Facing some weight gain in your 40’s. Here are 5 reasons why you may be experiencing this and what to do about it!

5 Reasons for Weight Gain in Your 40’s

1. You’re not getting quality sleep

Quality sleep is critical as your hormones are changing and your body is adapting to the shift. Sleep is not only a time for regeneration and recovery, but supports hormone balance and weight maintenance — just to name a few. If your sleep is off you might be experiencing daytime fatigue, spikes in blood sugar, changes in mood and cravings. This can impact food choices, causing us to make poor decisions, leading to feeling even worse. If you’re struggling to get good sleep, check out this post on our favorite sleep tips.

2. You’re not prioritizing muscle mass

Muscle mass helps ramp up your resting metabolism. Yet muscle is something we lose with age. Because of this, it is important to start to think about ways you can support muscle building and muscle maintenance. This is especially necessary for women entering perimenopause and wanting to best prepare their bodies for the hormonal transition to come. To build and support muscle, focus on getting a palm size serving of protein with every meal (yes, even breakfast) and adding in strength training exercises a couple of times a week!

3. You’re more insulin resistant

As estrogen levels decline, the female body becomes more resistant to insulin. This means the body is not able to tolerate excessive carbohydrate consumption as easily—hello belly fat. First and foremost, we’re here to tell you Keto is not the answer. So what is? Less quantity, more quality. You want to be eating a smaller amount of high-quality carbs. High quality carbs are known as complex carbohydrates. This includes fruits, vegetables, beans/lentils, and whole grains. These foods contain a ton of fiber to help keep your blood sugar balanced.

4. Your cortisol is high due to chronic stress

If you lead a lifestyle with lots of stress, you need to take steps to get your cortisol under control. To reduce cortisol levels, you need to build intentional relaxation into your routine—and no, your Orange Theory classes don’t count. This means baths, yin yoga, time with pets, sex, meditation, reading, painting, music, volunteering etc. You might be thinking that sounds great, but I don’t have time and does it really work? Yes, here is the *actual* science behind it.

5. You’re focusing more on intense exercise than NEAT

What’s NEAT? It stands more non-exercise activity thermogenesis. In simple terms, it’s movement you do that isn’t exercise. Think walking around, cleaning, getting the mail, fidgeting, sex. As estrogen and progesterone decrease, the female body is more sensitive to stress—exercise stress included. Rather than focus on intense exercise (which usually only makes up 4 hours at best of a 168 hour week anyway), consider how you can incorporate more movement into your day-to-day.