Losing Weight After 40
Many men begin to pick up weight in their 30s and 40s. In fact, by the age of 50 most people tend to weigh an average of 30 pounds more than what they weighed in their 20s. This statistic is true even for men who follow a healthy diet and exercise plan.
Research into the causes of middle age weight gain are ongoing, but early findings suggest that increases in an enzyme called DNA-dependent protein kinase or DNA-PK may be at least partially to blame. Levels of this enzyme increase in your 30s and 40s and are believed to slow down your metabolism, making it more difficult for your body to burn stored fat.
In addition, levels of a chemical called leptin decrease as you get older. This chemical is responsible for signaling to your brain that youre full so that you can stop eating. Natural decreases in this chemical may leave you feeling hungry even after youve eaten.
In your 40s, these metabolic and neurological changes are underway, so you may need to reduce your calorie intake and increase your physical activity just to maintain your weight. As a result, losing weight after 40 means making even more dramatic changes to your eating habits and lifestyle.
Best Weight Loss Meal Plans For Men
Men and women arent all built the same. They have different fitness goals in mind and varying nutritional requirements. For instance, an average man requires 2,500 calories a day, and a woman needs 2,000 calories. What works for a woman might not work for a man. Most women, generally, wish to look thinner, less muscular, and more feminine. At the same time, men aim for a bulkier and muscular appearance. Consequently, there arises a need for a meal plan tailored to the needs of men and women separately. Still, one fact is inescapable calories play a crucial role in meal plans, irrespective of gender
Weight Loss For Men: How Does A Man Lose Belly Fat
You go to the gym at least twice a week. You only have a few beers and eat fast food here and there. You think youre eating reasonable portion sizes, but you just cant lose the beer belly. At Medical Transformation Center in Louisville, KY, we are passionate about helping our clients lead happier, healthier lives. Today, we explain weight loss for men to help you lose belly fat.
Weight loss for men is the same as weight loss for women. You must consume fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight. At the end of the day, there are only two things you have to consider. First, you must consider how many calories you consume in a given period. Second, you must consider how many calories you burn in a given period.
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Make Sure You Eat Enough Healthy Fats
Although in general fat is considered a bad dietary component since among macronutrients it is the richest in calories ), there is good fat that is vital for your body. Healthy fats are unsaturated fats. There are also mono- and polyunsaturated fats. These can be found in fish andseafood,avocadoes, nuts, and nut oils. Healthy fats promote optimal wellness by reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, and others.
The other group unhealthy fats should be avoided. They include saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats become solid at room temperature. They can be found in meats anddairy. This type of fats can raise the levels of bad cholesterol in your blood, thus increasing the chance of heart disease . It is recommended that you substitute saturated and trans fats with healthy ones.
Losing Weight After 60

Often, men begin to naturally lose weight around the age of 60, partially due to reductions of the sex hormone testosterone. Unfortunately, loss of muscle tone and bone density also account for some of these changes in weight. Reductions in height play a role as well with the average man losing around 1 inch of height by the time they reach 60.
If you find yourself losing weight after 60, you will likely still have excess belly fat to contend with. Thats because any pounds you naturally shed are likely due more to changes in your body composition than fat burning. As you lose muscle mass due to age, body fat replaces it, and fat weighs less than muscle tissue.
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What Are Some Disadvantages Of A Fast Weight Loss Diet Plan For Men
For healthy weight loss, it is recommended that you pick a plan that enables you to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. This is done via exercise and through a calorie deficit of 500 to 1000 calories a day ).
Fast weight loss plans are those that:
- Promise fast and easy weight loss
- Eliminate certain food groups
While these diets could lead to weight loss, they may increase the risk of developing certain diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes . Fad diets lead to rapid weight loss, which leads to gallstones, headaches, malnutrition, dehydration, constipation, and dizziness . People following fad diets are most likely to regain the lost weight once they go back to their regular eating habits.
Start Doing Daily Activities Not Formal Exercise
Whats the difference between daily activities and formal exercise?
Formal exercise is a workout. Its training with weights. Its performing fat loss interval training. Its doing cardio.
Working out is useful and quite effective for weight loss, and we have a ton of great workouts on the Fit Father Project YouTube channel.
But remember, exercise is just one TOOL for weight loss. Its not the foundation of your weight loss efforts.
In fact, to lose weight, formal exercise is the LEAST important part!
Please know that Im NOT saying you can sit on your ass all day and lose weight. We both know that wont work!
