Anyone else hit 40 and pile on weight? Is it reversible ?

[SeeSawBreeze]

Always the same weight all my adult life after about the age of 25, I was very skinny before this!

I’ve been a size 10 all my life, no diet, always took moderate exercise. An hour walk a few times a week. But the exercise made no real difference 😳 if I skipped a few weeks through work, or stress or illness my weight didn’t change.

I turned 40 last year and I’ve put on a stone and it’s really not suiting me. None of my clothes fit me and I don’t like feeling this way.

I’ve taken up exercise, since December I’ve been using an exercise bike. I can now manage 21 km with fairly significant inclines. I mean I sweat in a way I never have before with even my hair dripping at the end.

I’m getting heavier.

No one would look at me and say I’m fat but I don’t feel me anymore at almost 11stone. I was a nice 10 stone before and my clothes sat well and I felt good.

Is the weight past 40 inevitable?

I feel so down about it. Husband is no help as he just says I’m perfect 🙄

Worth seeing your GP and check for hormonal balance/deficiencies?

Yes, I’m a gardener and also done some kind of sport as well my whole life. For as a fiddle size 8, turn 40 and instantly go up to a 10/12. Even with my work load, I’m using Noom and I’ve figured that as you get older you just need less calories, I was working off that I needed 1500 calories and that just sustained my weight, I’m now on 1200 calories and loosing very slowly but steadily.

Getting old hey !

Fit as a fiddle ! That should say

I’d see the dr too, if you diet you lose weight usually.

Did you attend for your over 40 health check at the gp?. The letter usually arrives with your birthday cards.

I went keto aged 42 when the same started to happen to me. Now 45 and the leanest I’ve ever been.

There’s lots of evidence as to why this happens in your 40s...mainly that you’ve had years of raised insulin and it starts to take its toll. You’ll know if this is true If the extra weight is concentrated around your stomach and abdomen.

1200 calories!!!! I exist on that!

Same thing here. Was usually about 9.5st in my 30s.
10s4lb aged 40.
13st aged 48
12s6lb today. I’ve been up and down but not under 12 yet.
I’m on another health kick now. This getting old is a bastard.

It was 30 for me! Boom overnight metabolism waved goodbye

I’d see your GP. You could have an under active thyroid.

Calorie counting is miserable

Eat whole natural food and no junk / sugar at all and your calories become less important

Also Id introduce some weight training if you enjoy it the benefits are huge for us 40+ women.

It provides you with the ability to produce muscle mass which in turn speeds up your metabolic rate, squats and deadlifts will get your on track and some HIIT, if you enjoy the bike as well the weights will help with bone density as well.

Don't fear you won't "get bulky" the opposite you'll get lean and toned, it's takes literally years and years and diet and all kind of factors for female athletics to show bulked muscles, so a few sessions of squats and lifting won't bulk 👍

How often to you exercise? And how long for (you say you do 21km but not how long that takes). In a previous life I worked as a trainer in a gym and in my experience, people can overestimate how many calories are burned through exercise and therefore expect to lose more weight/more quickly than they do. And often underestimate the calories in food/drink. This can combine to mean that on exercise days you eat a little more/treat yourself and negate the calories lost through exercise.

As an example a friend of mine would exercise with a 2-3 mile run about 3-4 times a week, which would take her 20-30 mins per session, this felt like a lot for her as she hadn’t previously exercised. She thought she was burning loads of calories but in fact she was probably burning 600-1200 a week. You need to burn around 3,500 calories to lose a pound so perhaps she’d lose around a pound a month. However as she felt she was doing a lot of exercise she was eating a bit more. (Actually she was buying herself one milkshake once a week as a treat which is probably 600+ calories or about 6 miles of running...) It pretty much cancelled out the calories lost through exercise.

So I would add to PPs suggestions and say it could be worth trying to calculate how many calories you burn through exercise and how many you eat. If you don’t already do this -
appreciated that you might be already! You could look at changing the exercise to burn more calories if needed - interval training etc will get through more in less time.

40?! I’ve struggled with my weight since I was 7! I maintain at 1400–1500 and to lose very slow I need to drop to 1300. No room for booze on that! I work out most days. My fitness pal is handy for tracking calories. I do wonder, if it’s always been a battle for me, will 40+ be even worse still?

