How to Lose Weight In Your Forties, Fast

A 3-step plan for how I did it, and you can too

When I was growing up, I always believed that exercise was the best way to lose weight. I was wrong.

While exercise is important to overall health, and while it does help you to lose weight, I have realized that it is far more important to manage your eating if you want to lose weight.

At age 47, I was 190 pounds, and my exercise routine consisted of going to the gym 3 times a week and playing arena hockey once a week. While I was by no means obese, I considered myself to be about 20 pounds heavier than I would like. I ate small meals, throughout the day, and I consumed too much food containing carbohydrates and sugar. Any improvements brought about from exercise were negated by my diet.

I knew I had to make some drastic changes if I wanted to be in better shape before my 50th birthday.

Step 1: Increased Exercise Frequency

After reading a book called “Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds” by former Navy Seal David Goggins, I realized that there was no reason that I couldn’t increase the frequency of my workouts. Goggins says that many people hide behind the idea of ‘rest days’ because they don’t want to push themselves. So I made it a habit to go to the gym every day.

My workout consisted of 25 minutes on the treadmill, doing High-Intensity Interval Training, and then about 35 minutes lifting weights. It actually wasn’t that difficult to do an hour a day. I would work on different body parts each day so that I minimized soreness.

Step 1 Result:

While I felt stronger, and I definitely gained muscle mass, my overall weight didn’t reduce very much in the first few weeks. I was a little leaner, but I still saw a belly. I knew that I had to improve my diet.

Step 2: Fasting

I stumbled upon a few videos about the incredible benefits of fasting, by a man named Dr. Jason Fung. I learned about the cognitive and physical benefits that fasting could bring. This was intriguing to me, and so I read his book “The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss”.

In it, Fung describes how modern society has become used to eating many meals each day, but it’s not necessary. Our ancestors, for example, went days without eating, and they didn’t starve to death. He said, as a result of eating many meals, we are not burning fat. We are burning the energy we get from the food that we just ate. If we want to burn fat, the best way to do that is by not eating for longer periods of time.

He suggested fasting for 16 hours per day and eating within the remaining 8 hours. That’s what I did.

Step 2 Result:

I fasted every day for about a month and saw some real benefits to my waistline. I lost more than 10 pounds. Initially, it was hard to not eat, and when my 16 hours was up, I was ravenous. I would eat anything in sight. After several weeks, fasting for 16 hours became easy, and I was able to extend my fasting window to 23 hours per day during the workweek. I know that, in your 40’s, its harder to lose belly fat due to reduced metabolism. I found this to be true. While I saw a tremendous upside to fasting, I still had a gut.

Step 3: Reduce Insulin Spikes

In his book, Dr. Fung discusses the impact of insulin sensitivity on our body’s ability to burn fat. He says that, when we eat foods that spike our insulin, we are essentially telling our body to stop burning fat. In low insulin states, we are burning fat. In high insulin states, we are storing fat.

So, with that in mind, I attempted to dramatically reduce the things that spiked my insulin, namely carbohydrates and sugar. I stuck to protein, fat, and veggies. For my meals, I would eat a healthy portion of protein (usually salmon, steak, or chicken), and a huge portion of green vegetables (broccoli, spinach, or cucumbers). For dessert, I would enjoy high-fat yogurt or a large portion of unsalted mixed nuts.

Step 3 Result:

I saw a dramatic decrease in weight from the reduction in carbs and sugars. Every second day I would lose about half a pound. On the weekends, I would indulge a little on beer or sweets, and I would gain some weight back by Sunday night, but on weekdays I would be very strict. It was one meal a day from Monday to Friday, with very little carbs or sugar. Over the course of 2 months, I had lost 25 pounds, and I still felt energetic and strong. I was actually able to fit into my high school uniform pants for the first time in 30 years! I was elated by this.

Some takeaways from this 3 step plan.

1. The biggest factor — It was the combination of exercise, fasting, and maintaining low insulin that helped me to be successful. With that said, I feel that the biggest factor was lowered insulin. By staying away from high sugars and carbs, I continued to burn fat at a higher rate than I did when I consumed those things.
2. Cutting Sugar — In the first few days, staying away from carbs and sugars was difficult, but as time went on, it became easier. I found it helpful to stay busy during the week, to keep my mind off food. I knew that I would eventually be able to enjoy ‘cheat days’ on Saturday and Sunday, and that thought was motivating. If I wanted to see even more progress, I would get strict with my meals on those days too.
3. Weight loss results— In the end, I was down to 165 pounds in only 2 months. I’ve maintained that weight, and even gotten down to 159 at one point, still feeling healthy.
4. A Negative Cosmetic effect — I wasn’t crazy about the way my face looked with the dramatic reduction in carbs. My wife followed this plan too, and we both felt our faces looked a bit sunken in, and maybe even a little older. Carbs contain water, and your skin needs that. As a result, we reintroduced complex carbohydrates into our meal plan. That has given our skin more life and bounce. I really feel that it’s important not to completely eliminate carbs, just to reduce them.

Now 49 years old, I’m still in the best shape of my life. I play hockey with guys 25 years younger than me, and I can easily keep up. I would recommend this 3 step plan to anyone who wants to get healthy and shed a few pounds. It’s taken me a long time to really understand how to lose weight, and so I’m happy to share this information with you!

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