Losing Weight After 50: Why is it So Hard (And What Can You Do About it)

person lifting weights

You’re getting fatter and it’s harder to undo than ever before. It’s not your imagination: losing weight after 50 is much more difficult than in your 20s. The science agrees with your suspicion.

The science also tells us then what it is we need to do to actually make it happen. If you’re ready to lose the weight and keep it off – even over 50, then read on.

Why It’s Harder Losing Weight After 50

There are 3 main reasons why losing weight after 50 is tougher than before. These biological factors interconnect, in a feedback loop that makes getting and a healthy shape after 50 so tough. Tough, yes, but not impossible.

Let’s look at the main reasons it’s harder, before seeing what you can do about it.

4 Reasons We’re Fatter After 50

Even if you didn’t change your diet by one single calorie, you’re likely to get fatter after fifty. There are four main contributors. Let’s take a look at each of them and the interplay between them.

1. Your Metabolism Slows

It’s estimated that your metabolism slows around 5% per decade after 30. This is partly due to sarcopenia, or loss of muscle. But in essence, you’re eating the same amount but your body is burning it less effectively.

Guess what happens to those calories then? Correct – fat stores.

2. Loss of Muscle

As we age, we lose muscle density. This is important, as muscles burn calories even when we are at rest. So the smaller your muscles, the fewer calories you burn.

The fewer calories you burn, the more you store as fat. 

3. Changes to Fat Composition

Not only are you building fat stores thanks to a slower metabolism and reduced muscle mass, the type of fat you have changed. And not for the better. Often we assume all fat is harmful, but it’s not the case.

The type of fat known as brown fat is good for us. It generates heat to keep out the cold. It also burns calories and reduces white fat – the bad stuff.

Brown fat, the type of fat that makes healthy babies so chubby, reduces as you age. And sorry to say, but the white fat – the one that stores excess calories, seriously increases. So now we’re cold AND fat.

4. You Stress More

The fourth of the fat-increasing factors post fifty is increased stress. As we age, our responsibilities often increase. We may be at senior levels of management, running our own business, and worrying about teenage kids.

We may also be planning retirement or paying off a mortgage. So our dependence on our work is greater, increasing the importance of work stressors to us.

When we stress, the body secretes a hormone known as cortisol. Excess amounts of cortisol are stored as fat cell deposits in your body. You can probably see where we’re going with this. 

Fit and Fantastic Is Still Possible Post-Fifty

Yes, aging makes weight loss and weight-maintenance harder. But it’s certainly not impossible. In fact, just like all the bad stuff cycles together, so do the activities that work against them.

Exercise, sleep, high-protein diets and reducing stress work together in a positive feedback loop, fighting the causes of fat. So let’s look at how you can launch a counterattack against the post-fifty flab!

Lift Weight

To really burn fat and fight reduced muscle mass, you need to lift weight. Doing cardio won’t cut it. Weight-lighting is like a face-lift for your body.

A really effective way to do this is through High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). That’s where you lift heavy weights or do an activity that really gets your heart thumping, for 45 to 60 seconds. Then take a 15-second break and do it again.

There are lots of different styles of HIIT, and a good personal trainer will mix it up for you to keep it interesting. HIIT is very effective at rapidly increasing fitness and burning fat. Especially that tire around your waist.

Once you start working out, change your diet to maximize your muscle development. We’ll break that down in just a second.

Change Your Diet

Once-upon-a-time we thought weight-loss was all about energy output, as in exercise. It’s possible fast-food and soda companies contributed to that. What we know it’s much more about input than output.

Which means you can lift weights and sweat through HIIT sessions all you like, but if your diet isn’t up to scratch it won’t get you real results. So work to reduce calories to create a deficit. You can do this daily, or work at an intermittent fasting program like 5:2 or 16:8.

The 5:2 is where you eat normally five days a week, and calorie-restrict on two days. For the 16:8, you’re doing a sort of intermittent fast every day by eating during an 8-hour window, and fasting for the other 16. You might not eat anything after waking up until say 12 pm, and stop eating again at 8 pm until the next day.

Next, what to eat when you are in an eating window. Focus on good fats like the ones found in olive oil and avocado. Avoid sugar and up your protein intake to get the best benefit of the weight-lifting program. Include lots of lentils, beans, and chicken in your meals.

Consider adding a protein supplement to shakes and smoothies. Take them right after exercising for maximum impact. We love a smoothie with kefir milk, protein powder, raw egg, vanilla essence, and a banana – we promise you can’t even taste the weird bits.

Between meals, snack on nuts and seeds in moderation. They are great sources of protein, but easy to overdo. A good trick is to put ½ cup amounts in snack bags at the start of the week and just grab one on your way to work each day.

Think about incorporating some supplements, too. Look locally or shop online for Ageless Nutrition. Eating well is all about planning ahead.

The Big Sleep

Sleep is critical. Not just to avoid temper tantrums and low concentration. Our bodies build and repair muscle while we sleep.

So you want to get plenty of it. This can also reduce levels of cortisol by keeping you relaxed. So that’s less excess cortisol in your fat stores too, as well as general heightened wellbeing.

Increasing exercise should make your sleep easier and deeper. If you are still having trouble you could consider some natural sleep supplements.

Be Fabulous at Fifty

The best news is that all our ‘losing weight after 50’ tips work together to make each other one more effective. Think about it – the more you exercise, the better you sleep. The better you sleep, the less you stress.

The less you stress, the less fat you store. It’s a matter of putting the pieces together. Don’t do it alone though.

Rope in your partner, neighbor or a good friend and lose weight together. Enlist the help and expertise of a personal trainer. Make sure you get your doctor’s green-light before you start the weight-loss program.

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