@swiftier I do 20km about 4-5 times a week. Takes me an hour😳 don’t know if that’s good or bad. I wouldn’t say I had the best stamina 😬

I would say its natural - embrace it!

If a man at 40 weighed the same as he did when he was 18 - he'd look bloody odd in my opinion! Same goes for women. Skinny ''bambi' look is not a good look past 45. IMHO.

You haven't put much weight on OP, and as long as you are basically healthy, active and happy, I think you're doing well.

And your husband thinks you're "perfect" too.

I'm the same size 8-10 all my life, turn 40 and suddenly hit size 12! not huge, but feels it to me! i do run 3 times a week (resting from injury just now), cycle and am generally active but still plump!
I've had to start counting calories-made some progress but its early days. using my garmin running watch helps to show calories burnt etc.
I hope its reversible, I;ve always been slim, feels odd to not be anymore!!

Yes I’m 2 stone over and cannot shift it. It coincided with moving the the Is so I’ve always blamed that. Age makes more sense. It doesn’t matter what I do, calorie count, boom, exercise I only seem to be able to maintain and not lose. Xmas 2018 I managed to lose a stone but I can’t remember how I did it and it’s all back on.

I hate it, I don’t look like myself. My face looks puffed like I’m on steroids in photos and someone I hadn’t seen for awhile said she didn’t recognise me, something different about your face she said. Maybe she was just being bitchy though

noom

And I have frequent bloods done and thyroid is ok, have low b12 and ferritin and some auto immune diseases

Worth getting your thyroid checked, but yes, it's not uncommon. I have to do a modified 16 :8.

I was always 9stone 5. Late 30s/early 40s I went up to 12.5. Really didn't suit me at all. Tried calorie counting but just wasn't able to shift it. Only thing that worked for me was keto them low carb. Now down to 9stone 8 and feel a lot more comfortable.
I also do a lot of exercise but it had no bearing at all on my weight.

I would agree with Swiftier that you are probably underestimating the calories and overestimating the impact of the exercise. Our metabolism does slow as we age, so it becomes easier to gain and harder to lose, but it is not irreversible. The same rule of calories in vs out still applies.

You run a lot, but how active are you over the rest of your day? If you are completely sedentary, drive a lot etc, then running 20km 4-5 times a week will average out to not much above that of someone who does nothing, but e.g. walks a lot but does no additional exercise. Cardio exercise burns a lot of calories but the burn stops the minute you stop running. Heavy weight training burns calories after you stop, the effect lasts longer.

Use MyFitnessPal to track everything you eat and drink, bet it will be eye opening. Don't leave out anything, include the milk in your coffee, the boiled sweet you popped in your mouth, the bite you took of someone elses snack etc. Surprising how it adds up.

Your muscles decrease a scary amount in your forties, as a woman. Your decreased muscle mass will mean your metabolism drops and you need fewer calories to function. You don't mention anything about your diet in your posts @SeeSawBreeze, but even if you ate the same, you would now put on weight as you're using less. I would calorie count, it's a good re-education exercise- it doesn't mean you have to do it forever. I'd also use the James Smith academy calculator to work out your calorie requirements, even for just maintaining your weight. I'm 42 and started weight training 3 years ago, and I think I'm in the best shape since I was at university. But it's definitely a battle, my sons and husband need so many more calories than me and its frustrating I can't eat as much as them!

Excercise is great for health and mind but makes no impact on weight loss, quite the opposite, you might even put on weight.

Weight gain after 40 is not inevitable but requires attention. And after 50 a lot more attention. When my clothes feels tight, I don't buy new ones a size up, but cut on my food intake and fast.

In the last decades, I have changed the way I eat. More for health and longevity, but also for my gut microbiome. So an enormous amount of vegetables. And I never snack, I almost never have fried food.

Not sure what analogy LooselyTrue is trying to do in saying a skinny Bambi doesn't look good after 45, but I am over 50 and I am very slim and happy in my skin, be it wearing clothes or in a bikini on the beach.

After 40 @SeeSawBreeze , you can go back to the size you were. Cut the sugar = any product you buy that has sugar in the ingredients, leave on shelf, no matter the amount, the same for ultra processed food even the healthy lentil chips. Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants. Read or watch YouTube documentary on insulin (Jason Fung obesity code) and listen to the Diet doctors podcast to make it long lasting and not a crash diet that will bounce back with a couple pounds extra

Metabolic balance program is worth a try.