Fitness, motivation and diet in the 40+ world

5 comments

1. Welcome to your 40s. That spare tire around the middle isn’t going anywhere.

   For context, I got back into daily exercise at the beginning of the year, having slowed down a bit and lost motivation thanks to a shitty work schedule. A new job has stabilized my hours, so I have the capability of exercising every day.

   I’ve done various programs from Darebee.com (a bodyweight training resource) since the beginning of the year, and aside from a month dedicated solely to strength training, my routine is:

   * Light weights every day
   * Cardio every day alternating back and forth between intense and light / easy
   * A two-mile run on the light cardio days.

   I’ll toss in some specific add-on exercises each month (one was focused on core, one was focused on shoulders, etc.) but this has helped me slim down some and built up my endurance.

   I’ve lost the worst of my weight from last year (down 16 pounds as of today… go me!) but that spare tire will not deflate. Granted, my diet might be improved (I don’t eat well, but I do watch calories) but I’m coming to the realization I might not ever get rid of it.

   Got some testosterone supplements coming on Monday. We’ll see if those help.

2. Well, you have me beat with exercise frequency and intensity.

   Anyway quick story: last year I got fed up with being overweight. Stopped drinking, found a program that sends a scale you weigh in daily. Got a bunch of fitness and nutrition advice and started integrating almost daily workouts, both cardio and weights. Lost 30 lbs but then hit a plateau.

   Anyway, you probably just need to go hard on the diet. This is something I hate more than anything, counting calories or measuring food. The program I did suggested a method where you fill half a plate with vegetables, 1/4 protein, 1/4 grai, which I found easier. That took me down 30 lbs but I couldn’t get any further. I was suggested a “macros” diet but again, I enjoy eating too much and I’m not trying to be a model so it sounds miserable to feel like I’m doing an assignment adding up numbers before I eat.

   Also a lot of info I’ve read has said these days people say weights are the best path to weight loss, not cardio. I’ve enjoyed the process myself, just doing full body video workouts here and there.

3. > I’ve just turned 41. Over the last 2 years I keep saying to myself it’s time to get a bit fitter. Just for some context, I do a lot of cardio sport (I coach indoor cycling classes in my spare time) but **I just cannot get rid of** the weight around the stomach. The dadbod seems to be here to stay!

   Sure you can, you just have to lose more body fat. (Yeah, I know, “just”!)

   > I eat relatively healthy but it seems my body doesn’t react the same way to my diet as it used to. I find this really frustrating, mainly because I eat instinctively and have had the same type of diet for many years.

   Are you *positive* you are eating exactly the same calories and are expending exactly the same calories as you used to? That includes everything: exercise, but also NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis–fidgeting, etc.). My bet is you have no real idea about this, and why should you? So you probably are at a different yearly CICO than you used to be even before accounting for possible loss of muscle mass (which would contribute to a higher metabolism).

   > -what changes in diet have you made in your 40s to help with your fitness levels?

   When I want to lose weight, I aim for about 1,700 kCal/day gross intake. Then I also run 4.5 miles about four times a week and I do resistance (weights, bodyweight) exercises about six times a week. I usually also walk two miles a day, with hills.

   > -are regular cardio workouts more of an issue with this age range than before?

   I haven’t noticed any issues. My resting heart rate is in the mid 40s now and I’m 51. And it’s due to exercising.

   > To be precise, I tend to coach 6 x 45m intense classes a week. In the old days, I could eat anything I wanted to with this routine.

   Eh. Maybe you just wanted to eat less and you are forgetting other CICO factors.

   > This is definitely no longer the case- I have to really pay attention to hover around my ‘normal’ weight levels.

   People are notoriously bad at judging their CICO.

   > -my motivation is so low to get into strength training… any tips in getting started?

   Gob-loads of info on Reddit. I personally just started in my spare room with /r/bodyweightfitness stuff and a dumbbell I found put out to curb, some Walmart weights, and a pull-up bar. I later joined a gym but have taken a break from that. The main thing is to use good form, be careful of joint issues, be patient, be consistent, and don’t be too wimpy about but don’t be overeager, too.

   My main advice: forget your age. People tend to be way too defeatist about it–I see it all the time on Reddit. One of my goals is to see a 39 bpm heart rate in my early 50s. And I don’t think I have to kill myself to get there. Just pick up the slack on your CICO and you’ll get there.

   Oh, and if you really want to lose the abdominal fat, you have to lose way more weight than you think. How tall are you and what do you weigh now?

   Best of luck. Don’t age defeat out.

4. Just FYI, you need not resign yourself to “dadbod” after 40, if your training and nutrition is on point. To see what’s possible, check out the [Fit and 50 Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/Fitand50Formula). Dude is ripped in his mid 50’s and all natural.

   As for me, [this was my transformation at 40,](https://i.imgur.com/WhgbYRC.jpg) and I’ve maintained this physique now at 48.

   In my experience, cardio should take a back seat to resistance training. Resistance training needs to be the primary modality, while nutrition handles the fat loss. Cardio can be added in as an adjunct, both to keep your cardiovascular system healthy as well as enable you to eat more food by increasing your caloric expenditure. But cardio shouldn’t be the primary workout type, resistance training should.

   Diet is everything. You need to know what your TDEE is, then you can calculate what your daily caloric intake should be, depending on if your primary goal is fat loss or muscle gain. Protein intake is the #1 macro to make sure you hit, which you should aim for 0.7-1g of protein per pound of body weight per day. The remainder of your calories can come from fats and carbs in varying combinations, depending on your preferences, though fats are the more important macro than carbs.

   If you haven’t used a calorie/macro tracking app like Myfitnesspal or Cronometer before, you should probably try that for a while until you get into a groove with your diet and know your calories and macros automatically.

   From there it’s just a matter of consistency over time.

5. Couple of thoughts:

   -For working on things on your own…
   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O8rN5_Ace-8

   -If you try on your own but then enough time passes without success, the other thought is to involve a professional.

   I’m like everyone else that at some point has been a little reluctant to hire a good personal trainer for fitness goals… but at a certain point, we all could do well to decide that a professional with a proven record of effectiveness is what’s needed – just like we do in other areas of life that we realize we ourselves are not qualified to handle alone.