A Letter to the Discouraged Overweight Women Over 40

Dear Discouraged Overweight Women Over 40, I have been struggling a bit with what to write to help you with recently until I read a post on Facebook.

First, I am truly sorry you are feeling discouraged in your weight loss goals. It certainly isn’t easy for us to lose weight like it used to be, but it isn’t impossible unless you give up.

I’m not going to sugar coat this…losing weight as women over 40 takes a lot of effort, motivation, and work. Quite possibly, it will take you changing your lifestyle. Speaking from experience, it will change from eating and sitting to eating healthy and moving. It will be worth it though!! Active, healthy lifestyles are truly the fountain of youth.

Now, how do you get there?

Steps For Discouraged Overweight Women Over 40 to Lose Weight

1 – Find your motivation, your WHY. It must be more important than your favorite food and sitting around. Your WHY will be what pushes you through the hardest workouts and gives you the willpower to resist buying your favorite comfort junk foods.

2- Eating is not an activity. Eating is nourishment. Not a reward, not for comfort. Start to look at eating differently and slowly cut out the worst foods for you. Don’t try to change it overnight. Your body is addicting so it’s important to wean yourself off. Read this post on Sugar Addiction if that’s something you struggle with.

3- Replace at least 2 meals with meal supplements as soon as you can. Again, you may have to ease into this. It took a little while for me to feel satisfied with drinking my meals, so sometimes, in the beginning, I would have both a shake and a small meal.

The meal replacement shakes have a much better balance of vitamins, carbs, and proteins than what you will be able to choose for yourself right now. Also, if you are addicted to sugar like I was, even though there isn’t any refined sugar, it will help curb cravings.

This protein shake is perfect for weight loss and overall good health is both economical and tastes great.

4- Exercise harder than you think to burn over 500 calories 4-6 days a week. While walking is good for you, if your doctor approves it, you have to do more to lose weight. You have to work so hard you can barely catch your breath and you think your muscles can move another inch.

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) and strength training will be the best workouts for you to burn the most calories. And bonus…the HIIT workouts have been proven to burn calories by increasing your metabolism for up to 48 hours after the workout!

This workout program has helped many get in shape and lose weight in only about 30 min a day! We’ve been doing it for years.

The exact amount of calories burned will vary (dependent on your weight, how hard you push yourself and your fitness level), but to give you an idea of the different exercises take a look below.

Calories burned for the average 200 lb woman.

Exercise	Amount of Time	Calories Burned
Aerobic, intense	1 hour	665
Running, 5 mph	1 hour	755
HIIT	22 min	400 – 900 (over 24-48 hours)
Walking, 3.5 mph	1 hour	390

As you can see, the HIIT workout takes less than half the time of the other workouts and burns more calories. Aside from the wonderful benefit of HIIT workouts burning calories long after your workout is over, the Fit Found Me HIIT workout calendar (free to print) will help you build muscle, which also helps increase your metabolism to burn more calories.

I recently heard it said that our metabolism doesn’t slow down due to age and hormones as much as it slows down due to our lack of muscle.

So, build muscle, increase metabolism and you’ve got yourself a snowball picking up speed going down a mountain burning calories.

Women over 40 must have muscle toning to stabilize our weight once we reach our goal.

If you aren’t sure if you are working hard enough to burn the calories, consider getting some type of fitness tracker. They have them in all price ranges now. I would recommend one with a heart rate monitor for the most accuracy.

I started with the Polar Fitness Loop (now the Polar Loop 2 is available for $80 at Amazon) and really liked that however, I converted to the FitBit Blaze a couple of years later. I really like the additional features provided.

2021 Update: I have had this Garmin for a couple of years now and so far it is definitely my favorite. The fitness and health stats is the most extensive I’ve had, plus the display is colorful and easy to read.

Lastly, print this 10 Reasons to Workout Today and hang as many around the house as you need. You won’t always need to be pushed so much though.

Within a few weeks, you will start seeing results and feeling so great you will look forward to the feeling you have after your workouts!

You can do this! Don’t listen to the negative thoughts or to those cravings!

You deserve to be fit and healthy!

Okay, my discouraged overweight women over 40 friends, I hope this helps you get on the path to feeling better than you have in many years!

Do not get discouraged, don’t give up. Take it one day at a time.

Remember, you can do this!!  Now, get moving!

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Additional helpful posts for motivation & starting your weight loss journey:

Weight Loss Guide for Women Over 40: 7 Habits that Helped Me Lose Weight and Keep it Off

Lose Weight by Walking 30 Day Fat Burning Plan

Common Diet Mistakes That Slow Weight Loss for Women Over 40