How to increase metabolism after 40 and lose weight

The fight against the bulge can sometimes feel arduous and frustrating. And it is even harder to lose weight if you have already hit your  40s because then you know the struggle of a sluggish slow metabolism is real. But it is still possible once you learn how to increase your metabolism after 40 to lose weight.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the food you used to eat without any consequences to your waistline is now sort of taboo.  You just can’t eat ice cream every day without a care.

So you wonder what steps you need to take to boost your metabolism, lose weight and fit in that dress still hanging in the closes that you still hope to fit in one day.

Well, you can make that one day a reality by learning how to increase your metabolism.  Truth is there are a few things you can do to increase your metabolism even in your  40s and beyond.

The best part is if you practice the following ways to increase your metabolism, weight loss will happen even as you sleep.

So, let’s dive right in and see how we can defeat weight gain by changing our metabolism, once and for all.

How to boost your metabolism after 40 and lose weight

Avoid Skipping Meals

It is a bad idea to skip meals when you are trying to increase your metabolism to lose weight.

One would think that if you don’t eat often you get thinner.

But that does not work unless, of course, you’re out in the desert for many days without food. And we are not in the desert.

Why would starving yourself not help you lose weight?

Starving your body just causes the body to store fat. The body thinks…”we are about to starve here I better keep some energy just in case. ” And so the fat stays put. So eat at least six times a day.  Eating healthy meals, and healthy snacks in between meals.

However, if you skip meals in a strategic way as in intermittent fasting, you can lose weight that way and there is a science to support intermittent fasting. So look into that if you think that is something you would like to do. But we are here to talk about boosting our metabolism after 40 for weight loss.

Eat Protein-Rich Foods

One way to increase metabolism after 40 is to eat protein-rich foods.

Eating foods rich in protein helps one to lose weight because, for one, it takes the body a long time to digest protein. This means that one feels full longer and therefore does not reach for more food.

Another reason is that protein helps one build muscle. When one has more muscle they lose more weight. That is because lean muscle burns more fat, especially after exercise.

That’s one reason men lose more weight than women because generally, men have more muscle mass compared to women.

Do Not Skip Breakfast

I know I already said not to skip meals. And breakfast is a meal. But breakfast requires a special mention, I thought. I  have met many people who skip breakfast.

And I know there is controversy there about whether one really has to have breakfast if they don’t feel like it. I think it is important to have some good nutrition after waking up.

Even if it is a healthy smoothie. Reach for one that is not loaded with sugar. Something light would do if you one of those people who are not hungry in the morning. And you can wait a while if you are not hungry, just don’t go until lunch to eat your first meal.

Remember what I said about the body thinking it’s starving and so hanging on tightly to its fat?

In other words, your metabolism slows to crawl because it takes energy to metabolize and without that energy from food, the fat stored is not used for energy. So to  boost your metabolism after 40, eat a healthy breakfast to give

Remember also for the eight hours you were asleep, you were fasting and some energy is used even in sleep. Also, studies show that eating breakfast can prevent hunger later in the day.

Staying hungry for so long can lead to overeating later during the day when you decide to eat.

Another benefit of eating breakfast is that you will have more energy for physical activity, such as exercise which further fuels weight loss. When you start with a healthy breakfast you set yourself up for successful weight loss.

Optimize Your Sleep to Boost Metabolism

One thing many people don’t know is that sleep is needed to increase metabolism after 40 and actually at every age. And boost your metabolism after 40 requires that you don’t skimp on sleep.

The fact that we need a good amount of sleep to stay healthy is not random and research is showing that sleep is necessary not only for good brain health but for the functioning of the body as a whole. And that includes how well your metabolism functions.

Lack of sleep or disordered sleep disrupts our hunger and satiety hormones, leptin and ghrelin, and ruins our metabolism.  Ghrelin is the hormone that tells you you’re hungry and need to eat and leptin is the satiety hormone that signals when you’re full.

These two hormones work hand in hand to keep our metabolism moving smoothly.

So when the functioning of these hormones is disrupted when one is forever hungry, and the body doesn’t get the signal that “hey you need to stop now that’s enough you are full.”

This messes with your metabolism and weight loss cannot happen.

Also, when one stays up, they tend to eat late in the night, perhaps because they are still using energy and must replenish it.

