Fat Loss Solutions for Women Over 50: 6 Simple Lifestyle Changes That Deliver Big Results—No Cardio Required [Ep 45]

In this episode, Lisa dives into the science of fat loss for women over 50, debunking myths about cardio and highlighting six lifestyle changes that can help you achieve sustainable results. From prioritizing protein to improving sleep quality, Lisa shares actionable steps that are easy to incorporate into your daily life.

If you’re tired of trendy diets and hours of cardio, this episode is your roadmap to getting leaner, stronger, and more energized—without sacrificing the foods you love or spending endless hours on the treadmill.

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

[01:35] Cardio Myths & Realities - Why excessive cardio can hinder fat loss

[05:09] Lifestyle Change #1: Prioritize Protein - How eating protein supports fat loss

[06:26] Lifestyle Change #2: Embrace High-Volume Eating - Why high volume, low calorie foods are key to fat loss success 

[08:07] Lifestyle Change #3: Practice Mindful Eating - How the practice of mindful eating helps with fat loss

[09:45] Lifestyle Change #4: Strength Train - How often to train to start seeing fat loss

[11:00] Lifestyle Change #5: Boost Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) - Tips for increasing daily movement

[12:54] Lifestyle Change #6: Focus on Quality Sleep - How poor sleep impacts hunger hormones and fat storage

Thanks for listening!

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Lisa DuPree: Have you ever wondered why fat loss feels so much harder after 50? Or thought, do I really have to do hours and hours of cardio to lose fat? Maybe you've tried cutting calories or eliminating certain foods like bread and desserts, or you've just tried increasing the time and amount of cardio that you're doing, but the results just aren't showing up and it feels like your metabolism is working against you.

[00:00:22] Maybe you're tired of trendy programs that promise quick fixes, but leave you more frustrated than ever. Well in today's episode of Midlife Mojo, I'm sharing six simple lifestyle changes that deliver big results. And here is the kicker. None of them involve long, boring sessions of cardio.

[00:00:39] By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly where to focus your energy to lose fat so that you're leaner, stronger, and more energized.

[00:00:49] You're listening to Midlife Mojo, the podcast that helps women over 50 get fit and flourish in menopause. I'm Lisa Dupree, a certified exercise physiologist and health coach, and I've been helping people transform their health and fitness for over 20 years.

[00:01:02] My mission is to make fitness and fat loss simple, sustainable, and achievable for women just like you. If you've ever felt like your metabolism is stalled or somehow it's gotten stuck in reverse, this episode is for you. We are going to be covering six science backed solutions that will help you get lean and energized.

[00:01:21] So you feel like yourself again, all without spending hours on the treadmill or cutting out everything that you love to eat. So if you're ready to ditch the frustration and learn what really works for fat loss after 50, let's dive in.

[00:01:35] First, let's talk about why cardio isn't the end all be all for fat loss for women over 50. 

[00:01:41] The common misconception is that cardio is what's needed for fat loss. And so the thought is more cardio, meaning more cardio sessions, longer cardio sessions, more intense sessions is going to equal more fat loss. 

[00:01:57] And so there's a good bit of evidence that shows that excessive cardio exercise can actually increase hunger. And. lead to muscle loss if it's not balanced with strength training. Especially if you've tried to lose weight multiple times and you've cut your calories way back and then rebounded from that. And you've done that several times, cycle through that several times in your life.

[00:02:20] It leads to something that we call skinny fat. And that is where that continued muscle loss from your metabolism continually dropping, it helps preserve fat. So, I'm not against cardio. It has its benefits for sure. It improves heart health.

[00:02:38] It improves your stamina endurance. It improves cardiovascular fitness. It. Also is a mood booster and it can help increase your energy levels overall and it can boost overall calorie burn if Incorporated thoughtfully, but it isn't the most efficient for long term fat loss. So there's a good bit of evidence that says Regular aerobic exercise and HIIT or high intensity interval training helps improve markers of fitness and reduce risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.

[00:03:13] So it's definitely worth doing, but again, it's not the end all be all for fat loss. And so fat loss happens when you are consistently creating a calorie deficit regardless of how that deficit is achieved. So this is really great news because not everybody enjoys cardio. Also, not everybody's able to do it consistently without pain or discomfort, especially as we are, having that wear and tear accumulated on our joints as we age.

[00:03:43] And so fat loss and health can really be achieved with a combination of strength training, non exercise activity thermogenesis, which we call NEAT, and proper nutrition. Those things are what really drives fat loss. It's that synergy of a manageable calorie deficit through nutrition, preserving, and even building muscle mass to maintain your metabolism through strength training.

