Why Can’t I Lose Weight in My 40s Like I Used To?

Welcome to Fit in Your 40s Podcast. If you’ve been eating healthy, working out, cutting carbs, skipping wine — and still not losing weight… this one’s for you.

In today’s episode, Kausar breaks down why your go-to diet and fitness strategies stop working in your 40s — and what to do instead. We’ll talk hormone shifts, metabolism slowdown, and why more cardio and less food might be the exact wrong move right now.

🎧 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why your old diet methods are backfiring in perimenopause
• What’s really going on with your metabolism after 40
• 4 hormone changes sabotaging your fat loss
• How to stop feeling “stuck” and start seeing results again
• The 3 pillars of the BFF Method — and how to apply them today

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Transcript

0:22

Hey, hey. Welcome back to Get Fit in Your forties, the podcast for women who are done guessing what's happening with their body, and are ready to feel like themselves again, strong, energized, and in control. I'm your host CoStar. I'm a fitness and nutrition expert and co-founder of BFF become Pit forever with my best friend Dukie. However, today's again another solo episode. this topic is going to hit home for so many of you, especially if you have been frustrated, confused, and honestly, you are like exhausted from trying every little thing that you did in your twenties, and not getting the same result. we're gonna break it all down for you, and you're gonna feel so empowered by the end of this episode. So stick around. before we dive in, I want to give a Huge shout out to my client, Juliana. Juliana hit a huge milestone. She's down 23 pounds And she's done it in a way that she feels she can sustain it. Not only that, she has gained her energy back, she's gained her confidence back. She has dropped two to three dress sizes and I'm just so excited for her. honestly, there's no crash diets involved. no. Two, three workouts a day kind of routine because she's a working mom of twins and she kind of finally. Learn how to work with her hormones, not against them, and she's proof that your body isn't broken. You just need the right strategy. Juliana, if you're listening to this, I'm proud of you. All right ladies, so let's talk about that moment when you realized, why is nothing working anymore? I have cut down all the sugars. I'm not eating carbs. I am not even eating. I'm doing intermittent fasting for 25 hours and nothing seems to give me results, and that scale isn't budging. Instead, you can see that number creeping up literally in front of your eyes. And you feel bloated, you feel tired, you feel fluffy, like literally, you feel like your body wakes up holding onto everything in God. If this is you, Take a deep breath. You are not alone. This is something I hear all the time from women in their forties and beyond, and if you're a regular follower on our Instagram page, which has become do fit forever, you must be following Coach Dookie's journey. She has been very honest about her journey. When she hit her forties, she felt like. Nothing was working anymore we've been in this industry for about 10 years now teaching other women how to lift weights and lose weight. in her journey, we thought it was due to COVID, but it was her hormones. And through studying trials and error and we realized that we needed to go back to school to study women's hormonal health, we were able to crack that code. And now she looks spectacular. All right, let's break this down. Why isn't your usual diet that you used to do in your twenties and thirties that gave you amazing results and you were jacked in like three months? Isn't working anymore, and I'm holding your hand when I'm saying that it is not your fault. Your body starts changing at a cellular level. Have you heard your grandma, your aunt, or somebody saying, I just woke up feeling like a different person, and that is happening to you? All right, so here's four things that are happening to your body right now that makes you wonder. Why nothing is working. So number one is our bestie estrogen that we talk about all the time. Your estrogen levels start to drop after the age of 35. Estrogen is basically a hormone that helps regulate fat storage and metabolism as it declines during perimenopause and menopause. to storing it around your belly. This also makes it harder for you to burn fat efficiently. Estrogen actually has a lot of functions in your body. However, for today's purposes, we're only gonna talk about how declining estrogen can cause that belly fat to stay there the second hormone that plays a key role in your weight loss journey after the age of 40 is cortisol. Thank you to stress and lack of sleep, chronic stress and poor sleep increases. Cortisol, That is your body's main stress hormone when. Cortisol levels are elevated. It tells your body to store fat, the abdominal area, and can make you crave sugars and carbs. it becomes a vicious cycle you start to have a. low energy, and you lose that motivation to wanna even exercise when your cortisol levels are high. And that is true for 90% of the people that come to BFF. We realize that they're extremely and highly stressed out all the time. I mean, there's so many stressors, right? A, of course the dec decline in estrogen is rising the cortisol levels, but also after a certain age, you enter the next level of maturity. You have to care for your tweens. You have to care about, their schoolwork, they're also going through. hormonal shifts, which I'm dealing with right now. And you're also caring for your parents, and you have to pay the bills. You have a job, you're building a career, you're building your retirement plan. So there's a lot on your plate, my friend. you're also worrying about what to cook for dinner, which is a topic I think for another podcast episode. And the third factor that's not allowing you to lose weight like you used to in your twenties and thirties is your insulin sensitivity changes. I feel like we talk about this in literally every single episode, so if you are a regular listener, this has totally ingrained in your brain that with age and hormonal shifts, your body becomes less responsive. To insulin simply put your body doesn't process carbs and sugars like it used to when you were in your twenties and thirties, and that causes a bigger blood sugar spike leading to fat storage crashes in energy. and it also puts you in the risk of diabetes and you know, lots of insulin resistance. And you always wonder and you're like, I am eating clean. I don't even eat sugar. Why is it that my insulin level's high? So that's could be the reason I. The last factor that's not allowing you to lose weight is the muscle loss. Please be honest yourself. Are you somebody who is lifting weight regularly After the age 35, if you are not, let me tell you, you are one of those who are losing three to 8% of their muscle mass per decade. Less muscle mass means a slower metabolism, more fat gain, and less strength. the good news is if you start strength training, you can reverse this. that's why we're huge advocates of strength training because you can reverse sarcopenia, it's a very natural process. It happens to all of us. after the age of 35. So now after hearing all