How To Avoid Weight Gain In Your 40's and Beyond

Get Better As You Age

Written by: Jonathan Fletcher

It’s all downhill after 40! Your metabolism tanks, your joints stop working, everything hurts, and buckle up for unpreventable weight gain!

Don’t even think about getting in shape, let alone thriving past 40!

That’s what you’d think based on all of the moaning and groaning you hear from average people who’ve passed the four-decade milestone. 

In their defense, the stats don’t look good. According to the CDC, 44% of Americans between 40 and 60 are overweight.

If you pay attention as you look around at the store, the office, or anywhere else, you might think the numbers are even worse than that.

The average person over 40 is out of shape, overweight, and weak.

But you’re not average.

You realize that your health is largely in your control at 30, 40, 50, and well beyond.

We have a long list of clients in their 40’s through 70’s who are CRUSHING IT. Check out THIS podcast.

In this article, we’re going to tackle the main things that you should be focusing on to avoid gaining weight once you’re over 40.

If this is your first time on our website, let me introduce ourselves. I’m Jonathan, and I’m married to my best friend, business partner, and all-around bad-ass Blakley.

Together, we own and run Digital Barbell.

We’re full-time online coaches helping regular people just like you get in the best shape of their lives without fad diets, hard-core workouts, or any of the unnecessary nonsense that’s so common on the interwebs.

We’ve racked up thousands of coaching hours online and in person, and we’re honored to be a part of our client’s health and fitness journeys.

We’ve got a Podcast, a YouTube channel, and are active every day on Instagram.

It’s nice to meet you!

Back to the topic at hand!

How to stay healthy and avoid weight gain after 40

Gaining weight as you get older is totally normal, but it’s not mandatory. When you understand what causes weight gain, the picture of what’s happening as you age goes from fuzzy to clear.

Weight gain (body fat) is your body’s way of storing extra energy (calories from food) for a rainy day.

In the interest of keeping this post rolling, I want you to bookmark and read the following article which completely explains energy balance and metabolism. It’s right down there. ⤵️

How to preserve your metabolism after age 40

The first thing we need to talk about is your metabolism. The food you eat is what fuels the demands of your everyday life, activity, and workouts.

Think about your metabolism as the process of your body turning that food into energy that you can use. Your body uses energy for a bunch of different things throughout each day.

All of the energy you use adds up to what we call your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or your TDEE.

Your TDEE breaks down into 5 main categories. Check out the graphic below:

Where you use all of your daily energy

See that big ol’ category at the bottom called “BMR”? Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories you burn every day at rest. Even if you were to just lay in bed watching Netflix.

Your BMR is the most important part of your TDEE to focus on if you’re interested in “preserving” your metabolism.

Why so? Because it’s the biggest chunk of your metabolism, and you have quite a bit of control over it.

If you don’t take control of your BMR as you age, you can expect a natural decline of about 2-4% or more per decade.

For example… If you maintain your current weight by eating about 2,500 calories per day, about 1,500 of those calories are burned by your BMR (just being alive).

After 10 years, that number goes down to 1,440, and then 1,382 after another decade, then 1,327… On and on…

So if you keep eating that same 2500 calories while your BMR declines…Guess what happens?

You gain weight, even though you aren’t eating more.

This accounts for a big part of why you might gain weight as you get older. The other part has to do with the other 3 parts of your TDEE, but we’ll get to that soon enough.

If we want to prevent the slowdown of your BMR, or even increase it, how are we going to do that?

Metabolism-boosting supplements? Magic? Whatever Oprah is selling these days?

Nope. We’re going to focus on something that has been called your “longevity organ.”

MUSCLE!

People with more muscle burn more energy, plain and simple. And I’m not talking about turning into the Hulk or looking like a professional bodybuilder.

I’m talking about having more muscle than the average Jane or Joe that you see walking around WalMart.

On the flip side, if you want to ensure that your metabolism slows down as much as possible as you age, don’t take any of the advice in this article, and accumulate as much body fat as possible, instead of building muscle.

Maybe you thought that doing more cardio as you age was the key to preserving your metabolism. Nope. Cardio is imperative for heart health, but not for boosting your metabolism long-term like muscle can.

How to build muscle over 40

Blakley and I are both over 40, and we didn’t start focusing on building muscle until we were in our 30’s

25 vs. 45

If someone told that you can’t build muscle because you’re over 40, unfriend or unfollow that person, because they’re wrong.

