EP 66: Belly Fat Over 40: Hormones, Muscle Loss, and Fat Loss Strategy

0:00Shauna Theresa:Hello and welcome back to Becoming Her, Fitter, Better, and Stronger Over 40. I'm your host and coach Shauna. I'm 46, a wife, a boy mom, and a fitness and nutrition coach helping women over 40 become their best. And today we're talking about something that has been highly requested and that is belly fat over 40. Why does it happen and how do we get rid of it? And before we talk about the how and the why and all of those things, I want to set the stage a little bit here because what I'm going to share today are no nonsense tips. They're going to sound really basic and you might not even believe that they're going to be helpful.

0:30Shauna Theresa:So before we get into those tips, I want to show you real life transformations of women who just completed one of my challenges and who saw incredible changes with their body compositions. If you're watching on YouTube, you're going to be able to see the dramatic transformations these women have made with their body compositions, with their energy, with their confidence, but also with their bellies. They have lost inches. And the reason I wanted to start this episode with these transformations is because I was able to watch these women over 40 make incredible shifts in their body composition. Many of them lost inches around their waist, and it was all done without restriction or extreme workouts, but by applying some of the core principles that we are gonna talk about today.

1:08Shauna Theresa:Again, what I'm gonna share with you isn't flashy, fancy, or trendy, but it's the foundational pieces that work. And when you put these basics into action, you will see results. In this episode, we're gonna cover why belly fat seems to be more prevalent over 40, what changes in the body after 40, how fat loss actually works, how to know if you're actually ready for fat loss, and how to improve your metabolism and your body composition that supports losing belly fat for long term. So grab your favorite drink and let's dive right in. Let's first start by talking about why belly fat seems more prevalent after age 40.

1:42Shauna Theresa:What feels sudden is usually several gradual changes that are happening over time. Around this stage of life, our activity starts to decrease, stress tends to increase, sleep quality will decline, recovery from our workouts takes longer, and then our hormones start to change. And top that all off with changes with muscle, and that can be a sure recipe for gaining body fat, especially around our midsection. All of these things combined are going to influence how your body stores or uses energy. One of the biggest things that influences where our body stores fat after age 40 is estrogen. As estrogen declines and fluctuates through midlife, insulin sensitivity shifts fat storage to our midsection.

2:21Shauna Theresa:This means that when our body is now storing new fat, it's more likely to be located centrally on our body. And along with hormonal changes, changes with our body composition, specifically muscle, plays a huge role with how much fat we're storing. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. It plays a key role with how many calories you can burn at rest and how efficiently your body uses those calories, especially carbohydrates. And after age 30, our muscle mass will start to decline unless we are intentionally trying to build or preserve it. Over time, this leads to lower resting metabolic rate and reduced insulin sensitivity.

2:56Shauna Theresa:When this happens, excess energy, also known as extra calories, will then be stored as body fat. And because of our shifts with hormones, now it's going to be stored as body fat around our bellies. Understanding these changes sets the foundation for understanding how fat loss actually works. Now that we've talked a little bit about why belly fat can happen, especially after 40, let's talk about how we can lose that belly fat. Now, in general, the best way for us to lose body fat is through a calorie deficit. That just means that you're eating less calories than your body burns so that it has to tap into your fat stores for that needed energy.

3:33Shauna Theresa:Now, fat loss is something that's gradual and it's not something that can be targeted. So there is no way that you can target belly fat. But if you're in a calorie deficit losing belly fat, slowly but surely you're going to see your belly fat go away. That said, some areas of the body lose fat easier and faster than others, and the belly tends to be one of those places that loses the last. So we just have to stay patient and consistent with the methods that we're going to talk about today. Now, while a calorie deficit is the best way for you to lose body fat, one of the things that a lot of my clients struggle with is that they're not in an ideal place to be in a calorie deficit.

4:09Shauna Theresa:They have been chronically dieting. They lowered their metabolic rate. They have lost lean muscle tissue. Oftentimes, instead of going into a calorie deficit and trying to push for fat loss, they need a phase where they are working on improving metabolism, working on adding more lean muscle tissue to their bodies, working on improving their insulin sensitivity so that their body is primed and ready for fat loss. Determining whether you are ready for a fat loss phase is really important. I think so many women want to jump right into fat loss without ever asking themselves, am I ready for fat loss?

4:41If you've been chronically dieting and your calorie intake is already low, creating a deficit from that point will often lead to more muscle loss, a slower metabolic rate, and poor adherence. This is where it might be better to spend some time priming your body for fat loss. Work your way up to a healthier range of maintenance calories. Improve your basal metabolic rate. Add more lean muscle tissue. Improve your insulin sensitivity. Making your body primed and ready for fat loss. This may take a process of a few months, but it's well worth it because you create a body that's responsive to fat loss instead of one that resists it.

