What If Your Metabolism Isn't Slowing Down?

What if your metabolism slowing down after 40 isn't actually caused by age? I know when it starts to get harder to stay lean, it's easy to assume that your body is just slowing down, but the science actually tells a much more interesting story.

As a strength and fat loss coach for over 25 years, I've helped people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond stay lean and energetic. I'm going to show you how to protect your metabolism as you get older.

It's been my mission for over two decades to get people to believe that age isn't a limiting factor in success. Not with fat loss and not with muscle building.

What Is Metabolism?

As for metabolism, well, we should first define what that means. Metabolism is the combination of all the chemical processes that happen in your body. the conversion of energy from food, calories into breathing, blood circulation, building and repairing cells, digesting food, and eliminating waste.

And while it seems to be pretty widely accepted that our metabolism slows down with age, a large study analyzing daily energy expenditure in over 6,000 people, 64% female by the way, found that metabolism is actually very stable from age 20 until 60. after which it starts to slowly decline.

This is great news. It means you're not at the mercy of a declining metabolism. It does require one thing though that I'm going to talk about in a minute.

Why It Feels Harder After 40

Now, before you stop me to say, "But Ivana, it is harder for me than it used to be. The fat just isn't coming off the way it did before." I get it.

Yes, there are a lot of challenges in your 40s and 50s. You might not feel as energetic. You may not sleep as well. Your recovery from exercise might be going down a bit.

Most women from around their mid4s and into their 50s are experiencing permenopausal and menopausal symptoms like sleep issues, hot flashes or flushes, fatigue, mood issues like depression, anxiety and irritability, brain fog, joint pain. There's a few more, but you get the idea.

Not to mention, we're at a time in our lives when pressures are at an all-time high from work and family. You may find yourself not getting to the gym as often as you would like or eating as well as you think you should be.

Taking care of yourself seems like a job of its own, and in some ways it should be.

The Real Problem Is Muscle Loss

But a lot of the decline we see with age isn't inevitable. We don't automatically gain fat. We start to move less and don't compensate by reducing our calorie intake, but we will lose this one thing if we don't do anything about it. And that's muscle.

And because muscle is a more metabolically active tissue, it burns more calories all the time. Losing muscle means your metabolism is at risk.

You've probably heard that starting around 40, we lose somewhere around 0.8 to 1% of our muscle mass each year. I actually use that stat a lot. But that data is based on average populations where few people are doing enough exercise.

Only about 23.8% 8% of women, 45 to 64, and 29.9% of men are doing strength training. That's what you need to maintain your muscle as you get older. So, if you're not doing it, it's time to start.

What Research Shows

While we know that our muscle mass won't stay the same from our 40s to our 80s, there are some natural physiological changes that do happen eventually. The degree of that decline depends a lot on how much physical activity you do.

Masters athletes give us a clue about our potential.

Research shows that highly trained athletes in their 70s and 80s have more muscle and less intramuscular fat than inactive people of their own age.

Not that surprising, I guess. But what's more interesting is that these older athletes have levels of muscle mass and strength that are more similar to much younger people, often 20 to 30 years younger.

One meta-analysis concluded that chronic exercise training preserves physical function, muscular strength, and body fat levels similar to that of young healthy individuals in an exercise mode specific manner.

Which means if you want to keep more of your muscle as you get older, you need to strength train. If you want your heart to be strong and healthy, you need to do cardiovascular exercise.

How To Protect Your Metabolism

When we talk about longevity in addition to metabolism, you need them both because strength training and cardio also lead to a longer life.

In studies, strength training reduces all cause mortality by 15% your chances of dying of anything. Cardiovascular mortality by 19% and cancer mortality by 14%.

Not only are you setting yourself up for a longer life, but a stronger and healthier one as well.

Strength Training

Do at least two strength training sessions per week. Track your weights, sets, reps, and weekly volume. Work on getting stronger over time.

Deal with any injuries that come up along the way because they will. You want to stay as consistent as you can. So, don't let minor setbacks hold you back.

I'm going to have a video coming up where I'll give you some guidelines to put it together.

🎁 In the meantime, you can get the FREE Lean and Strong 40+ Plan where I give you an outline of what you should be doing for fat loss.

Cardio And Movement

You also want to add at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio activity per week or some approximate mix of the two. This is the general health recommendation.

And if you just do two weight training workouts and 150 minutes of cardio each week, you're ahead of more than 70% of people with cardio.

Ideally, you want to find something you enjoy so that you'll stick with it.

Is there a martial art you've always wanted to try? I've done karate since I was a kid and I keep that up because I love it.

Many people in their 40s and 50s seem to be getting into jiu-jitsu these days and one of my clients recently took up taekwondo in his 50s. It's never too late.

Really? I used to go to Latin dance classes and I did Zumba when I was eight months pregnant with my son. Is that still around? It was a lot of fun even though I probably looked a bit silly.

The point is, you can try something new or do the things you love.

Nutrition For Your Metabolism

And good physical and mental health is also greatly affected by your nutrition.

Eat a balanced nutrition plan that includes enough lean protein, fiber, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and primarily lower fat dairy.

About 97% of people don't get enough fiber. Yikes.

So, the recommendation is about 14 gram of fiber for every,000 calories you eat. That's roughly 25 gram for women or about 38 gram for men based on their larger body size.

Adding more vegetables and fruit will go a long way to getting you there. Plus, those are low calorie density foods that fill you up and help you stay lean.

Sleep And Recovery

And if you want those nutrition habits to actually work consistently, the next piece is making sure your body is properly recovered.

Prioritize sleep. Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep consistently. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.

Staying up an extra three hours on the weekends and then sleeping in isn't a great habit. Although we probably all do it once in a while, at least for special occasions.

Now, if you're doing all the right things for sleep, but it's still not happening or you're not feeling rested despite sleeping at least 7 hours, see your doctor.

About 2 to 5% of women and 3 to 7% of men have sleep apnea and up to 90% are undiagnosed.

For perimenopausal/menopausal women with sleep problems due to vasomotor symptoms like night sweats, there are hormonal and non hormonal treatments that may be helpful. See your medical doctor, not a chiropractor or a naturopath.

Stress Management

Find ways to manage your stress. Stress is always going to be a part of life. Learning to accept the things you can't change and work on the things you can change is a good start.

Some of us learn to do that naturally as we get older, but it's always good to have a reminder.

Practicing mindfulness not only improves stress resilience, it improves your decision-making when it comes to food training and recovery.

Now, I know a lot of people shut off when I start talking about mindfulness, but it's much more simple and practical than you might think.

What I've always liked about mindfulness is that it doesn't require you to clear your mind. It's really just about paying more attention.

That's why it's a key skill that I teach to my clients to help them deal with overeating and manage their stress.

It's NOT Your Metabolism...Really!

So, you can give in and start talking about how your slow metabolism is stopping you from losing fat, or you can protect your metabolism with the strategies I've just given you.

The next step is building muscle so fat loss becomes easier. WATCH THIS VIDEO where I show you exactly how to do that.

Ivana Chapman