The average woman begins peri menopause in her late forties or early fifties. This stage of life brings a host of conditions that may make it more difficult to maintain a healthy weight. However, a woman in her 50’s cannot only maintain a healthy weight, but if needed, lose weight with certain dietary and other lifestyle choices. So, how can a 50-year-old woman lose weight? And what are the best ways to do it?
A 50-year-old woman hoping to lose weight will want to create a 300-500 calorie deficit per day (But not eat less than 1200 calories per day). This calorie reduction should contribute to a weight loss of 1-2 pounds (lbs) per week. Losing more weight than this is often unsustainable and leads to weight regain.
This calorie deficit comes from creating an imbalance between calorie intake and calorie output. A number of factors contribute to the deficit. Dietary choices reduce calorie input while physical activity and increases in metabolism heighten calorie output.
Continue reading to discover what choices can support healthy weight loss in 50-year old women.
How Many Calories Should a 50-Year Old Woman Eat For Weight Loss?
Individuals have unique calorie needs that change day to day. Therefore, no one calorie goal will work for everyone. In fact, the often quoted “1200” calorie goal for women is often too low for effective weight loss. Extreme reductions in calorie intake leads to water and muscle loss, extreme hunger and low energy. These conditions frequently result in weight regain and poor health.
Instead, women hoping to lose weight should only lower their baseline intake by 300-500 calories. The average woman’s calorie needs generally fall in the range of 1600-2400 depend on many factors including height, weight, genetics, body composition, environment and physical activity. Online calorie calculators and a registered dietitian can assist women in finding their unique calorie needs.
Calorie calculator tools:
https://www.myplate.gov/myplate-plan
Will Eating as Few Calories as Possible Lead to Better Weight Loss Attempts?
Eating fewer calories than what the body uses will result in a loss of weight. However, eating diets extremely low in calories or with severe restrictions or rules can undermine successful weight loss outcomes.
An individual who follows a diet with severe restrictions may see rapid weight loss but will often struggle to maintain that way of eating. Consequently, these dieters often experience weight regain in response to their short-term dieting experience. The consequences of yo-yo dieting (the cycle of dieting, weight gain and dieting) decrease health outcomes and make healthy weight maintenance difficult.
Eating too few calories per day can be harmful to longterm health. With not enough calories you could be restricting important energy and nutrients your body needs to function. You don’t always need to eat less to lose weight, you just need to eat smarter! Eating less than 1,200 calories per day is not recommended and may contribute to weight gain.
Will Eating Too Few Calories Cause Weight Gain?
First, rapid weight loss of more than 2 pounds per week usually comes from a loss of water and muscle. A loss of muscle ultimately leaves an individual with a lower resting metabolic rate or “metabolism”. This means a woman will burn fewer calories throughout the day.
Second, very low-calorie intake or intense food restrictions increases hunger and cravings. The body fights to survive in this perceived famine by increasing the desire for high fat and sugar foods. In real life this may look like a period of restriction followed by episodes of uncontrolled eating.
Third, calories provide the body with energy. Without adequate calorie intake, a person will experience sharp decreases in energy. This chronic fatigue results in little to no desire to participate in physical activity. Low physical activity means less calorie burning and lower fat free muscle mass.
Signs that you may need to increase calorie intake or loosen dietary restrictions include:
- Intense feelings of hunger between meals
- Lack of satisfaction after meals
- Increased cravings for high fat and sugar foods
- Irritability
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Brittle hair and nails
- Frequent illness
- Increase in injuries
- Amenorrhea (loss of period)
- Preoccupied with thoughts of food and eating
Another word of caution regarding extreme dieting, this practice increases risk of disordered eating and eating disorders. Seek professional help with concerns about eating behaviors. The National Eating Disorder Association offers resources and information such as a risk screening, information and a hot line.
A Dietitian’s Best Tips for Healthy Weight Loss for 50-year old Women
Weight loss isn’t all about dieting. Many other factors contribute to a sustainable approach to weight loss. A whole body focus with avoidance of extreme dietary or physical activity regimes will best support weight loss and eventual maintenance of a healthy weight for long-term.
1. Eat nutrient dense foods
Foods considered nutrient dense will contain higher amounts of nutrients per calorie content. They usually offer protein, fiber or healthy fats which contribute to feeling full and satisfied between meals.
Nutrient dense foods to eat more of include:
Whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes (beans, soy, lentils), nuts, seeds, seafood, lean meat/poultry, eggs and unsweetened dairy products.
Foods low in nutrients are often highly processed with increased quantities of sugar, saturated fat and sodium. These types of foods can increase risk of overeating as they lack factors that contribute to fullness and satisfaction. These types of foods include refined grains, desserts, candy, sugar sweetened beverages, chips, processed and high fat meat, fried foods and many packaged snacks.
2. Choose water and other unsweetened beverages
Sugar-sweetened beverages including soda, energy drinks, flavored milks, sweetened tea and alcoholic drinks contain little nutrition with high amounts of sugar and calories. Furthermore, liquids are easily over consumed due to a lack of satiety factors.