Sure, working out and getting stronger as you get older can be more challenging than it was in your 20’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s hard, let alone impossible.

There’s only one way to build muscle, and it’s by doing resistance training. That’s just a fancy way of saying that you need to challenge your muscles with weights, bands, machines, or something else that makes them work hard.

Running doesn’t build muscle. Peloton bikes don’t build muscle. Yoga doesn’t build muscle. Pilates doesn’t build muscle. Bodyweight and HIIT classes don’t build muscle.

Resistance training with weights builds muscle.

If I could point to one single thing that helps our clients of all ages get better results than they have ever gotten before, it’s that the training and coaching we give them helps them build muscle.

Don’t take our word for it though. Check out the episodes of “5 Minutes With” on our YouTube channel, and hear it straight from them.

If you want to understand more about the nuts and bolts of building muscle, check out our Muscle Growth 101 article HERE.

How Nutrition Affects Your Metabolism Over 40

Fighting a slowing metabolism isn’t just about building muscle in the gym. It’s also about what you put in your mouth.

The food you eat has incredible power when it comes to your body weight, your body fat percentage, your overall health, your energy levels, and your metabolism.

Have you ever had a giant stack of syrup-drenched pancakes for breakfast? How did you feel an hour or two later? Like a grizzly that needs to go into hibernation?

How about how you feel after having a colorful meal with lean protein, a sweet potato and roasted zucchini? Probably satisfied and ready to tackle the day, right?

A balanced daily diet that consists of 3-4 meals with protein, minimally processed carbs (yes, you can eat carbs), fruit (no, the sugar in fruit is not bad), veggies, and healthy fats low in saturated fat is the magic combination for maintaining healthy body fat levels, rockin’ health markers, and sustained energy.

How much protein, carbs, and fat should you eat?

A great place to start learning portion control is the “hand rule”. Check out the graphics from Precision Nutrition below.

The reason we emphasize portions with our 1:1 Nutrition Clients is because it directly impacts energy balance, which determines if you’re gaining or losing weight.

The other powerful part of the hand rule and portion control is that it helps you eat enough protein.

How Protein Helps You Avoid Weight Gain Over 40

We get a lot of questions like: “Is so and so food good?” “Should I be eating more (fill in the blank fad food)?”

The truth is that no food has magical powers that help you lose weight or avoid gaining it, but protein is the closest thing there is to said “magic food”.

The protein in the food you eat has the building blocks (called amino acids) that it takes to build muscle.

You could be doing everything right with your workouts, but if you’re not eating enough protein, you won’t build any noticeable muscle.

Why does that matter for avoiding weight gain after 40? Remember the conversation earlier about the biggest part of your daily calorie burn (your BMR)?

Having an above-average amount of muscle is your best bet to keeping your metabolism stoked, burning calories, and therefore preventing you from gaining weight.

Another powerful benefit of protein is that it’s really filling. I mean, have you ever accidentally eaten four chicken breasts in a sitting?

If you fill up on metabolism-boosting protein, you’ll be less likely to overeat less nutritious stuff like Pirate’s Booty, Triscuits, and Crumbl Cookies, which can easily make you gain weight.

How much protein should you be eating?

Men, aim for about 150-200 grams per day. Ladies, go for 100-150 grams per day.

If you’re someone who loves tracking their food and wants a more exact target, we have you covered. Download our FREE calorie and macronutrient guide HERE.

What Exercises Should You Do To Avoid Gaining Weight Over 40?

When you think about losing weight, I know your brain automatically starts to think: “I need to burn more calories!”

And since we’ve all be inundated with workout equipment like treadmills, rowers, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes with blaring digital diplays of our alleged calorie burn, we assume that using those machines is the way we’re going to burn off those calories and lose weight.

Well, in the words of the timeless philosopher Dr. Phil… Can I ask: “How’s that working out for you so far?”

Right now you’re faced with a choice.

Option A: Keep trying to lose weight or avoid gaining weight by burning calories

Option B: Focus on building strength, muscle, and controlling your nutrition so you never have to worry about dieting again

People who eat well and do the right kind of workouts consistently don’t have to worry about weight gain as they get older.

They aren’t chasing new routines and fads.

They train to get stronger. They do short, intense conditioning. They do long, easy cardio for the health.

That’s the secret.

What does that look like in real life?

It looks like 3-5 structured workouts per week where you lift weights with the goal to get stronger. If you aren’t sure how to get stronger, check out our article on Progressive Overload.