[00:04:10] Increasing your daily movement and your boosting overall calorie burn with non exercise activity, thermogenesis, boosting activities, and then factoring in sleep because that's where we get our recovery from. And so the science really shows that nutrition accounts for about 70 to 80 percent of fat loss while other activities like strength training and NEAT help preserve muscle mass and boost metabolism.

[00:04:37] Additionally, there's some research that shows that inadequate sleep disrupts hunger regulated hormones and that leads to increased appetite and cravings, which can hinder your fat loss efforts. So having that sleep prioritized can help support you making better food choices and overall support metabolic health.

[00:05:00] All this to say is cardio is a tool, but not the sole driver of fat loss, especially when it comes to women over 50.

[00:05:09] Today I really want to go through six simple lifestyle changes that you can start thinking about how you can incorporate these into your life. If you were a goal. is losing fat. So since nutrition is critical to fat loss, it's that 70 to 80%. Let's go ahead and start there.

[00:05:29] The first lifestyle upgrade that I think is important is to prioritize protein at every meal and this works because it helps give you the building blocks of muscle, which are amino acids. It also, and this is important, increases satiety.

[00:05:49] So it helps you feel fuller quicker and it helps you feel fuller for longer. Okay. So you are satisfied for longer, ideally, you want to aim for about 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal. That comes out to 1. 2 to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight.

[00:06:09] And so good examples of this are eggs, Greek yogurt, lean cuts of meat, plant based options like lentils and tofu. So eating protein at every meal and aiming for a portion that's going to get you about 25 to 30 grams.

[00:06:26] All right, the second nutrition related lifestyle change is to embrace high volume eating. Foods with high volume. and low calorie density. It refers to foods that take up a lot of space in your stomach while containing less calories. They typically are higher in water and fiber. So this includes most vegetables like leafy greens, spinach, kale, that kind of thing, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots, celery, fruits like berries, watermelon, grapefruit, those tend to be what we think of as high volume, low calorie density foods, as well as lean protein sources like chicken breast and like lean fish, white fish, things like that.

[00:07:17] This works because it helps fill you up with fewer calories And that's because you're focusing on nutrients dense foods that it takes a little bit longer to eat Which again helps those signals come from your brain to say, okay I'm getting full it helps signal your stomach that you're you've been eating you are you're gonna be satisfied with less food And then also it's going to be lower calories overall.

[00:07:43] And again, that's what we're trying to do is we're trying to create a small, sustainable calorie deficit. And so to implement this, base your meals around vegetables, fruits, and these water rich foods. For an example, this could be a lean protein with a vegetable packed soup or roasted veggies as sides.

[00:08:07] So there is some evidence that shows that high volume eating is It does aid that weight loss when it enhances the satiety as well. Thanks. So the third strategy, and that's still going to be within the umbrella of nutrition, and that is adopting a mindful eating approach. And this works because it helps reduce overeating and helps also with emotional eating.

[00:08:33] And so thinking about starting with smaller changes in how you eat, where you eat. Eating without distractions. So when you sit down to eat, focus fully on, on eating and instead of, being in the car, getting your lunch in when you're driving sitting down to dinner without your phone or without the TV on.

[00:08:56] So you're able to fully focus on your food. You'll get more enjoyment out of it as well. And then chew slowly. So again, this goes back to, it takes a little bit longer to eat, you're going to be able to really get those signals going from your brain to your stomach that, okay, we're getting full, I'm getting satisfied.

[00:09:17] And that helps you tune into your hunger and fullness cues. So there's some evidence that was put out in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that showed that mindful eating improves long term weight management outcomes. So definitely worth giving a try. The fourth lifestyle solution here is going to be strength training at least twice a week and this works because It builds muscle.

[00:09:45] It increases your metabolic rate, especially your resting metabolic rate. So if you're working out and you're doing a workout and it takes you 30 40 minutes, you're going to be moving. So you're going to be expending some energy and your body's going to be able to recover, build muscle as it recovers, and then that's going to increase your overall resting metabolic rate.

[00:10:07] And that's the amount of calories that you are going to burn the other 23 and a half hours of a day. So that's a win win, right? And it also improves bone health. So it's important to do things that are weight bearing, putting that extra external stress, stress in a good way, on our bones, our tendons, our ligaments. 
All right, number five is increasing daily NEAT. And remember NEAT is non exercise activity thermogenesis. And so NEAT basically is any physical activity, any physical movement that is not structured exercise. So it's non exercise movement that you do that contributes to energy expenditure. So that is walking, that is standing, that is doing, the laundry.