An occasional sweetened drink will not wreck a healthy eating pattern, but women should choose water and other unsweetened beverages more often to quench thirst.
3. Mindful eating
Mindful eating involves slowing down to enjoy the experience and to improve the ability to listen and respond appropriately to hunger and fullness cues.
Eating too quickly or with distractions can cause individuals to overeat and find less satisfaction with an eating occasion. Studies show it can take up to twenty minutes for the brain to send out signals that indicate fullness. Setting aside time to eat can promote weight loss by helping prevent overeating and increasing satisfaction with meals and snacks.
4. Eat balanced meal and snacks
Ensuring balanced meals and snacks prevents hunger between eating occasions and decreases risk of over eating. A good balance involves carbohydrates, protein, fiber and/or healthy fats.
For example, a snack of crackers might initially satisfy hunger, but the lack of other nutrients will result in an earlier and quicker drop in blood sugar. This drop causes fatigue and hunger. A better snack for longer lasting satiety might be whole grain crackers with hummus. The whole grain cracker provides carbohydrates and fiber while the hummus offers more complex carbohydrates along with protein and healthy fats.
5. Incorporate movement
More movement throughout the day increases the number of calories a person will burn. This increase in calorie output works with a decrease in calorie input from dietary choices to create the deficit needed for weight loss. On top of the calories lost through a workout, physical activity increases metabolism in subsequent hours.
However, just focusing on physical activity for weight loss is not the most effective strategy. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise, like walking, translates to about 200 calories burned. Many individuals then overcompensate and treat themselves to a heavy meal or snack that replaces or exceeds the calories lost.
Physical activity supports weight loss, but for desired results, should be combined with a healthy eating pattern. Daily physical activity also provides many benefits outside of weight loss. Movement improves many physical, emotional and mental health outcomes. The CDC recommends 150 minutes moderate or 75 minutes vigorous activity for all individuals to experience their highest level of health.
6. Strive for adequate and quality sleep
Studies show that inadequate sleep may lead to chronic health conditions such as obesity. Poor sleep increase likelihood of weight gain for a variety of reasons. Researchers offer some reasons for how sleep might correlate with increases in weight.
First, poor sleep can disrupt hormones that help regulate appetite. This dysregulation increases hunger hormones. Those with decreased sleep may also experience increased cravings for foods high in calories and sugar. Second, inadequate sleep is associated with insulin resistance. Finally, less sleep means less energy for physical activity. People who don’t sleep well may spend also more time sedentary or eating.
Women should strive for 7-9 hours of consistent and quality sleep.
7. Manage stress
No one can escape all situations in life that bring about stress. Stress can even be a good thing in certain situations as it heightens abilities. However, chronic stress will negatively impact health, including appetite regulation, metabolic processes, sleep and desire for physical activity.
A variety of techniques can help manage stress. Effective stress-busting tools include:
- Adequate sleep (or taking a quick nap!)
- Meditation
- Prayer
- Breathing routines
- Exercise
- Talking to someone
- Going on a walk
- Stretching
- Writing in a journal
- Listening to music or practicing an instrument
- Healthy eating
- Service
- Time management
Overall, a woman who wants to see lasting results and who desires to maintain a healthy weight should focus on making sustainable lifestyle choices. Fast results often don’t correlate with lasting results. Slow and steady wins the race, the sustainable and manageable changes are the best changes to make. If a diet or exercise regime feels extreme and impossible to maintain, it is probably not the best choice.
What is the Best Exercise for Weight Loss in your 50’s?
Any form of movement provides countless health benefits to the body. However, incorporating a mixture of both cardio and strength work outs will best support weight loss. Generally, experts also recommend performing at least 300 minutes of moderate physical activity weekly, which is double the standard recommendation for the average person, for more effective weight loss attempts.
While nutrition plays a major role in weight loss, exercise not only helps women reach a target weight, but studies show the importance of regular physical activity for maintaining a healthy weight. Therefore, the best exercises are the ones that an individual feels comfortable doing for longer than a few weeks. Switching up the type of exercise may keep women interested in their workouts and prevent injury.
Walking, a moderate intensity cardio workout, is often a good way to begin incorporating more physical activity into the day. This form of exercise puts little stress on joints and requires no expertise or equipment. Increasing intensity of cardio exercise by jogging, cycling, swimming, jumping rope or participating in HITT exercises will burn more calories in less time and improves post exercise calorie burning.
Resistance training may use less calories during the exercise itself, but improves body composition by increasing strength and size of muscle fibers. This type of exercise also reduces risk of injury from overtraining in other areas. Additionally, muscle mass increases resting metabolic rate or the number of calories a body uses at rest. Women should look to include 2-3 days of resistance training during the week.
Overall the best type of exercise for weight loss in your 50’s is the type of exercise that you enjoy and can commit to doing regularly! Any type of movement is beneficial, do your best and add it into your day in small and manageable increments until it becomes a habit.
Summary
Weight loss doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the small and manageable habits that build up over time for long-lasting results and weight loss that is much easier to maintain. Work on goals in small pieces at a time. If you need assistance with your weight loss goals, reach out! A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist can help you with your habits and goals.