5:18And then you actually have some muscle underneath to reveal when you lose that fat. Looking toned really just means you have lean muscle and low body fat. So if you don't have any lean muscle, when you lose body fat, you're not going to have anything to reveal to look toned. So spending some time actually nourishing yourself, lifting strong, and building that foundation of muscle is what's going to help you not only lose body fat easier, but then actually look toned and sculpted. Plus, having that muscle helps to improve your basal metabolic rate so that when you're done with your fat loss phase, you can maintain it at a higher calorie intake.

5:53If the idea of reverse dieting into a healthier level of maintenance calories is new to you, I did a whole podcast episode on that. I'm going to leave it in the show notes. Take a listen to it. Then I'll also leave a link to my calorie calculator that gives you some estimated ideas of what healthy maintenance calories should look like for you. If you're already at that level, then it might mean that you are in a good place to then go into a deficit, which the calculator will also tell you what that should look like. But if you are well below that maintenance level, then you know it's time for you to spend time rebuilding your metabolism.

6:25Spend time getting some lean muscle tissue on your body and that's going to prime you and set you up for easier fat loss. Speaking of putting more muscle on your body, there is an optimal way for us to do that and that is the key for being able to lose body fat and keep it off over 40 is having more muscle.

6:42Shauna Theresa:And that comes from something specific, which is strength training. Strength training needs to be the foundation for everything, especially for losing fat optimally over 40. It helps to build and preserve lean muscle. It improves your insulin sensitivity. It optimizes your hormones, which is especially important in perimenopause and menopause. And then it increases your basal metabolic rate, which is how many calories you burn at rest. More muscle means a higher BMR, meaning you can maintain or get fat loss without having to eat extremely low calories. But lifting weights alone isn't enough. We need to have structure and strategy.

7:17Just holding dumbbells is not going to cut it. If you're brand new to the gym, I said this before, you will see some change with your muscle growth, but it's going to plateau unless you continue to challenge your muscles. This is where progression comes in, and this is where a structured program comes in. And this is the difference between exercising and training.

7:38Shauna Theresa:Exercising just means you're moving your body, you're getting your heart rate up, you're getting a sweat on, you're

7:48strategic. Exercising is great for overall activity, but we need structured training if we want to build and preserve lean muscle, which as we know now is only going to help us with our metabolisms

7:58Shauna Theresa:and with being able to lose body fat, especially around our bellies. So when I say a program that has structure and progression, what I mean is that you're following one program for a set amount of time and then striving to get better with those exercises week after week, adding reps, adding weight or improving your form. The other key thing that we want to make sure that we're doing is applying intensity. And intensity means you're choosing weights that bring you close to failure within the sets and rep ranges that you are given. Let's say you have an exercise that says three sets of eight to 10 reps.

8:27If you can get eight to 10 reps easily for all three sets, that's not intense enough. Your muscle's not going to change unless it's challenged. You want to choose a weight

8:37Shauna Theresa:that's going to bring you close to failure with that rep range. And you will know you're close to failure because your tempo is naturally going to slow down. The weight's going to feel harder and it's going to feel a lot harder to pump out those last couple of reps. And that's when you know you have hit the sweet spot. And speaking of tempo, that's another thing that you want to make sure that you are taking advantage of. You don't want to just let gravity take over when you are performing your reps. You want to control the weight through each portion of the movement. For example, if you're doing a shoulder press and you press the weight up, you don't want to let the weight just fall back down and let gravity do the work.

9:10Resist that weight. That creates more time under tension, which creates more stimulus for muscle growth. If you follow those tips, your body will change in the best of ways. Like we said, muscle is the fountain of youth. It is the organ of longevity. You are going to look and feel your best with the more muscle that you have on your frame. And don't get afraid of being bulky. Women do not have the hormones to support growing copious amounts of muscle. But the more muscle that you have on your frame, the better you're going to look, the better you're going to feel, and the better your health will be for the years to come.

9:42So get in the gym and don't be afraid to lift heavy. And that's relative to all of us, but lift like you mean it. And I promise it's going to create amazing changes. Now training will provide the stimulus, but recovery also is going to determine what we're seeing in terms of progress. In the gym, we are sending the signal to our bodies that we want to grow muscle, but muscle growth happens during recovery. Without enough recovery, cortisol stays elevated, muscle growth will slow, and fat loss becomes harder. If you're a woman over 40, you probably grew up in the 90s where more meant more, but less is more as we are in this stage of life.

10:18We don't need more, we need better. So we want three to four intentional days where we are lifting with intensity, and then we want to pair that with rest days and with enough sleep. On your rest days, you can do active recovery. So things like walking, hiking, some light cardio, but really allow your body time to recover. So your muscles actually have a chance to build and repair and grow. And then allowing enough sleep seven to eight hours a night is where your muscles again are going to repair and build. Your body's going to be able to metabolize fat and it's where your hormones regulate. So especially things like cortisol and hunger hormones, that's when they regulate.