[00:11:00] It is walking, upstairs all these things. And so it's easy to put these into your day without taking up extra time out of your day. So if you are driving somewhere, park further away, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Do zoom meetings or take phone calls standing up,

[00:11:23] I know it makes a huge difference for me doing my calls in my. coaching and my meetings, all that standing up, it, I get a lot more steps in the day when I do that, because I'm just moving back and forth and then you're aiming ideally for about 7, 000 or more steps a day. The evidence really shows that boosting non exercise activity thermogenesis can account for a significant percentage of your overall daily energy expenditure.

[00:11:55] This is like a bonus because if you can incorporate this into things you're doing already and you're not taking extra time out of your day to go and change clothes, get on shoes, go somewhere, get on a cardio machine or go out running or something like that. Okay. So that brings us to the sixth and final, lifestyle strategy for fat loss. And that is going to be focusing on quality sleep. And I know if you are in perimenopause and even in menopause that getting quality sleep can be a challenge. And the reason this is important is because the science has shown that sleep deprivation or just restricted sleep, which means getting six and a half hours a night on a longer term basis is linked to higher body mass index and more fat storage.

[00:12:54] Getting better quality sleep and getting the required hours of sleep or the recommended hours of sleep, it really helps because poor sleep disrupts hunger hormones . So when you have poor quality or restricted sleep, It significantly affects these hormones.

[00:13:12] These hormones are the things that are going to regulate your hunger levels, your appetite, and also energy balance. So you've got leptin, ghrelin, and there's also peptide YY. Leptin is the appetite suppressor. So leptin is a hormone that's produced by fat cells that signal your brain that you're full, but also help regulate your energy balance.

[00:13:34] And so when you don't sleep enough, the leptin levels go down, they decrease. And this mean your, this means your brain receives weaker signals of fullness. The next hormone is ghrelin, and that is the hunger hormone. So ghrelin is produced in your stomach and it stimulates appetite when it makes you feel hungry. So when you have restricted sleep, that causes the ghrelin levels to increase and that, Amplifies or ramps up those hunger signals, so this can lead to overeating, especially cravings for high calorie, sugary or fatty foods, so it doesn't lead us to craving those, high volume calorie dense foods like broccoli and cauliflower and watermelon, we're going to Crave high calorie, sugary and fatty foods.

[00:14:23] And then the last hormone I'm going to touch on is peptide YY. And that's the satiety hormone. So peptide YY is released in the gut after eating and it helps reduce appetite by signaling fullness to your brain and poor sleep. may lower these peptide YY levels and that is going to reduce your ability to feel satisfied after meals, which can contribute to overeating.

[00:14:49] So when you don't sleep well, or you don't sleep enough, your hormonal balance gets disrupted. Leptin drops, ghrelin rises, peptide YY may decrease, and this creates like the perfect storm for increasing hunger, reducing feelings of fullness, even when you've eaten enough, and then greater risk for overeating.

[00:15:12] And so this is one reason why poor sleep is linked to weight gain and difficulty maintaining a healthy diet. So getting good quality sleep is not just about feeling rested it, which is important,

[00:15:26] it plays a critical role in regulating these hunger hormones. So things to think about is sticking to a consistent sleep wake schedule, going to bed at the same time, roughly the same time every night, getting up at roughly the same time every day, limiting screens before bed. That would be.

[00:15:47] iPads, computers, phones, things like that. So that light is not disrupting melatonin production create a calming nighttime routine. I just got some blackout curtains for my room and that seems to help a lot.

[00:16:01] Or you could even use a sleep mask and then sleeping in a cool room has been shown to help. People fall asleep and stay asleep. All right, so let's quickly recap the six fat loss solutions that we've covered today that don't require hours of cardio. Prioritizing protein, embracing high volume eating, Strength training twice a week, keep moving to get your neat up, getting quality sleep and then practicing mindful eating.

[00:16:34] So remember, while cardio isn't necessary for fat loss, it is still an amazing way to improve your overall health, fitness and energy. And if you enjoy it, it's a great tool to include in your routine. But if cardio isn't your thing, that's okay. You can absolutely see results and lose fat by focusing on these simple, sustainable lifestyle change.

[00:16:55] so much. So I encourage you to reflect on these different strategies, see which one maybe resonates with you and then choose one and make it your focus for the next few weeks. And then when that feels comfortable, start adding in the others. And I'd love to hear from you. Do you love cardio? Or do you not like cardio at all? Share your thoughts with me on Instagram at LisaDupreeCoaching or send me a text using the link in the show notes. there's a link in the show notes now.

[00:17:24] I'm so excited. It says send Lisa a text right up there at the top. . I love connecting with you all. Thank you so much for tuning into Midlife Mojo. Don't forget to subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode. And if you found today's information helpful, please share this episode with your friends. So that we can reach more women over 50 who want to be fit and flourish until next time get out there and keep your mojo rising.