HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT AS A WOMAN OVER 40 By Mags Matthews As a woman of a certain age, I know from experience that my body has for years defied my attempts to lose that stubborn fat and weight management was no longer as simple as reducing my calories and increasing my exercise. I had over a period of time of working from home gained over 30lbs and realised that yoga pants had not been my friend! The day came when I needed to put on one of my many corporate suits for a business meeting. Nothing I had previously slipped into fitted! I then had that long hard look in the mirror and saw what I had done to my body in the past 2 years. I was bloated, tired and overweight. I cried for the body I once had and did not appreciate. I made the decision that day I would get back to the fun loving, self-confident woman I had been in those corporate suits. I needed to find what would work for me as a woman in her fifties, so I reached out to others like me and discovered success lay with good nutrition and something I had never tried nutritional cleansing. The use of intermittent fasting in weight management has been shown to be a beneficial way to boost metabolism, reduce toxins, improve hormone balance. The act of fasting is not new it’s something that has been practiced for centuries and has been studied now in many formats such as the 5:2 plan. So where can you start taking control and making choices on how you make an impact on how you feel about the one body you will inhabit? 1. SLEEP - Most recent studies have shown that poor quality sleep, being restless and having regular less than 7 hours sleep has an impact on BMI. Women, in particular, are affected by this as we are at the mercy of hormonal changes throughout a month. These changes in hormones can cause women to have poor sleep patterns, night sweating being just one symptom that can cause women of a certain age to have to get up in the night! Chicken or Egg?? Does higher BMI mean you have a poorer sleep pattern or does the disturbed sleep pattern impact the body’s metabolism to cause weight gain …. Either way, it has been shown in multiple studies now that there is a correlation between poor sleep and higher BMI in women. So make your beauty sleep a priority if you are concerned about weight management. Strategies for getting a better night’s sleep include taking a high-quality melatonin supplement and having a nutritional snack before bedtime. Smartphones, Kindles, tablet screens or TVs in the bedroom are all having a negative impact on sleep patterns.All I can say is it has worked for me and many more to give them back the body they once had, more energy, better sleep, less bloating. The main thing for me is I am maintaining these results months after the initial goals were hit. I am not on a diet plan; I have made lifestyle changes that I will practice for as long as I want to stay feeling this good …. Forever. 2. Calcium & vitamin D3 - Good nutrition is important for everybody, but it plays a unique role in supporting women’s health. Unfortunately, many women are at risk of falling short on key nutrients for protecting long term health, especially nutrients that support strong bones and a healthy heart. Calcium is associated with bone health. It is critical for building and maintain bones. Your lifelong calcium intake and certain lifestyle choices can impact calcium stores as you age. However, Calcium’s role in healthy aging is not confined to a healthy bone. It is also essential for a healthy cardiovascular system through its role in regulating blood pressure. Additional studies have shown a diet rich in calcium are associated with lower levels of body fat and lower body weight. Dairy foods and dark green vegetables provide a healthy source of Calcium.
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