What makes a seasoned woman? Time. Like a fine wine, it is complex. full of surprises. Life experience has taught her that she is not defined by her chronological age. If you are an experienced woman then you know that your health is your most valuable asset. You know that the best gift you can give to the world is your well being – physically, mentally and emotionally.
But if you’re over 40 and especially if you’re over 45, you’ve probably realized that staying fit and healthy isn’t the same game you played in your 20s and 30s. You may not be able to lose weight as easily as before. The same workouts are not going to produce the same results. Every woman over the age of 40 knows the frustration she feels when she’s gained a few extra pounds, or isn’t able to work out as intensely as she once did. Busy lifestyles make healthy eating and exercise even more challenging. While we are not all the same, and every woman has individual needs and issues related to her health – every woman needs to exercise and adopt healthy eating habits. I’ve identified the 5 biggest obstacles to staying fit after age 40 – and how you can overcome them. I want you to challenge your beliefs about eating, exercising, and how you look. Know your personal “factory settings” and learn how you can stay fit and healthy naturally and effortlessly. Being fit doesn’t mean feeling bad. It’s about feeling strong.
And having fun – not stressing about every forkful of food or every minute on the treadmill. Remember, you become what you believe! Be beautiful, seasoned lady – it’s the spice that makes the dish!
Barrier 1: Cookie Cutter Syndrome
Your body has specific factory settings that are unique to you. What you may not know is that your body naturally wants to get you down to your optimal weight (not Jessica Alba or Angelina Jolie’s) unless you fight it. All you have to do is reacquaint yourself with yourself and stop using cookie cutter diets and exercise programs that don’t meet your particular needs! Yes, once you hit your forties and fifties, it can be tough to lose or maintain your weight, but when you understand how your individual body works, you can get results faster. and can be easily maintained.
You’ll look great and feel even better. Take off your clothes and take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Like a lobster that discards its old shell and grows new shells throughout its lifetime, you have the power to throw off your old body images and embrace who you are now — without killing yourself about it. Without. Start paying attention to your body. Follow its wisdom. You are not cursed to be overweight or to be on a constant diet. Once you accept the body you were born with, you can return to your unique, normal weight—just as nature intended. What I am vehemently against is the endless pressure to be thin. This is a big part of the problem. Statistics from some treatment centers show a steady increase in eating disorders among women over the age of 40. We are all different. Some bodies are soft and shapely. Others are naturally sharp and angular. This is the beauty of diversity. Accepting and loving the unique beauty of your body will set you free and give you confidence and strength!
Barrier 2: Paying Attention to Your Metabolism
Nutrition is essential for metabolism. Everyone is familiar with the word “metabolism”, but many people do not know what it means. You probably know someone who can eat whatever they want and not put on weight. Well if you believe that some people are just born with a strong metabolism….that’s a myth!
The truth is, you are not a victim of your metabolism – you are. creator of your metabolism. There is no secret. Food is just energy. Your body needs energy to function. Food is your main source of energy (calories) in the form of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Take in excess energy from any of these and your body will store it as fat. So fat loss is about energy balance. Simple, isn’t it? You need to eat smarter, not less. When you restrict calories to less than the minimum amount of energy needed to feed your nervous system, your body thinks it is starving. When this happens, your body not only burns muscle for fuel, but while doing so, your body is actually slowing down your metabolism.
When you lose muscle, you are lowering your metabolism. Lose the Mindset: “Eat less, weigh less.” Restricting your calories will guarantee you a slower metabolism. The act of healthy eating – which is prompting your body to process helpful foods over and over again – guarantees a faster metabolism. A faster metabolism means that your body has become a fat burning machine.
Barrier 3: Diet Addiction Diets don’t work.
The health and fitness industry is depending on a fact that you either don’t know or you won’t believe. But if you’ve tried to lose weight on any kind of fad diet in the past and you’ve gained the weight back and then some, then you know what I mean. I know, you’re probably thinking that you have to be on a diet forever in order to have any kind of sustainable weight loss. But nothing could be further from the truth. Barring rare exceptions, most people were born with a normal body weight. But then we learned to diet instead of eating instinctively. Dieting puts the body into survival mode ie starvation. Dieting signals deprivation to your body and sparks a biological drive to prime the body to maximize food intake and minimize the energy expended to protect itself. Making the best food choices is your secret weapon in the quest for fitness over 40. Eating mindfully will help you boost your metabolism, burn more fat and dramatically increase your energy. The goal here is to be fit and healthy and look good for your body type.