What WILL WORK is understanding that it’s 1,000 times easier to NOT EAT 500 calories than it is to spend one hour exercising.
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. It’s so much more efficient to make some smart changes to your eating than to throw more exercise at a bad eating is keeping me fat problem.
That’s why formal exercise is not as important as healthy eating for the initial stages of weight loss.
Daily movement is VERY IMPORTANT though.
In fact, research has shown that our BRAINS require a minimum amount of daily movement each day to properly regulate our feelings of hunger and weight loss.
The MINIMUM amount of activity your body needs to lose weight is called your Daily Required Movement Threshold.
If you fail to get this minimum amount of activity, your brain’s appetite control centers malfunction, and your hunger runs wild.
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Easy Diet Sample Menu
In the meal plan are recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 150g / ¾ cup tomatoes, roughly chopped
- handful pitted black kalamata olives
- ½ red onion, finely sliced
- 50g / ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- small bunch mint leaves, chopped
- juice and zest ½ lemon
Instructions
- 300ml / 1 ¼ cups hot vegetable stock
- 200g can / 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 200g can / 1 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 50g / ¼ cup frozen broad beans
- zest and juice ½ lemon
- coriander & bread to serve
Instructions
Dinner: Spicy Mediterranean Beet Salad
Nutrition
Best For Men Over : Mind Diet
The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet combines key aspects of the Mediterranean and DASH diet plans.
Its intended to help preserve brain function and slow mental decline as you age, making it an excellent option for older adults.
The MIND diet is easy to follow and doesnt have any complicated rules or regulations.
Instead, it simply encourages the consumption of 10 brain health-promoting foods, including leafy greens, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, berries, and fish.
It also encourages dieters to limit foods high in saturated and trans fats, such as cheese, red meat, butter, fried foods, and sweets .
Studies show that following the MIND diet may be associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimers disease and a reduced risk of mental decline (
35 ).
For recipe ideas and guidelines to help you get started, check out The MIND Diet Plan and Cookbook.
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General Overview Of Plan
This plan is based on the Mediterranean diet, which is predominantly plant-based with some meat throughout the week. It is full of nutritious food and contains good amounts of protein and fibre.
These types of foods will help you stay full for longer without needing excessive calories, making them ideal to lose weight without having to calorie count everything.
The diet plan contains 3 meals in a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast meals are all no-cook and take less than 10-minutes ideal for people needing to get to work quickly.
The lunches throughout the weekdays are also quick to prepare and easy to pack in case you want to take something to work. The meals on Saturday do need cooking, but are still relatively quick to do.
All the dinner recipes take 60 minutes or less. There are a couple of filling, nutritious vegetarian dishes as well as the occasional meat dish throughout the week, so youll have plenty of different flavours.
Theres also a fish dish to get your important omega-3 fatty acids in your diet a staple of the Mediterranean diet.
There are a few snack recipes to try too. These arent included within the shopping list, but if you want to try something new, there are both savoury and sweet options.
Which Foods Do I Have To Cut Out For The Keto Diet
You dont have to eliminate whole food groups for the keto diet, but you do need to significantly reduce your intake of carbohydrates.
Diabetes.co.uk recommends eating no more than 50g of carbohydrates a day some versions of the keto diet recommend an upper limit of 30g. To give you an idea of how much that is, one slice of brown bread contains about 20g of carbohydrates.
Youll need to be very careful about your consumption of bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, and cereals, as well as fruit, fruit juices, and sugary treats. Additionally, youll need to watch what kinds of vegetables youre eating, especially if theyre starchy and high in carbs e.g. sweetcorn, sweet potatoes, and parsnips.
By contrast, youll want to up your intake of fat. On the keto diet, its fine to eat fatty cuts of meat, poultry with the skin on, and butter and cream.
For more information on the keto diet, read our beginner’s guide.
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Facts That Affect Calorie Distribution In Male Weight Lossdiet
While scheduling or preparing a diet chart for weight loss for males, always keep these factors that influence calorie distribution in mind:
- Energy: Men who work out regularly can follow a diet plan that provides approximately 1,300 to 1,600 calories per day to maintain their energy levels.
- Protein: The perfect diet plan for men should be protein-rich, as it helps to stay full for a long time without adding extra calories.
- Carbohydrates: Consuming a diet containing complex carbohydrates, soluble fiber, and whole grains to aid weight loss is an effective strategy.
- Fats: Having high-quality unsaturated fats is essential to staying healthy. Always limit your intake of trans and saturated fats.
