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 🙄

It was baby number three at 34 that did it for me. I'd kept about a stone on after babies one and two which was fine, but number three was a big baby and I put in lots of weight (more than with the first two) which hasn't really shifted since. My mum was the same, should have stopped at two! Hey ho, my baby is now 12 and am sure the baby weight will drop off any day now......
I do need to knuckle down and do something about it though with menopause looking and also the link with corona. I'm not massively overweight, but a permanent two stone loss would be the dream.

I’m exactly the same: 11 stone at 42, up from 10 at 38.
I maintain at 1200, lose at 800-900 calories. No hormone or thyroid problems. According to the calculator up thread I need 1548 to lose weight... not true!
I think it’s age, unfortunately.

@Howmanysleepsnow - are you weighing all your food? It just doesn’t seem right. A healthy 42 yo should be losing weight on 1.5k.

I’d love to lose on 1.5k!! That’s maintenance for me IF I workout every day.

After years of bring naturally skinny, I put on weight around my middle and went up to 11 stone when I got to about 42.
I joined slimming world and have lost about a stone so far.
Ultimately, unless you're a pro athlete, the exercise you do won't help if your diet is wrong.
Many calorie counting apps are not very accurate and it's really easy to forget to log every single thing you eat. I'm finding slimming world, easy to stick to but it's more a way of life for me now if I want to keep the weight off. I'm not trying to get skinny again though. My mum and my MIL are both really slim but eat like little tiny birds.
I'd rather enjoy my food and just be a healthy weight. It's fun getting older!

In my experience it's harder to lose weight after about 50 but not impossible, As pp's have said you will need less calories and if you continue to eat your normal diet you'll probably find you gain weight - I went up a dress size a year for 4 years. I used 5:2 successfully and got back to my pre menopause weight and have kept it there more or less ever since. I still fast one day a week but do keep a careful eye on my weight. If I go 2 lbs over what I consider to be my acceptable range I increase the fast days to 2. This has now worked and my weight has been stable since I did this

Grannycake nailed it. The trick is not letting it piled up. You noticed it, you do something about it. And fasting might be the tool you need OP.

Fasting is quite easy. I like the 20:4 have a big brunch and then don't eat until next morning. The hardest part of the fast I am sleeping, so it's not very hard. For anyone interested, Bert Herrings has a free ebook on his 19:5 method. shop.bertherring.com/collections/free-digital-downloads/products/the-fast-5-diet-and-the-fast-5-lifestyle-ebook just select "can't pay" to have it for free or watch his TEX talk here

Whoever is unhappy about the way they look needs to know that it is not inevitable to gain weight. It is not bragging as a PP said, it is reality. You can lose the weight at 40, or at 50 if you are unhappy about the way you look. Or embrace it if you don't care. Personal choice for everyone.

I think it’s age, unfortunately. True, but there is no need to resign yourself to this being the new normal - not a dig at the poster, but this is the excuse used by many. Fine if you are happy with that, and are still otherwise healthy, but you can definitely reverse it, just with a little more work than 10yrs previously.

I wonder if for many it is due to the trappings of a middle age lifestyle; financial ability to keep cupboards well stocked, staying in more so daily wine habit with more at weekends, extra cash for takeaways and meals out as "treats", not rushing about with young kids, more sedentary jobs or fewer hours....absolutely not a blanket statement obviously, but I think the recent supermarket shortages and no social life around food has made me realise how much we normalise excess and food consumption as a luxury rather than a necessary fuel.

@GrumpyHoonMain yes, I’m weighing it, with the exception of things like an egg, an apple, a slice of presliced bread where calories are listed per item (and the eggs are medium not large, apples are value and on the small side).

As soon as I hit the menopause I put on tons of weight it was horrible. I had to have a gastric band to bring it under control,

hamstersarse yes, there is a lot of evidence of why weight gain occurs in the 40s and yes, mainly around mid sections but no, it has nothing to do with random eating patterns and messed up insulin production. It has everything to do with being PERI-MENOPAUSAL. We gain midsecction fat due to dropping female hormones. Eating low carb is an effective way to manage weight gain as is intermittent fasting, weight bearing exercise, lowering calories and a whole host of other established weight loss methods but please, stop peddling ideas that it is to do with a life timeof incorrect eating.It is not. It is not people's fault that they are struggling. IT IS CHANGING HORMONESA DUE TO PERI MENOPAUSE.

My mother has never been fat although she is fat prone. She says she weighs herself every single day and if she has put on weight over 2 pounds to account for fluid fluctuation she will eat less until back to normal weight.
She says if you let it accumulate to one or two stone you can't get it off when you are older.

I hit 50 last year and gained a bit - some of it I wanted to gain, but not all of it and I'm intending to lose a few pounds this month. I was reading another thread which said that this was menopause related - which I'm guessing I am in although don't have any symptoms. I was hoping it would be genetic (the not gaining weight) as my mother is nearly 90 and has always stayed the same, and we have a pretty similar diet. I'm probably at a healthier weight now, but it doesn't feel like me.

You can not exercise yourself thin. Well you can, but not normal levels of exercise. If you are training like Michael Phelps then perhaps you could but for morst people. burning 200-500cal a session is not going to make you thin if you then go and have a smoothy or something else that negates the calorie loss. Exercise can increase your appetite also. It has ling been said, fat loss is 80%kitchen, 20% gym. You need to be in a calorific deficit to lose weight. That is just a fact. What you can do is make your body more efficient at calorie consumption. Increase muscle mass, become more of a fat burner than a fat storer. If you eat shit tons of simple carbs, your body will release more insulin and store more fat. It will become inefficient at burning fat. If you reduce simple carbs and increase protein and lower overall portions, you will find it easier to lose fat. It is fat you want to lose, not weight. They are not exactly the same.

