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 🙄

Yes depressingly you need less food as you get older. And sugar/too many carbs seems to affect you more.

I agree with LeGrandBleu. Exercise is essential for health, and for an overall healthy outlook, but it won't in itself promote measurable weight loss. When I started exercising seriously, I did not lose any weight but I did start to look slimmer. Muscles do that!

OP, you need to introduce weight bearing exercise into your regime: dumbbells/kettlebells, legwork, abs. Your bones will thank you as you get older. Rebecca-Louise and Popsugar Fitness have some good workouts; I do several each day, targeting different areas.

Diet: plants, plants, plants, plus a fair bit of protein and small amounts of healthy fats and very few carbs. I love Lebanese food - minus rice! - as it's delicious, healthy and never boring. Basically you need to change the way you eat, but in a way that doesn't deprive you, so you can do it long term.

Nearly forgot: cut out sugar - it has no nutritional value and only makes you crave more. And try not to drink any calories...

Everything @LeGrandBleu says

I have def put on weight 40+.

I have used MyFitnessPal to track exercise and calorie count in lockdown. I do a 20min HIIT, a 300 calorie burn run or hill climb, then 10 mins of weights every day, I eat 1100 calories and i've shifted 20lbs.

Everyone will have a different 'sweet' point where they start losing weight, eg, I was on 1300 calories and only doing the 5k run, & was only losing weight very very slowly. Changed it to the above and its shifting @ 3-4 lbs a week now consistently.

40 is young for this.

I hit fifty 6 weeks ago and I have looked at my waistline and thought omg, I"m on a diet now. But I noticed no difference at 40. Hormones should be stable at forty.

I have never given weight watchers a second thought, now I would love to join a meeting and obviously they are all closed.

@LooselyTrue it's true, men don't feel pressure to weigh what they did at 18!

I got back down to 8' 12 after my first child was born without too much difficulty at 33. So can I do that at 50? I wonder.

It has become normal to weigh this much. I am ten and a half stone and that shocks me. After DC1 was born and I got back from the hospital, I weighed myself and was horrifed to weigh ten!

And yet, I have not been walking around feeling 'fat'.

Perhaps I had a little bit too much denial.

Of course it's reversible - it's all literally down to calorie control. as we get older our TDEE's lower.

I will always have to closely, accurately and honestly track everything that goes into my gob

exercise helps too of course but never rely solely on it

You need more muscle to keep your metabolism up and burning calories. Weight training, like a PP suggested, is a good bet

For me, exercise was only to tone. And i didnt want to undo the calorie deficit by eating 2 biscuits. And when im not in the habit of exercising i think nothing of 2 biscuits. So its effect is indirect!

Can’t shift an ounce since I turned 40

I was the same,size 8 with no effort,had my youngest at 36,went up to a size 12,I can’t shift it at all,I wouldn’t mind but I’m all bum am boobs!im 40 in 3 weeks

I put on weight 40-43, and think you only lose it with calorie restriction. Exercise is good for tone/muscle. I did WW and lost about a stone and a half and the key things for me were cutting out fruit juice (which you think is healthy but is just all sugar) and reducing my pasta intake. As a pp said I feel like worse is yet to come

I have been listening to clios on youtube by slim youtubers in their fifties who have figures id be del8ghted with, but i see a pattern, they dont eat bread, pasta, rice. They are all no sugar so obviously no cakes or biscuits! They fill up on beans i think. Even brown rice and sweet potatoes would bexeaten in tiny portions. They have the time to make 'mash' out of cauliflowers!

I am going to try my best....

If you're doing all that excercise it's probably increased muscle mass making you heavier.

LeGrandBleu speaks sense I am afraid. I am 50 and desperate to shift 2 st. The only thing that has started making a difference is Keto.

I would be super grateful if someone could recommend me a suitable weight training workout.

@BloggersNetwork

I enjoy and get inspiration from AthleanX . They have video for men and women, but I really only follow the one for men. I found the ones for women totally uninspiring .

Women video : athleanx.com/best-workout-program-videos/best-workouts-for-women
Men video athleanx.com/video-gallery

There is a weight lifting section on MN here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_weights_room check it out

Sorry OP to have derailed the thread

How many calories do you actually consume?

Food is 80% of your weight

@LeGrandBleu thanks so much, I'll look those up.

Sorry OP that was a bit selfish of me but you might find it helpful too.

Not to sound like a lance corporel but if you give us your daily food we'll tell you where you're going wrong

GrandeBleu I think my analogy is completely reasonable, trying to put a different positive perspective here thats all, that maybe its natural to put on a few pounds past 40. I don't know what it is you're "trying to say" (in your boasty, diggy, humourless way).

You need to up resistance training / weights in your workout. Yoga / Pilates / HIIT / lifting is all good at this - basically from 35 your muscles die and your fat increases - so if you maintain the same calorie intake you could gain weight. It can be reversed with the right training regime to allow you to eat the same as you did but you need to work harder.

Yes yes yes to this, 40 this year and suddenly scales are going up and up. Husband has been losing weight in lock down and mine was continuing to go the other way despite more exercise and no eating out. So 2 weeks ago started calorie counting via My Fitness Pal, lost 1kg already 😬😬😳 it’s seriously made me realise how much I have been over eating without recognising it. Cut back on bread and other carbs and sugars, also the milk in my gazillion cups of tea....and no booze.

Interesting to read all the comments on this thread and the weight bearing exercise advice.

@BloggersNetwork old school, but the shred. I saw great results with that in my early forties but stopped doing it... i hope it wouldnt kill me now im 50

me too 😪 and approaching 50 it's only getting worse! 2 weeks ago I was 2 stone over the upper limit of a healthy bmi. I've been low carbing since and lost 3/4 stone but its really hard going. Also following the 16:8 thread with interest. I'm hoping once I've lost what I need to i can use that to maintain. Carbs are the killer, especially sugar - I have a very sweet tooth and was majorly addicted... joys of getting older!