Really slim when younger hit 40 now gaining weight

[unicornsrule]

I have always been petite 5ft and skinny especially in my 20s turned 40 a couple of years now realising that my thighs and bum are getting big.

I do sit a-lot in the week watching tv i work in retail fri nights all sat and sun mostly on my feet serving customer

I have started 30 day shred every day in week, trying not to sit as much
Have cut out some foods

I am 5ft 1 weigh 9st 3

Im 45 I run and my weight is maintained. But i run lots. As in half Marathons and marathons so do a lot of training. I eat afterwards but only as I have to. I don’t need it as im not reslly hungry so its not huge amounts.

When this happened to me I figured it was a combination of insulin resistance and leptin resistance.

I couldn’t understand how I was still hungry when I was putting on weight. It turns out that whilst your insulin is spiked you store fat and can’t burn it, so you constantly put on weight, but can’t then use the energy that is stored in that weight and so need to keep eating. Eating a normal Western diet puts most of us into insulin resistance after around 20 years, sooner for some. So it sort of is age, but more about the time we’ve been eating in a way that messes us up.

You don’t need to be as far down the line as diabetes to have insulin issues, and you don’t need to be particularly overweight either.

I do 16:8 now and it’s helped me lose the excess and control it much better. My body is more able to burn the fat now. I try to eat well, but I don’t particularly restrict outside of the time restriction. I don’t believe in ‘calories in, calories out’. Our bodies are much more complex than that.

I'm just here to empathise.

I have been very slim all my life but at 47 I've noticed my flat(ish) stomach has become a fatty little tummy over the past year or so and I hate it. My appetite has decreased drastically, I'm barely ever properly hungry when I used to get starving before every meal

@Soola. I must admit, I find your ‘bag of spanners’ comment really offensive.

I run with lots of women in their 40s, 50s and beyond. We look exactly the same as any other group of people - just fitter and stronger . No one has a face like a bag of spanners, I can assure you. God forbid women this age get fit, strong and healthy pursuing a sport they love. The cheek of them !!!

Your bag of spanners comment reminds me of the comments from people ‘offended’ by Serena Williams physique ( another strong, amazing woman).... it just smacks of misogynistic claptrap to me.

It’s totally NOT calories in: calories out. Total rubbish! What changes exactly in your 40s that suddenly reduces how many calories you have burned?!?! Utter rubbish

However, if you want to take on what a pp has said about weight gain being hormonal, then you’ll make a start on this. Insulin is a hormone that if consistently high will cause you to put on weight...especially as you age as your body becomes more resistant to what insulin is supposed to do....like worn out!

That’s why fasting works. It makes sure your body has a chance to lower its insulin levels. At which point it can start using sources other than carbohydrate / glucose such as fat. It takes the body about 2-4 hours to reduce insulin, a very good reason not to snack ( on ANYTHING) and is what the body is designed to do

Whatever your weight in your 20s and 30s, if what you ate was high carbohydrate and you snack a lot (even on fruit), it doesn’t really matter on your genetics too much but you will put on weight

@Soola my face doesn’t look like a bag of spaners.

In fact im sure i look better than you😉 whatever your age.