If you’re over 40 and struggling to lose weight, despite eating healthy and exercising, you’re not alone.
Many women in midlife find that what used to work in their 20s and 30s no longer delivers results.
The reason? Your body changes: hormonally, metabolically, and physically. And traditional weight loss methods fail to account for these shifts.
In this post, we’ll break down why you might be stuck and what you can do to finally see progress.
1. You’re Probably Not Eating Enough
For decades, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the only way to lose weight is to eat less and move more.
And I get it. Every magazine cover, every weight loss ad, every fitness guru has drilled this into our brains.
But for women over 40? Undereating is the very thing keeping you stuck.
My clients come to me convinced that they need to slash their calories even further.
They’re hesitant.
Skeptical even when I tell them that they actually need to eat more, not less to lose weight.
But here’s what happens: within a few weeks of nourishing their bodies properly, the scale starts moving…sometimes up to six pounds down…before we’ve even touched a fat loss phase.
They’re shocked.
They tell me, “Wait… I’m eating more than I ever have, and I’m finally losing weight?”
Yes, because for years, their bodies were stuck in survival mode, clinging to every calorie like it was the last meal on earth.
And let’s be clear: this isn’t about eating anything and everything.
It’s about fueling your body the right way – balancing your meals with protein, healthy fats, and fiber to stabilize blood sugar and support metabolism.
This phase of my program is about healing first…fixing the damage from yo-yo dieting, balancing hormones, and revving up metabolism.
Only after that can we introduce a caloric deficit that actually works. (Mayo Clinic, 2023).
2. Too Much Cardio is Keeping You Stuck
If I had a dollar for every woman who told me she’s been running on the treadmill five days a week and not seeing results, I’d rich.
Excessive cardio is not the answer.
When you do endless cardio, your body perceives it as stress, driving up cortisol levels (your stress hormone).
And what does cortisol love to do? Store fat…especially around your midsection
Not to mention, after 40, muscle loss accelerates, and if you’re not actively strength training, you’re just burning away what little muscle you have left.
Less muscle means a slower metabolism, making weight loss even harder
The solution? Strength training.
It builds and preserves lean muscle and regulates key hormones like testosterone and growth hormone, which play a significant role in metabolism.
Research from Cleveland Clinic (2022) and PubMed (2021) confirms that lifting weights is one of the most effective ways to maintain muscle mass, boost metabolism, and make weight loss easier.
Now, I get it. Many of my clients are instinctively drawn to cardio.
Whether running, intense step-ups, or HIIT, they feel the need to sweat and burn calories to see results.
But here’s the thing: if that 30-minute or one-hour workout is the only movement you get all day, we’ve got a problem.
Your metabolism isn’t working efficiently if the rest of your day is spent sitting at a desk or on the couch.
This is why incorporating movement throughout the day is key. Strength training is fantastic for everyone, but especially for midlife women losing muscle mass at a rapid rate.
We need to do everything we can to maintain and build it.
If you’re a corporate woman working long hours at a desk or a work-from-home mom juggling a million things, your body needs structured strength training AND daily movement to truly thrive.
That means getting up, walking, stretching, and breaking up long periods of inactivity.
So, if you’re spending hours on cardio hoping it will “burn off” the weight — stop.
Shift your focus to lifting heavy, building muscle, and keeping your body moving throughout the day.
3. Stress & Sleep Are Sabotaging Your Progress
You can be eating right and exercising, but if your stress levels are through the roof and your sleep is garbage, your body is still going to hold onto fat.
Here’s why: when cortisol is chronically high (thanks to work stress, over-exercising, or poor sleep), it signals your body to store fat, particularly in the belly.
Add to that a lack of sleep, and your hunger hormones get completely out of whack – ghrelin (your hunger hormone) spikes, making you crave sugar, while leptin (your fullness hormone) plummets, making you eat more.
I see it all the time.
Women do everything right during the day, but poor sleep and high-stress levels keep them stuck.
The fix? Prioritize sleep like it’s your job.
Here’s what actually works:
Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep.
Stop doom scrolling in bed until midnight or watching all the previews on Netflix.
Incorporate stress management techniques.
Walking, breathwork, yoga, a gratitude journal, a cup of herbal tea while planning your week, gardening, adult coloring books – find what helps you decompress.
Ditch over-exercising.
Your body needs time to recover, and stress + high-intensity workouts = a disaster for midlife metabolism.
When you lower stress and improve sleep, your body stops fighting you and actually allows fat loss to happen.
The Bottom Line: Work Smarter, Not Harder
If you’re tired of the endless cycle of dieting, frustration, and feeling like your body is fighting against you, Love the Skin You’re In was made for you.
This program is not a one-size-fits-all approach because everyone’s body, lifestyle, and history differ.
The diet that worked for your favorite influencer or your best friend might not work for you – because your body isn’t the same as theirs.
My clients have slowly built a new lifestyle that works for them—one that actually fits their life, their schedule, and their goals.
They’re no longer jumping from diet to diet, hoping something will finally stick. Instead, they’ve learned what their body actually needs and how to make it work for the long run.
Love the Skin You’re In isn’t for everyone, and that’s why I offer a free 25-minute consultation to see if it’s the right program for you.
If you’re serious about making real, sustainable changes and want to know if this is the right fit, let’s chat.
CITATIONS
- Mayo Clinic, 2023 – The Impact of Metabolism and Weight Loss After 40
Link: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/weight-loss-plateau/art-20044615 - Cleveland Clinic, 2022 – Strength Training and Fat Loss in Midlife Women
Link: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/stay-fit-in-your-40s-50s-60s-70s-and-beyond - PubMed, 2021 – The Role of Resistance Training in Metabolism and Hormonal Balance
Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10559623/
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