Research shows that people tend to eat in excess of energy expenditure when they stay up late and they have less restraint leading to indulgence.

So getting enough sleep will help one keep off excess weight.

Another reason not sleeping enough slows metabolism is that the body gets stressed. Without sleeping enough more stress hormones, such as cortisol is produced.

Cortisol is necessary to fuel your fight or flight reflex and lack of sufficient sleep puts you forever in that fight or fright mode.

Cortisol was designed to be a temporary hormone to help you out with a highly increased bout of energy to run or fight.

This worked great for our ancestors who had to run from wild beasts and other terrors.

Today, we stay seated at our work desks.

We are not running away from anything and so we store the fact that the body is forced to hold on to because our body thinks we are in danger.

It is in fight or flight mode…all the time,  thinking it needs to store this fat for energy when it is required to run from danger. That is all because we didn’t sleep enough.

This leads to slow metabolism, increased abdominal fat and girth, and even fat around the shoulders.

Keep in mind that an abdominal girth of 35 inches and up for women can lead to metabolic syndromes such as cardiac disease and diabetes.

Diabetes then leads to more metabolic problems, dysfunctional metabolism, and more weight gain.

According to an article in PubMed, staying up at night increases insulin resistance.  And eventually, this leads to excess blood sugar and subsequent weight gain.

So get enough sleep and your body will thank you. Sleeping well will boost your metabolism and it will be easier to lose weight.

Related:  The Secretes to Better and Improved Sleep.

Choose Whole Foods

Think twice about those french fries… and other fried foods and chemically altered foods. These types of foods are enemy number one when you are trying to increase metabolism after 40.

Yea, before you could cobble mountains of fries, and gallons of ice cream without it ending all on your but and hips and abdomen. Well, that time is past my friend.  After 40 we must be aware of everything we eat.

But really, what an age we are living in. Be careful of the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

Foods full of saturated fats, and high in sugar are beckoning you there.

These types of foods are referred to as proinflammatory foods.

According to research, these foods lead to a flourishing of proinflammatory bacteria whose by-product – lipopolysaccharide, impairs satiety signaling in the brain leading to overeating.

So you eat but you still want more and more. Uh, oh so that’s what happens when you keep eating and still want more and more?

The food has broken the signals that let you know you are full. And also since some of these foods are turned immediately into simple sugar, you soon get hungry again anyway.

While you are reaching for more, what you ate earlier is turning into fat.

And so the cycle goes on.

These polysaccharides are toxins. Our bodies are bombarded by so many toxins in this modern age.

These toxins today are the equivalent of the jungle animals of prehistoric man on the prowl and causing excess metabolic stress, inflammation, and weight gain.

The difference is that the toxins kill us slowly. Unfortunately, there are very many toxins in food in the air, and in our general environments.

So why increase the load of toxins your body has to deal with by eating some prepacked something someone is selling as fast food?

It may be fast to eat but really really slow to get rid of.

So how do the toxins make us fat? These toxins are housed in our fat cells, and the more toxins, the more the fat AKA the fat houses housed in our bodies.

The take here: eat organic, and keep away from plastic containers. Use natural house cleaners. Stop eating prepacked foods, especially from those middle sections in the supermarket.

Read more here about the Thirteen vitamins and minerals and supplements you need to stay healthy.

Okay, there you have it.

Start making good food choices, boost your metabolism, and lose weight. So there you go! Some ways to reign in the bulge, and not only find your inner slim but bring it on out and in the process embrace a much healthier you!

Exercise

If hearing the word exercise stresses you out, I am with you. But exercise smarter. To increase metabolism after 40 you need more muscle mass.

You see we lose muscle as we age and the right exercise such as squats, planks, lifting weights, or yoga can help you boost your muscle mass and your metabolism. The good thing once you have more muscle mass you lose weight even when you are asleep.

It’s true. Our bodies were not made to be plonked in a chair all day long as we do these days. We must move more. Movement increases metabolism and well-being. So see to it that you are getting up and moving around even when you are in the office and this will increase your metabolism even in your 40s and beyond.

Mix it up. Do some cardio and bring that heart rate up and that will also help you boost your metabolism. Take a brisk walk, or jump rope. Any exercise that makes you feel winded revs up your heart rate and metabolism and helps you lose weight.

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And tell me in the comments below how you boost your metabolism after 40.