What To Do About Why Losing Weight Gets Harder As We Get Older!

Today we are diving into one of the most asked questions I get:  What To Do About Why Losing Weight Gets Harder As We Get Older!

Do you feel like it is legit harder to lose weight as you’ve taken trips around the sun?

As you’ve added candles to the ‘ole birthday cake, you’ve noticed that what used to work, just does not work anymore?

Well, today I’m going to connect the dots for you and help you see that you’re not crazy, you’re actually right.

It really is more difficult, not only to lose weight, but also to keep it off after the age of 40 because our metabolisms are different.

Over time our metabolisms change and today I want to really focus on how our metabolisms change due to hormonal changes as we age.

A while back, we talked about how our metabolism is made up metabolic machinery and metabolic hormones, so this week I want to dive a little deeper in to the hormonal part.

This really helps explain why your dieting and exercise isn’t going to work for you as a woman over 40 and what to do instead.

There are two main hormonal players in our weight control as women.

Again, this has nothing to do with calories at this point. After 40, we need to stop thinking calories are start thinking hormones.

Player 1 is INSULIN:

• Insulin causes fat accumulation
• Insulin goes up over time d/t metabolic damage
• Metabolic damage causes higher insulin
• This makes your weight unbelievably stubborn and difficult to get off with diet and exercise.

Player 2 is ESTROGEN:

• Estrogen is protective against too much insulin
• Estrogen decreases over time
• Estrogen stops being the dominant hormone as testosterone takes the lead

So now you have rising fat promoting insulin that won’t turn off

Plus decreasing protective estrogen

With a steady dose of testosterone that is overpowering your estrogen

Plus a lower metabolism due to years of dieting which leaves you with:

• Excess stubborn belly fat.
• Weight that won’t come off no matter how much you exercise.
• Weight that won’t come off no matter what diet you choose.
• Increased sugar cravings and hunger.

All due to this perfect metabolic storm.

So let’s connect the dots between your weight problem and your broken metabolism. The reason you feel like it’s harder to lose weight after 40 is because it is.  

You have to understand and address this perfect metabolic storm by repairing your metabolism or you will continue to struggle with diet after diet.  You need to repair your metabolism so that you can control your insulin and calm the storm.

I repeat, it’s not because your metabolism is slow...it’s because it’s low and damaged.

If you are a woman over 40 that wants to lose weight, achieve glowing health and put and end to dieting, you need to focus on repairing your metabolism, because repairing your metabolism rebalances the most powerful hormonal player in the game which is your insulin.

I like to explain the role of estrogen and insulin with our weight like this:

Let us visualize a wide five lane interstate like Interstate-5 on the West Coast. I drove this as my commute for 3 years while my husband was in medical school and I tell you it’s sheer organized madness.

So, let’s say we have 5 lanes on the interstate and this is like your metabolism.  Now on your metabolic rode you have many cars or hormones that drive your metabolism.  You have thyroid hormone, you have estrogen, you have cortisol, you have a hormone called glucagon, and you have insulin.  Now, there are more, but these are the biggies we are going to focus on.

To put it in perspective on who has the most power on whether you burn or store body fat, I want you to visualize insulin as a big Fed Ex truck with 3 trailers rolling behind it.  Right? Huge! And it’s going 75 mph down the interstate.  And there are 20 of them.  

Estrogen is more like a small commercial truck doing local deliveries and there is let’s say 10 of them on the road.

Thyroid is like a 4 door sedan and there are 10 of them as well.

Cortisol is like a 2 door compact car that only floods the interstate at rush hour.

Glucagon is like UPS trucks that only come out at night after the Fed Ex trucks have left the road, but the rest of the road is pretty empty, but there is about 20 of those guys too.

Now, which vehicle determines the pace of all the other vehicles on the road?

Which vehicle can slam on the brakes and all the other vehicles have to follow?

The FED EX Insulin trucks!

The Fed Ex insulin trucks tell everyone how fast they can go and if they change lanes or not or if they get on or off the interstate.

In this example, we want to understand that all those other hormones are indeed there, indeed important in the big scheme of things, but it’s the insulin that is the most important.  

Not estrogen. Not thyroid.

And here’s how we really prove that: when we give women with low or lower estrogen levels estrogen medication to increase their estrogen levels, what happens with their weight? Nothing!  Now, their bones get a little stronger and they stop having such bad hot flashes, but they don’t melt away.

When we give women insulin or start them on a medication that increases their insulin, what happens?  They gain weight!

When we lower insulin in women, especially after 40 by changing what and when they eat, what happens to their weight?  It goes down!

The quick answer to What To Do About Why Losing Weight Gets Harder As We Get Older is to fix your damage.  It is hard because you are layering on metabolic damage and causing your insulin to stay on too long and too high.  You are losing control over your insulin.  This type of damage happens over time and layers on over the years until one day it feels like you wake up and you’ve gained 10 lbs of belly fat and you can’t get it off at all!

So, if that’s the problem, what is the solution?

Rebalance and learn to control your insulin!

This what we do in the Freese Method, especially Step 3, where we rebalance your metabolic hormones so that you can burn fat.  Now, you need to complete steps 1 & 2 before we get step 3, but it’s a very critical piece of the puzzle to burning body fat and keeping it off as a women over 40.

Metabolic damage cause this insulin problem and you can either make it better or worse by how and when you eat.  The Freese Method helps guide you on smarter ways of what and when to eat so you are not stuck with this fat-accumulation hormone left on for so long.  We go further as well and repair the rest of your metabolism, but this is crucial piece.