these factors, don't you feel a little bit more empathetic towards your body? your metabolism slows down, but it's not because you are broken, it's because your body's trying to protect you. it's doing what it's supposed to do based on the signals and hormonal shifts that it is receiving. So let's Start by being a little bit kinder to ourselves. now I'm gonna talk about why the same diets that you did in your twenties and thirties is not working anymore. Most of the diets that you are raised on. Such as low calories, low fat, low carbs, endless cardio, cutting out sugars, intimate and fasting. They make things worse after 40. So if you have been on that cycle of yo-yoing for many years, I need you to stop because it is making things worse for you in your forties. And here's why. Eating too little. Send your body into survival mode, that means your body's gonna start producing more cortisol. That means your body's going to be in a, Stressful situation. Too much cardio. You lose more muscles. That means you are gonna have even lower metabolism, skipping meals or fasting too aggressively. Your blood sugar crushes. That causes cravings. mood swings, more insulin sensitivity, and fat storage, Or not paying attention to your macronutrients, like protein, fiber, your body has nothing to rebuild with that causes fatigue, hair loss, plateau, and muscle loss. So let's be real. You don't need to eat less, you just need to eat the right foods in the right balance and at the right time, pairing with the right type of exercises. It's that simple. However, I feel like it's like pulling teeth, explaining this concept I really hope, This podcast will be the means of fully understanding what is going on in your body. so now we're going to spill the tea on how you can reverse all of this and work with your body and not against it. And that's where we created the BFF method. And here are some of the B fff pillars that we work with. With our clients, that gives them that freedom that allows them to customize it based on their body and their needs after the age of 40, we sit down with our clients and go over all their symptoms, all their cravings. We explain to them what kind of exercises they need. We customize their macros so they feel extremely empowered the very first pillar The daily hormone ritual. Those are the habits that we work with our clients, which means you should be getting more fiber that's gonna help you balance your blood sugar, drinking more water, walking every single day, prioritizing sleep, and the right type of supplementation after the age of 40. Those are really powerful habits that are not only going to make you. Feel better, It's gonna help you balance all those hormones that we talked about, estrogen, insulin, cortisol. Once you take care of those, then you move on to actual fat loss. Our second pillar which is Fat burning stone training. So cardio's not the enemy, but it's not the priority for women after 40. But building muscles is like, I wish I could scream this out loud. I'm like, Stop walking aggressively, Stop running and just stop going to hit the workouts on F 45 and Orange Theory. But focus on building lean muscle mass, because more muscles means faster metabolism. That means you are reversing the process of natural sarcopenia that's happening to your body right now as we speak. You're gonna prevent injuries. You're gonna boost your metabolism. You're gonna end your craving when you have more muscles. And the cool thing about muscles is that think of it as a very expensive tissue in your body. In order for your body to maintain those muscles, it needs to be burning fat to keep maintaining it. when you strength train, you're crashing all those muscle fibers. When you eat proper food, your protein, your fiber, you are going to start building that. So your body's going to use all that stored fat to build those muscles. So you are basically gonna be burning fat when you're sleeping. Also, you don't need to be working out all day. You just need a solid three to four smart strength training sessions in a week. And that's it. And you will see how it's gonna change your body. It's gonna change how you feel every single day. And one of the things that I forgot to mention is that literally when you do proper stern training, it. Lower cortisol levels, you start feeling happier third pillar, it's cycle synced portion controlled meals, AKA, tracking your meals for fat loss. and so the way we do tracking calories in. BFA program. It is not a mediocre, throw it in an app, throwing some numbers. Absolutely not. The method that we use, is called Rivers Flexible Eating. we start off clients on eating high amounts of protein, fats, and carbs. While. Keeping their fiber intake in check. When your body starts to get used to eating more and lifting more, it boosts your metabolism. then we start cutting your calories and your body's like, oh. I feel something essentially fat loss is shocking. Your body, you, you're eating a little bit more at certain times. a little bit less at certain times, and that's how you start losing body fat while preserving your beautiful muscles. With eating enough protein, eating enough fiber, with eating enough carbs and fats to help you prevent cravings, build lean muscle mass and lose belly fat. And why is this method so amazing and why do we call it cycle synced? women go through four phases in one month. If you don't know, those four phases are your luteal phase, your menstruation, your ovulation, and your follicular phase. I think we are gonna have another podcast episode about this. However, we coach our clients on how to pay attention to their cravings. To how they're feeling, their mood during those cycles. then we change those macros amounts based on your cycle. So you are not feeling like, oh, during my ovulation I eat like a peg and I can't control myself. And during my LAL phase, I am so hungry.'cause of course your hormones are changing. Every single week, so should your eating. there's a lot of tracking, there's a lot of analysis, and there's a lot of trial and error. However, it is a very beautiful, flexible, satisfying way to end cravings and work with your body, work with your hormones, and not against it. Okay, so if you are sitting there thinking, now it makes sense, but I have no idea where to start. I've got you. This is exactly what I help women with every single day on our social media platforms, on our coaching, in our program, And you don't have to figure it all out, by yourself, If you are ready to feel like yourself again, to finally lose that stubborn belly fat, get your energy back, actually enjoy life. I invite you to book a free call with us. The link is in the show notes. We will chat about where you're stuck, what your goals are, and what your next steps should look like. There's no pressure. We're just here to support you. And if you are a regular listener, you know our passionate about this topic. I have gone through so many ups and downs in my own journey that now this is literally my biggest passion. So with that, that's it for today, friends, if this episode helped you in any way, shape or form, please share it with another woman in their forties who needs to hear it. And don't forget to hit subscribe. We have got more juicy episodes coming your way. Talk soon.