Regardless of your natural body type, you can lose weight and inches at age 40 and older, if you commit to common-sense, sustainable changes to your diet and make exercise a daily habit. This does not mean you must eat a vegan, raw food diet and run five miles a day. Surprisingly, eating a well-rounded diet, doing cardiovascular exercise three times a week and adding two sessions of resistance training can get you results.
Start with Short, Brisk Walks
Figure out your Body Mass Index so that you have a realistic sense of where you fall in the range of healthy weight. To calculate your BMI, divide your height in inches by your weight in pounds. Generally, a BMI of 25 or higher is a red flag that you need to lose weight to reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes.
The American College of Sports Medicine advises healthy adults should get 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. Or, if you add two workouts of resistance training, you can reduce the cardio to three, 20-minute sessions of vigorous cardio. Start with a brisk 10-minute walk, twice a day and gradually add five minutes every other day to work up to 30 minutes, if that is your goal. Record your exercise in a notebook to track your progress.
Make Exercise a Daily Habit
Sweat every day. Walk the stairs for 10 minutes and bike for another 10 minutes at the gym or take your cell phone and walk through your neighborhood for 30 minutes daily. Consider this time for exercise as non-negotiable.
If you are squeezed for time, divide the cardio into three, 10-minute walks throughout the day. Stretch for another five minutes.
Many parks have a PAR exercise course where at each exercise station you do a different exercise. For example, at one station, you do push-ups or sit ups or climb a rope. If you are not near a PAR exercise course, recruit a friend to be your exercise buddy and do five different exercises every five minutes as you both slowly jog around the park.
Eat Sensible Low-Fat Meals
Clear out all the junk food from your home, office and car. Adapt a life-long plan of eating as detailed in a nutrition matrix called, “My Food Pyramid” designed by the US Dept. of Agriculture. They recommend eating whole vegetables, fruits, whole grains such as millet, quinoa, oats, brown rice, lean proteins, legumes, nuts, low-fat dairy foods and non-saturated fats.
Saturated fats are solid at room temperature: butter, beef, pork, chicken fat. Trim saturated fats from food before baking, grilling, steaming or stir-frying. Instead, eat non-saturated fats like olive, canola, safflower, flax or hemp seed oils as well as fish fat.
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