GrumpyHoonMain not true at all! Not everyone will lose weight at 1500. Research has found some unfortunate individuals will not lose weight untill they are down to 600cal. The vast majority of our calorie usage is autonomous. Nails and hair growth, skin regeneration, heart beating, brain function (a big usage), saliva and tear production, sweat production... all the things that go on regardless. In some individuals, these functions are sluggish. These people burn through way WAY fewer calories than others. Things like an underactive thyroid obviously affect these as it is like the engine is running on a low rev but even amongst people without recognised underlying conditions like hypothyroidism, there is a HUGE variance of calorie usage by the body. Many people will gain weight on 1500.

I agree with @damnthatanxiety , this has everything to do with your changing hormones and the fact that muscle is a lot harder to come by from 30 onwards as a woman. You have to really work for it! I've definitely put on muscle since turning 40 but lift often and heavy. Sarcopenia is a real thing that many women have no clue about. Your muscles will waste away if you don't use them- they have to be progressively challenged to build muscle, none of this "Toning" nonsense that is peddled at women. The book Roar by Dr Stacey Sims is brilliant, explains a lot about the relationship between nutrition, exercise and hormones as you go through your cycle and age. She also does not recommend fasting or keto for women, but lifting heavy and high protein to keep or build muscle. The studies that show benefits of fasting and keto were mostly done on men, so are useless in showing the real effects on women, especially long term.

Yup, same here. I was too skinny in my teens, probably a size six, filled out a bit in my twenties and was at my best weight at 30 when I was a perfect size 8. I don’t know how much I weighed as I never felt the need to weigh myself and didn’t have scales in the house. Once I hit 40, dam! The weight piled on, still only a size 10 though, but as I’m a very small frame and only 5ft 2in it didn’t suite. I’m now 54 and weigh 9 st 7 Size 12 and look dreadful, very maternal and my facial features have disappeared under a mound of fat. I used to receive comments about my cheekbones, not any more. I have never exercised as such but as I can’t drive I used to walk a lot. I’m now in a very sedentary job, leave the house just after 7, home by 7 and only 1/2 hour lunch so no time to walk much during the week. Weekends spent doing housework, gardening etc so suppose that’s some movement. I suffer with IBS, which seems to be triggered by vegetables (I had a very bad cold a couple of years ago and replaced my very healthy packed lunch at work with greggs from around the corner and a tin of soup when home. My IBS cleared within 24 hours). My summer clothes from last year all appear to have shrunk for some reason. I’m at a loss and feeling quite down about it to be honest.

MrsJamin I agree! Lift heavy! Women will NIT become bulky,. It is actually a bit of an insult to female body buliders that other women think they may accidentally bulk out. Those women work HARD to build that muscle! Unless you have a weird level of testosterone, women will develop beautiful rounded toned muscles that look feminine and strong, More importantly, they will increase their falling muscle mass, reduce body fat and reduce the risks of oesteoporosis!

NOTnot nit!

Over 40 and I also started putting on weight round my waist. I began Food Combining ,not eating carbs and protein at the same meal and eating fruit on an empty stomach (except for starchy fruit like bananas). I lost weight easily .

Now 15 years later I've kept on top of my weight by doing the above AND looking at Paul Mackenna's way of eating which is a great help. I have never calorie counted or weighed food. Or myself. I go by my clothes and the mirror. But we're all different . Do what works for you.

Can I add to all of this!!

If you did start to take on the advice and get some weight training in place one piece of advice the moment you start - take photos and measurements buy some target jeans or dress and put the scales in the bin.

Done the right way you may actually end up heavier, but with more defined muscles if you eat well and train and aim for a healthy look you'll be heavier but will love the mirror and the tape measure and the way clothes fit .

Im 45 and sit about 5kg heavier than I did at 40, but I'm the same dress size, I just fill with my bum and legs rather than my flabby tummy, but I enjoy food and love training and feel strong I walk better, stand a taller (at 5'2 this is critical) and generally just feel healthier and more balanced.

justkeep You have just reminded me that at 42 I grew one inch!!! After going on the Food combining thing. I don't weigh either. Just go by the mirror and my jeans My health is more important to me than my weight anyway!

I was 9 and a half stone through my forties and it crept up to ten stone when I hit fifty. I went on the 5: 2 diet for about 4 months and for the last 3 years my weight has stayed around 8 stone 8 lbs. I do some exercise but not a lot.
I never eat breakfast, try not to snack too much but eat what I want most of the time .

@justkeepmovingon @ppeatfruit I'm with you both, I weigh around the same as I did 3 years ago (bmi top of the normal range), but my shape has changed a lot, for the better, and I've dropped a dress size. Health and activity are a lot more important than the scales, and your weight doesn't reflect what your body is composed of in terms of fat and muscle. Just because you don't weigh much doesn't say you're healthier than people who weigh more than you. If you don't have muscle, you're at risk of all sorts of problems as you age. I am determined to be independent as possible for as long as possible, and that means not falling, being able to get up stairs, get in the bath, etc. Just because you are thinner in later life makes no difference to these physical tasks, it's all about muscle.

Hi ladies, joining this thread as I'm 40 this year and have put on 2 stone in 2 years. Nothing has really changed diet wise. But I've put it on around my middle and upper arms and I've always been slim in these areas So what sort of classes should I be joining at the gym? Is there anything I could follow online??