Why Diets Don't Work for Women over 40

By the time you hit 40, you’ve got too much free estrogen in your body. Mood swings, bloating and flab are sure signs. If you are over 40, chances are, you’ve now got a trigger-happy pancreas that pumps insulin into your blood at the slightest provocation. Contrary to what the diet industry would like you to believe, diets actually cause people to gain weight!

Diets are predicated on negative feelings about yourself. Women tends to go on diets when they don't feel good about ourselves, hoping that losing weight will make them feel better. This strategy works only as long as they can stay on a diet, which, with its strict rules, no one can do for any length of time, because dieting is based on deprivation.

The thing that causes so much confusion here is that diets do work, actually–in the short term. All diets, from cabbage soup to Weight Watchers, will cause women to lose weight. At first. But after five years, all diets have the same result: the vast majority of women who lost weight at first gained it back. But if you make one simple change to correct it, you'll shed pounds quicker than you ever thought possible.

Weight loss is definitely an obtainable goal, but not without significant effort. It requires a long-term life-style change that can only be established over time, which is built on not only successes, but also on the failures that provide us with the opportunity learn more about ourselves and inform us how we might do things differently the next time.

Fitness Over 40

Even over 40, the benefits normally associated with a regular, moderate exercise program will kick in, but for seniors, some benefits are of special importance.

Fitness over 40 requires regular performance of the proper exercises. Just as in our 30's or 40's, sitting in the easy chair, clicking the remote, doing 16 ounce curls with a Miller Lite just doesn't cut it. However, it is not necessary to pack up and head for the gym and try to keep up with the hardbody instructor, either. It is necessary to pick an exercise program or physical activity, combine that with some healthy eating habits.