3 Myths Stopping Women Over 40 From Loosing Stubborn Tummy Weight
3 Myths Stopping Women Over 40 From Losing Stubborn Tummy Weight
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“All my life I’ve been around 110 lb, so when 28lb magically attached itself to my stomach… I was left feeling confused and frustrated.
I’d never had issues with my weight before. Even after pregnancies, the weight fell off without trying, but once I turned 46 everything has been going downhill fast.
Fat seems to cling to my belly now and it’s transforming my body into the shape of an apple. Not to mention, I’m always bloated! Sometimes my belly swells to the point I look like I’m 6 months pregnant.
No matter what I try, nothing has worked yet.
While going gluten-free helped many of my friends with these issues every time I try it doesn’t help me at all. I’ll lose a little at the beginning but it’s next to impossible to keep the weight off long term.
I’ll go weeks fighting off cravings and the moment I allow some enjoyment of food… the roll above my waist comes back with a vengeance.
Even after adding a few extra spinning classes each week my belly still sticks out.
I feel like I’ve lost control of my body.
And when I asked my doctor for help he told me “it’s normal to gain weight as you get older.”
What kind of advice is that? Aren’t doctors supposed to have the answers?
Do I really just have to quietly suffer through this?
If anyone has something that has something that is working for you please let me know!”
For Jane – a 46-year-old real estate agent from Ohio – it all started going downhill when the intense cravings hit. Sweets, pasta, chips… anything that had sugar or carbs in it… she had to have it.
She didn’t think too much of it at first…
Because despite raising two boys and a busy work schedule she’d always kept fairly active. So working off the occasional cheat meal was usually no sweat.
But that quickly changed after she turned 40.
Suddenly calories seemed to be sticking to her tummy, hips, and thighs like glue.
And what started as a little extra weight around the “love handles” quickly turned into an “apron belly” that hung over her waist.
Carrying the extra weight was draining.
She felt like she was walking around with a weight vest…
Her work attire became difficult to move in…
And she could feel her clients’ eyes judging the way her blouses now hugged her midsection.
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Not to mention, her sons started to become seriously concerned about her health because of how quickly she’d gone up in size. They knew rapid weight gain during middle life could drastically increase her chances of type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
So she started trying everything health experts say you are supposed to do to get back to a healthy weight.
First, she stopped eating out and ate home-cooked meals consisting mostly of meats, veggies, and fruits to stay at a calorie deficit…
Then, she adopted an extreme low-carb diet for 6 months without a single cheat day…
While following a strict 16/8 intermittent fasting protocol.
Next, she amped up the intensity of her gym routine with an additional two sets of each exercise… and even joined a jogging club that ran 4 miles every Saturday morning.
But none of these supposed recommendations ever kept the weight off long-term, it always piled back on.
In fact, at one point she got even heavier!
Eventually, when she got so desperate she even tried one of those silly waist trainers she saw all the younger girls using… But her midsection had become so big she could barely do it up.
And on top of all that, when she asked her gynecologist for help…
He told her “weight gain due to hormonal changes is just something women need to learn to deal with. The only advice I can offer is to control your portion sizes and get enough exercise.”
“Seriously?” Jane thought. “Don’t eat too much and stay active? I’ve spent three months starving myself, I workout till I nearly faint and the scale still hasn’t budged. Is that really all the advice you have?”
Unfortunately, Jane isn’t the only one. Women over 40 all across the globe are left confused & frustrated from dealing with sudden weight gain.
It’s no wonder so many women give up trying to fight the losing weight battle… and believe they just have to ‘live with it’!.
But is mid-life weight gain really unavoidable?
The reality is that 3 myths hold most middle-aged women back from being slim and healthy for life.
At one point in their lives, these beliefs may have actually helped some women lose weight, but just as our bodies change, our approach to maintaining a slimmer physique also needs to change.
Here at Better Body Co, we’ve helped over 1,000,000 women worldwide to shed the stubborn age-related weight for good. So let us bust these 3 myths and provide you with the answers you need to accelerate your way towards a trimmer, happier YOU:
Myth #1 – “As long as I burn more calories than I take in, my weight will drop.”
Remember in your 20s when you could live on takeout and still slip into a pair of skinny jeans as long as you hit the gym 3 times a week?
Ahhh! How easy it is to be young.
While the calories in vs calories out approach may have worked in college and even up till your early 30s…
This does NOT work for women once they hit 40 and beyond.
Here’s why:
One doctor from Piedmont Hospital in Georgia, USA, suggests that most women’s metabolism will drop by 10% each decade after 20. Add in declining estrogen levels caused by menopause and by 50 most women’s metabolism has completely tanked.
Suddenly their ability to burn calories has been cut by 30% or more!
It’s no wonder women find it impossible to trim the stubborn weight after 40.
On top of that…
Cortisol levels are also elevated as we age making women more susceptible to cravings, high blood sugar levels, and high blood pressure.
This makes exercise a double-edged sword.
An extra 30-minute push on the elliptical can increase our already spiked cortisol levels, causing us to eat more of the high-fat, salty foods our body has a harder time burning off.