Best For Men Over : Plant

Plant-based diets are centered on nutritious, plant-based ingredients, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes.
Although theyre often confused with vegan or vegetarian diets, many plant-based diets also include foods from animal sources, such as meat, eggs, and dairy.
Plant-based diets have been linked to several health benefits, making them a great option for men over 50.
In particular, studies show that plant-based diets may be beneficial for weight control, gut health, brain function, and more .
Some research also suggests that plant-based diets can slow signs of aging and increase your intake of essential nutrients and antioxidants, which are compounds that protect against cell damage and chronic disease .
If youre interested in learning more about plant-based diets, consider checking out The Plant-Based Diet for Beginners, which provides recipes and additional information about the diet.
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Plants Are Your Best Friends
By the time you hit 40, you should have realized how important your food choice is and that it is one of the major factors effecting your wellness. Of course, you can slim down by reducing your calorie intake, but which foods you get those calories from is also extremely important. Even a small kid knows that you should eat yourveggies if you want to stay healthy and that anapple a day keeps a doctor away. Unfortunately, many people tend to forget that and drift away from a healthy lifestyle by not eating enough plant-based foods. But if you want to stay toned or burn a couple of inches of excess fat, you need to make sure that you stick to a plant-rich diet, packed withfruits and veggies, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, and whole grains.
Why plants? you may ask. There are a couple of reasons why plant-based foods are such a good choice for any healthy weight loss diet plan for men and women, including:
Fiber
Plant-based foods are packed with fiber. This dietary component doesnt only promote healthy digestion, helps control blood sugar levels, and lowers blood cholesterol, but also adds to your feeling of fullness . This factor is especially beneficial if you want to slim down. You see, vegetables and fruits are filled to the skin with fiber while being in general low in calories. With their help, you can stay full while cutting your caloric intake.
Vitamins And Minerals
Water
Avoid Zero Carbs/restricted Diet Plans
Dont fall into the traps of restricted diet plans such as a zero-carb diet. Our body needs nutrients from every food group. So cutting any of them out will only stop us from enjoying their benefits.
Most of the weight loss diet plans provided online or by certain nutritionists look at curing the symptoms and not treating the root cause of weight issues.
Hence it is highly advised that you consult a trained professional on how to lose weight. To start with, you can consult one of Possibles nutritionists, absolutely FREE! Ask your doubts and get solutions.
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Breakfast: Vegan Overnight Oats
- 150ml plant-based drink
- 1tbsp chia seeds
- Chilli and chives to taste
This dinner supplies half your daily fibre target, about 40% of your recommended selenium and zinc needs, and over 70% of your recommended vitamin D intake. Oily fish like salmon contain omega-3 fatty acids we should all be eating a portion a week.
Snacks: 1 digestive biscuit. Small bowl of melon, pineapple and mango pieces. 100 calories
Additional Weight Loss Tips
Weight loss is about more than following a meal plan or a specific calorie count. Exercise is advisable for the best results, to help create a calorie deficit that does not come only from limiting food intake as well as , all of the other benefits that come from being active such as reduced risks of disease, healthy metabolism, stronger muscles and bones, longer life span, and healthier heart and lungs.
It is vital to consume enough calories with a focus on nutrient-dense foods so that you can fuel your daily activities and perform at your best mentally and physically. A slow and steady rate of weight loss is easier psychologically as well as physically and is easier to maintain.
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Heres Why This Diet Is Perfect For You If You Work
You can grab breakfast or lunch on the run if you dont have time to prepare something at home.
You wont need to spend hours preparing healthy meals when you get home from work all our dinners are ready in less than 15 minutes.
You can still enjoy the occasional office treat whether its biscuits, chocolate or a piece of birthday cake.
How Should Men Think About Dieting As It Applies To Living A Healthy Life
“Anytime I begin working with someone, especially a guy, I will often try to weed out some of the things that he needs to learn, as well as things that he needs to ‘unlearn,'” Abeyta says.
Abeyta focuses on “big needs” as they relate to maintaining a healthy diet over the long-term.
- A health-centered program based on your bodily needs
- A consistency-focused, long-term mindset that allows for imperfection
- An understanding of basic nutrition as it relates to the balance of macro and micronutrients
- A wider view of how diet is part of a larger health picture, which includes sleep hygiene, self-care, emotional agility, and the physical activity needed for a specific goal
If these requirements sound too simple, remember: Crash diets want you to believe that healthful eating is difficultand only they have the plan. That’s simply not true.
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