Believe it or not, good nutrition is so powerful! And you can change your eating (or lack of eating) habits by cutting back a bit. Aim to make at least one healthier choice each day and be more helpful than the day before. Make 2-3 improvements each week. Making These Small Nutritional Changes Will Quickly Add Up amazing results As you gain control over your metabolism.
Barrier 4: Neglecting the Fab 4
There are 4 essential components of fitness. You’re going to need some variation of all of them if you want to stay fit and avoid injury. Many clients complain of not having the time to stretch or just want to do cardio without weight training or weight training without cardio. All you need. So here comes the excuse. “My life is so chaotic right now! I don’t have time!” Well, you don’t need a lot of time – but you will need some time. And if living a healthy lifestyle is important to you, you have to make a commitment. But the more you do it, the more you want to do it. So what are they? Cardio exercise raises your metabolism so that you burn energy at a higher rate than when you don’t exercise. It reduces your appetite by activating your sympathetic nervous system. This activates your “fight or flight” response. What does it mean? try this:
Next time you feel the urge to overeat, go for a brisk walk or jog. Note how you feel after a workout. Your appetite will decrease or disappear completely. Cardiovascular exercise, resistance training and flexibility exercises will help you lose excess weight that stresses your joints. You’ll strengthen joints and lengthen muscles, reducing your risk of injury in your day-to-day activities.
Barrier 5: Leaving Your Goals to Chance
As a personal trainer, I see too many clients grab their weights and lace up their running shoes before they know exactly what they want to accomplish. My advice to them and to you – don’t leave anything to chance. Research shows that writing down your health and fitness goals makes them 95% more achievable. The more specific you are about what you want, the more likely you are to put in the necessary work to get it. First, examine your expectations. Are your goals reasonable? While it would be nice to lose 20 pounds in 7 days, there is no safe way to do so. Unrealistic expectations sabotage your efforts and make it difficult to stay on track. look beyond the obvious. Set goals that can be measured with something other than a bathroom scale — like lowering your blood pressure by 10 points or increasing the distance you walk or jog. When it comes to exercise, the most common excuse cards are the queen of “not enough time” and the ace of “not convenient.” You will always be busy. And it’s much easier to sit down with a glass of wine or a bowl of ice cream than to jog in the corner or do crunches on a stability ball. But the truth is – those are not valid excuses. You don’t need to go to the gym, and you can take out 30 minutes a day to exercise. For years I did this either in the morning before work or at night after the kids went to bed with nothing but exercise videos, some hand weights and an exercise bench I bought at Goodwill for 5 bucks.
Start where you are. If you don’t (or can’t) make time to do this for yourself, the problem probably isn’t that you lack time. Perhaps your life has gotten too out of control and this question has become a priority now. Your health and wellness should be at the top of the list! You can get started with minimal equipment and space. It’s easy and cheap! The best advice I can give you is to start now. start moving Fidget! Have you ever noticed those lanky, hummingbird type people? Well, studies show that it’s not some mysterious food item, cell or hormone that drives these guys to burn fat like an iron frying pan — it’s speed. Obviously, it’s not that simple, but it’s true that the more you move, in a very subtle way, the more calories your body will burn throughout the day. And it will have a subtle positive effect!
- balance and flexibility
- muscular strength and endurance
- Body composition
- aerobic capacity
As you age, your body composition changes. Weight gain is very common after the age of 40 and especially after the age of 50. The most dangerous type is around the midsection because of its proximity to your organs, so it’s at the greatest risk for heart disease. The good news is that a combination of cardio, resistance training and flexibility exercises means that a healthy body composition will take care of itself! We lose an average of 5% of our muscle mass every ten years after age 35 – if we don’t do something about it. One side effect of this is weight gain. If you don’t intentionally rebuild muscle through exercise, and you’re eating the same amount of food (or more) as you did when you were in your 30s — you’ll gain. Muscle gives us the metabolic ability to burn calories every time we move — whether we’re active or at rest. Even when you’re lying on the couch with the remote in your hand, your muscles continue to burn calories.
Source by Robin Stephens