In other words:
As women reach middle age they have to work twice as hard to burn the same about of calories they did in their 20s… but by working out hard they risk craving more foods that lead to weight gain.
Talk about a catch-22!
Once women realize that the gym doesn’t give the same results they’re used to they usually switch their focus toward restrictive diets…
Which leads to another popular misconception…
Myth #2 – “I just need to cut out carbs and I’ll start to slim down”
Okay, so now you might be thinking….
“If I can’t out-exercise the weight gain then it must be the carbs. Carbs are the devil, right? So if I just cut out pasta, bread, and bagels I’m surely guaranteed to shed any extra weight.”
WRONG!
Despite all the paleo and keto experts telling us that ditching carbs is the magic solution to all weight gain problems… for women over 40 avoiding carbs is largely a waste of time!
In fact, many women report gaining weight after trying these diets.
This is because mid-life weight gain has VERY LITTLE to do with exercise or diet… but A LOT to do with BAD bacteria overgrowth in the gut.
See, inside the gut, there are two dominant types of bacteria…
Bacteroidetes (the good guys)
And… Firmicutes (the bad guys)
The balance between these two bacteria (called the F/B ratio) plays a key role in regulating our metabolism, fat storage, and hormone responses.
So as we approach menopause and plummeting estrogen levels alter the F/B ratio in our gut, it becomes incredibly hard to stay slim regardless of how clean we eat.
For example…
One study revealed people carrying extra weight contain nearly 90% LESS good bacteria than lean individuals…. While a 20% increase in bad bacteria leads to higher caloric intake.
Another study done in 2006 showed that an overgrowth of bad bacteria causes the body to store more calories than it consumes leading to a dramatic increase in body fat.
Simply put, it doesn’t matter how many foods women eliminate from their diet, if they don’t heal their gut first, they’ll continue to eat more and hold onto more fat.
This is why women continue to watch their thighs, hips and waistlines expand despite adopting a low-carb lifestyle.
And even when they do lose a little bit of weight… it’s common that their body doesn’t return back to their previous shape.
Which brings us to…
Myth #3 – “If I lose enough weight, my belly will go down.”
No matter how much weight some women manage to lose, their belly doesn’t seem to budge.
Here’s something 90% of women don’t know:
Having a bulging belly does NOT necessarily mean you’re overweight.
How so?
Studies suggest that a distended belly points to bad gut bacteria.
The overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria causes a buildup of gas in the small intestine which can lead to uncomfortable bloating.
As our bellies balloon out, it gives the illusion we’re carrying more weight around the middle than we actually are.
This is why diets and exercise don’t help after 40! Because women are not addressing the ROOT CAUSE of the problem… Poor gut health.
That’s why they’ll notice the scale slowly going in the right direction…
And their face, legs, and arms getting trimmer…
But their belly looks like they could be 6 months pregnant.
So how can women slim down, ‘deflate’ their belly naturally, and remain that way for good?
The answer is simple.
If poor gut health is the ‘devil’ behind the weight gain, cravings and bloating women experience after 40…
The secret to melting the weight around their middle and maintaining weight loss for life is to rebalance the ratio of good vs bad bacteria.
The best way to do this?
Probiotics.
Probiotics are bacteria and yeasts that take up residence in the gut repopulating it with good bacteria that help keep your body healthy and working well.
While you can consume probiotics through foods like yogurt, kefir, and kombucha…
A lot of women prefer probiotic supplements instead.
There are three reasons for this.
First, some women don’t like fermented foods or are allergic to them.
Second, not many women want to eat 100 cups of yogurt a month to supply enough colony-forming units (CPU) to see significant benefits.
Third, fermented foods are often combined with sweeteners and added sugars that disrupt the body’s bacterial balance.
Meanwhile, a good probiotic supplement can fit into anyone’s diet, can provide over 10 billion CPUs per capsule, and has no added sugars.
Source:https://betterbody.co/pages/3-myths-stopping-women-over-40-from-losing-stubborn-tummy-weight?nbt=nb:adwords:g:17391932384:135703053725:601518372623&nb_adtype=&nb_kwd=belly%20bloat&nb_ti=kwd-1216361895&nb_mi=&nb_pc=&nb_pi=&nb_ppi=&nb_placement=&nb_si=%7Bsourceid%7D&nb_li_ms=9019583&nb_lp_ms=9019583&nb_fii=&nb_ap=&nb_mt=b&nbt=nb:adwords:g:17391932384:135703053725:601518372623&nb_adtype=&nb_kwd=belly%20bloat&nb_ti=kwd-1216361895&nb_mi=&nb_pc=&nb_pi=&nb_ppi=&nb_placement=&nb_si=%7Bsourceid%7D&nb_li_ms=9019583&nb_lp_ms=9019583&nb_fii=&nb_ap=&nb_mt=b&gc_id=17391932384&h_ad_id=601518372623&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=g&utm_id=17391932384&utm_term=belly%20bloat&utm_content=601518372623&gclid=CjwKCAjwzeqVBhAoEiwAOrEmzTOQY7Q4TyBeKpijplnk5H6LG4RhJXFW0kL2JJSc8xvEZW38ETgTlxoCW-AQAvD_BwE