10:54So you want to make sure that you are getting enough sleep, prioritizing it. That's going to make a big difference in the progress that you see. Another thing that's going to help support our recovery is our nutrition. One of the key components to supportive nutrition for building muscle and for losing body fat is protein. It's the building block for muscle, so without enough of it, your body just doesn't have the resources to build muscle. It also burns the most calories just to digest it, and it helps with satiety, keeping you fuller for longer, and regulates your blood sugar, which reduces cravings and energy crashes that lead to unwanted snacking.

11:26When protein intake is too low, you're going to have a lot more cravings, muscle growth is going to feel harder, and fat loss is going to feel a lot harder. Make sure you are prioritizing protein at every single meal. Aim to have 30 to 50 grams each meal, especially for breakfast. That's only going to help set the tone for the day, regulate your blood sugar, and avoid those energy crashes later in the afternoon. So I hope you understand now the changes that are happening with your body that tend to lead to more belly fat, which are changes with your hormones, making it more likely you're going to store body fat to that area, changing with body composition, specifically loss of muscle, meaning it's easy for us to gain fat even when we haven't changed anything.

12:07And that loss of muscle tissue also leads to less insulin sensitivity, meaning we are more likely to store body fat. And now it's going all to our midsection. The best way for us to combat all of that is to build lean muscle tissue. When we add more muscle, it helps our insulin sensitivity. So we are more efficient with calories and we're not storing them as fat. It increases our basal metabolic rate. So we burn more calories at rest, making it easier for us to lose fat and then keep it off. The optimal way for us to build lean muscle is to have enough protein, follow a structured training program, and align our calories with our goals.

12:45And like I said before, a calorie deficit is something that's required if we want to lose body fat. But that should be a phase with one goal of losing body fat. And then we go back to maintenance where we can support our hormones, support our metabolism, and maintain that fat loss at a healthy calorie intake. That's how you will avoid crashing your metabolism, losing lean muscle tissue, and only ending up getting soft and stuck again. Now, one thing you didn't hear me mention when we were talking about these tips about improving your body composition, specifically with belly fat, is ab exercises.

13:17And that's because you cannot target fat loss. Like I said before, a calorie deficit is the only way that you can lose body fat, and you will lose that gradually. Just doing ab exercises is not going to target fat loss there. What I will say, though, a caveat to that, is that if you build the muscle in that area, you'll be able to see abs with a higher body fat percentage. If you want to include exercises that build up the muscles in your abdomen area, then that's fine. Just understand that those exercises alone are not going to create belly fat loss. Belly fat loss comes from overall body fat loss, which comes from a calorie deficit.

13:55So I really hope this episode was helpful. I hope it gave you some understanding as to why your body might feel like it's changing at this stage of life, but also gave you hope to know that you can make body composition changes. You can lose belly fat. You can become your strongest and best self after 40. I am proof and I'm seeing hundreds of women inside my coaching and inside my programs do the same. Even if you never join a challenge or you never are a client of mine, my goal with this content is to teach you how to apply these things on your own so you can make changes no matter what. But please hold on to the idea that it's possible because it is.

14:32I'm here to remind you anytime you need it. That said, if you do want support, if you do want a structured program, if you do want resources that help walk you through all of the things that we talked about today. My next challenge starts March 2nd. It's called Build to Burn Over 40. I would love to see you inside. I will leave all the information down in the show notes. It's a one-time purchase with lifetime access. While it's a six-week challenge, you are building habits and those foundational pieces that we talked about so that you can continue making progress well after those six weeks are done.

15:02Most of the women inside my challenges are continuing to see progress because they continue to practice the things we talked about today. And not all of them are chasing fat loss. And in fact, a lot of them have seen incredible progress just by eating at maintenance and focusing on building muscle. And they know the difference and when to adjust their calories to support each goal. They are building metabolisms and bodies that work with them and not against them. And that's the difference over 40. You know, just dramatically cutting calories and just trying to burn a bunch of calories inside of a hard workout class is not going to cut it anymore.

15:35We need strategy. We need structure. We need a program that supports our recovery in our hormones. And that's what's happening inside these challenges. If you're interested and you want to join us, you can find all the information below. I would love to see you there. And as always, if you found the show helpful, I would be so thankful if you left a comment, a rating, or a review. It really just does help the show grow. If you're on YouTube, you can comment with any episode ideas, or you can always DM me on Instagram because I would love to hear from you. And before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you.

16:04Thank you to you who are listening today or watching on YouTube or for the women inside my challenges, inside my one-on-one coaching. I appreciate all of you. I'm so thankful to be able to serve women, to help women, to connect with women. It is an amazing job and I'm so honored to do it. So thank you so much. Until next week, keep getting stronger and I'll see you in the next episode.