The Best Ways to Lose Weight After 50

Slightly lose weight after 50? It would be nice, but just like us, our metabolism changes. We reveal what is important now.

We get older on our own. But to stay slim for life, we have to do something. It is true that slight overweight – BMI up to 27 – is considered harmless to health at a higher age. But it is also clear that we lose muscle mass from around the age of 30 onwards and fat takes its place. Fewer and fewer muscles mean that the basal metabolic rate decreases, we freeze more easily and have less strength and energy. Fortunately, this process can be stopped and even reversed – at any age!

This happens in our bodies from the age of 50

Unfortunately, it cannot be glossed over: “From the age of 45 onwards, the metabolism slows down considerably,” says Prof. Christoph Bamberger from the Medical Prevention Centre Hamburg. The degradation processes, which have been underway for a long time, are accelerating again. With the effect that a 50-year-old woman has almost twice as much fatty tissue for the same weight as a 30-year-old.

This reduces the basal metabolic rate: While younger women still burn around 2200 kilocalories per day even without exercise, women after the menopause often only burn 1000 to 1200. With such a low basal metabolic rate it is hardly possible to stay slim. “The age range from 45 to 55 is difficult in terms of weight,” says Christoph Bamberger. “The vast majority of women gain around five kilos in this decade”.

One reason: the hormonal change during the menopause. Because the female hormones (estrogens) become less, the male hormones gain influence. The effect: the fat deposits shift from thighs and hips to the stomach. By the way, hormone replacement therapy does not protect against getting fat. “We do not yet know exactly what the decisive factors for weight gain are,” says Bamberger.

This is what we have to consider

Move regularly! Exercise from the age of 50 can help us enormously in influencing the symptoms of menopause. Most women at this age do not exercise, they are the least active population group in the world. A study by the German Sport University Cologne with 60 inactive women during the menopause has clearly shown: Even regular extensive walking can cause three to four kilos to disappear over a period of twelve weeks. Anyone who has been doing sports for years and wants to keep their weight, must now improve their diet, “optimize it and take it really seriously,” says Bamberger.

However, losing weight from the age of 50 does not mean always sticking to a strict diet and constantly renouncing small sins. Eating well and satisfying food is still possible. “At this age you have to go for protein-rich, low-carbohydrate meals in the evening.” So more fish or meat, beans and legumes, less bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. It’s all based on the “low carb” principle. You lower your carbohydrate level during the day to keep your insulin levels low at night.

“Because the higher the insulin level, the harder it is to break down fat deposits.” Otherwise, the rule of thumb is to maintain muscle tone and build it up as you please. This is worthwhile, because “about half of the fat mass that has accumulated in the meantime disappears again as muscles grow. So you can set your life clock back ten years.” So if you want to lose weight from the age of 50 on, you just have to adapt to your body.

• Eliminate time thieves: Even small changes in lifestyle benefit the figure,” says Dr. Inge Hofmann, author of the guidebook “Slim over 40”. For example, choose a sports studio nearby so that you don’t have to make a long journey to get there. Or – even if it sounds banal – buy a good food processor or blender that will help you chop your vegetables.
• Living the high life again: What was it like back then, studying or teaching? Car: priceless, food: cheap, please! Take a short trip through time and cycle at a brisk pace to the weekly market. Buy a colourful mix of inexpensive seasonal vegetables for a delicious lean stew.
• Don’t look bloated: Be careful with legumes and cabbage on the menu. “A bloated stomach actually adds a few pounds,” confirms Inge Hofmann. She recommends drinking ginger doused with hot water two or three times a day to stimulate digestion. And mix fresh ginger or dried ginger cubes (health food store; make sure the sugar content is low) into the muesli.
• Take your position again and again: In the supermarket, in the car, at your desk – wherever you are: Straighten your upper body consciously again and again, pull your shoulders back and down, tense your abdominal muscles briefly. Hold the tension for up to 20 seconds while continuing to breathe calmly. While sitting, you can also raise your legs slightly to increase the effect. This is a small exercise that has a great effect as a permanent exercise.

• Burn fat in your sleep: Some experts advise not to eat after 5 p.m. once or twice a week. However, Inge Hofmann has made the experience that many women sleep badly after so-called “dinner cancelling” and have to struggle with attacks of ravenous appetite.
  Her advice: “Eat a light meal around 6 p.m. that contains a mix of protein and a few carbohydrates.” For example, a cheese salad with cherry tomatoes and small cubes of bread, or herb curd on a slice of extra-thin crispbread. The carbohydrates let you sleep peacefully without disturbing the fat burning process, and protein keeps you full until bedtime.
• Boosting the metabolism with hormonyoga: The “swivel seat”, an exercise from Hormonyoga, works like a massage for the internal organs. It stimulates the metabolism and gets the digestion going – two measures to reduce fat and keep the abdomen flat.
  Here’s how it works: sit on the floor with your legs stretched out. Place your right leg at an angle and grasp your right knee with both hands. Take a few deep breaths. Then lift the right foot over the left leg and stand outside next to the left knee. Now turn your upper body to the right, grasping your right knee with your left arm and turn so far that you can support yourself with the fingertips of your right hand behind your body. Look back over your right shoulder, take a few deep breaths, release position. Do the exercise to the other side.
• Pluck the stomach into shape: With regular plucking massages you can wonderfully additionally strengthen the stomach tissue, stimulate the blood circulation and thus contribute to fat burning.