To avoid gaining weight over 40 your training needs to focus on exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Presses, and Rows. You also need to challenge your capacity with conditioning.

Doing random workouts off YouTube, or “taking it easy” with bodyweight workouts and long walks is simply not going to work.

We wrote a free 5-Week Program that we’d love for you to try. It’ll give you a taste of how we’ve been able to be the fittest version of ourselves in our mid-40’s. You can download it for free below.

If the thought of lifting weights terrifies you, it’s ok. Everyone has to start somewhere. The point is that you just need to be willing to start. Having a plan to follow is key, and it’s one one the reason our Training Clients love working with us.

“The most valuable part of working with Digital Barbell is that the system is planned and lets me just show up to the gym. It takes the stress out of training. I think this planning piece is why most people don’t get results and quit. DB has helped me become the leanest I’ve ever been in my 40’s.” - Matthew C.

“Before Digital Barbell my workouts were stale and lacked energy. I did the work and went through the motions but I lacked a plan. Now my training is fresh and productive. I walk in with a set plan and get after it.” - Justin G.

Maybe you’re a woman and you’ve heard that lifting weights is great for men, but you should stick with workouts with light weights, do yoga, pilates, or just stick with cardio. WRONG!

The same principles apply to both men and women that want to stay strong, healthy, and avoid weight gain in their 40’s and beyond. Worried about getting bulky or want to know more about why weight lifting is for women? Check out THIS article.

How Many Steps Should You Get Per Day To Avoid Gaining Weight?

The popularity of fitness trackers like the FitBit, Whoop, iWatch, and Garmin have brought your daily step count to the forefront.

We’re not mad about it. We track our steps every day, and we use step goals with many of our clients who are trying to lose weight.

Steps fall into two main categories:

1: The ones you get just doing life. Stuff like walking to the bathroom, vacuuming the house, and buying groceries.

2: The ones you get on purpose. Stuff like popping in your headphones, firing up the Digital Barbell Podcast, and hitting the neighborhood streets for a walk.

Both kinds of steps “count”, and have an impact on your health and body weight.

Going for a walk on purpose has benefits that subconscious stepping doesn’t. Research shows that even a short 10 minute walk after a meal improves digestion and insulin sensitivity.

A deliberate walk can help you clear your head, reduce stress, and make healthy choices less of a struggle.

So how many steps should you get per day? Instead of us just firing off a generic goal like the common 10,000 steps per day that you commonly see, here’s what to do.

Measure how many steps you get every day for a week straight and divide that number by 7. That’s your average steps per day.

Start by trying to increase your daily average by 1,000 steps per day. You should be able to knock out 1,000 steps in about 10 minutes at brisk pace unless you have really short legs. 😁

Once you have the habit built of getting those extra 1,000, let’s add another 1,000 and repeat.

Once you’re up over 7,000 steps per day you’re really reaping the health benefits of being active. If you can work your goal up to the 8,000 - 10,000 steps per day range you’re pouring gasoline on the fire of your metabolism, and setting yourself up for long-term success.

The great thing about increasing your steps to stay in shape is that walking doesn’t require much from your body as far as recovery.

Disclaimer - Even though walking is fantastic for your health, it’s not a subsitute for building muscle and strength by lifting weights. You need to do both if you want to avoid gaining weight beyond 40.

Summary Of How To Avoid Gaining Weight Over 40

The most important place to start is the belief that you are in control of the actions that control the majority of your results no matter what your age is. If you see yourself as a victim of your age or as helpless in the fight against gaining weight as you age, you’ll fail every time.

Once you believe, there are only a few things you need to focus on:

1 - Preserve your BMR by building muscle

2 - Eat the right amount of food

3 - Eat the right amount of protein

4 - Train - Both Strength & Conditioning

5 - Stay active by getting your steps in

Bonus Tip - Learn to avoid perfectionism and the all-or-nothing mentality. You know the one… You’re doing great on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday… Things get busy on Thursday and you fall off of your plan. Since you’re already “off-track”, you throw in the towel, make a bunch of decisions that don’t line up with your goals through the weekend, and vow to “get back on track” Monday. Overcoming this mindset is the most powerful thing you can do for your health no matter how old you are. Check out THIS podcast episode where Blakley and I tell you exactly how to do it.

If you’d like a guide to help you put all of this advice into place without turning your life upside down, we can help. Apply for coaching today.

Jonathan