If you are struggling to lose weight after 40 – if you feel like what used to work suddenly doesn’t anymore – you are absolutely not alone.
In fact, this is one of the most common things I hear from women:
“I’m eating clean… I’m working out… but the scale hasn’t moved.”
Or:
“I used to drop weight so easily. Now I feel like I’m doing everything right and nothing is happening.”
You’re not imagining it. Weight loss is harder in midlife. Hormones shift. Muscle mass declines. Stress is higher. And our bodies don’t respond the same way they did at 25.
But here’s the part most women never get told: it’s not impossible and it’s not even as hard as you think. You don’t need extreme diets or intimidating workouts. You just need a program that aligns with how your body works now.
Today, I’m cutting through all the noise and giving you the three things that matter most for weight loss in your 40s and beyond. These are the principles I’ve used with thousands of women over the last decade, and they’re supported by research and real-world transformation stories from women just like you.
1. Losing Weight After 40 Requires A Calorie Deficit – But You Don’t Need To Suffer
To lose weight at any age, your body has to be in a calorie deficit – you need to burn slightly more than you take in. There’s no getting around it. It’s simply how human physiology works.
But that doesn’t mean extreme restriction or starvation. The calorie deficit should be gentle and fit your lifestyle. It can be done in a balanced, empowering way without cutting out food groups or feeling deprived.
There’s a sweet spot for weight loss:
- too aggressive → you lose muscle, plateau faster, feel exhausted, rebound harder
- too gentle → you won’t see progress and will get discouraged
Calorie counting helps you find that sweet spot so you can lose weight without sacrificing too much muscle – the key to looking toned and staying healthy as you age. You don’t have to track forever and you don’t even have to track perfectly. But it is a powerful tool to help you learn what your body needs.
A great starting point: aim for a 200–300 calorie deficit below your maintenance calories (the amount you’d eat to maintain your current weight). This small but consistent reduction helps you lose fat while preserving as much muscle as possible.
Why I Prefer Calorie Counting For Losing Weight
Calorie counting is just a tool – not a punishment, not a rigid diet, and not something you need to obsess over. When used correctly, it’s actually less restrictive than meal plans or rules-based approaches like low carb or “no sugar,” because it allows room for the foods you genuinely enjoy.
Tracking gives you clarity. Most women discover they were unknowingly overeating on some days and undereating on others – a huge reason they feel stuck. Once you see patterns clearly, fixing them becomes easy.
Many women are surprised by how freeing calorie counting feels because:
- It removes guesswork and gets results, often quickly.
- It gives you objective information about your body and learn what actually works for you and your lifestyle.
- It helps you build a way of eating that you can maintain long term.
And, importantly, it avoids the extremes women often get trapped in:
- thinking calorie counting = suffering
- bouncing between “all in” dieting or “forget it” overeating
- or avoiding any structure or monitoring calories entirely leading to frustration.
If you don’t know how many calories you maintain on, you can’t know how big a deficit you need – or whether you’re eating too little, too much, or simply inconsistently. Without that clarity, you’re just guessing… and guessing rarely leads to results after 40.
2. Weight Loss After 40 Requires Consistency & Patience
Weight loss after 40 is possible if you choose a program you can follow long term – and then trust the process and actually follow it! One of the biggest reasons women in their 40s struggle with weight loss is not that they’re doing things wrong – it’s that they give up too soon.
Most women expect weight loss to look like this:
Week by week, the number goes down in a straight, satisfying line.
But in reality, weight loss looks more like this – with peaks and valleys but an overall downward trend. I’ve generated so many of these graphs for my clients and they all look like this – everyone is going to have the peaks and valleys along the way.
Water retention, stress, sleep, your menstrual cycle (even in perimenopause), sodium, hydration, strength training – they all affect the scale. So you’ll see:
- ups
- downs
- plateaus.
That’s why I recommend weighing yourself daily and looking at the trend, not the day-to-day number. Most women need to change their mindset about the scale – just like calorie counting. It’s another tool to help you monitor your body. It’s not something to get stressed about – and it’s certainly not punishment. If you don’t weigh yourself daily it’s hard to see this trend and you may way on a random high day, decide it’s not working and quit. When in reality, you should expect high days – but if you are consistent and following a good plan, you should expect low days and a downward trend as well.
Why ‘Slow’ Is The Best Way To Lose Weight
Quick weight loss feels motivating in the moment, and it’s hard to resist when you hear from a friend that she’s lost 10lbs in just a few weeks from the latest trendy diet. But it comes with downsides that matter even more in midlife:
- you lose more muscle
- your metabolism slows
- you regain the weight more easily
- you burn out faster and can’t stick with it.
If you want to look and feel good – and stay strong and healthy into your 50s, 60s, and beyond – your goal isn’t just to lose weight. Your goal is to lose fat while keeping your muscle. Inevitably, when you lose weight, you lose muscle (except for some newbies in the first months of a program). So you need to think about weight loss really carefully because at this age, we want to do everything we can to preserve muscle mass and strength – as well as avoid negative metabolic adaptions after 40 from being too extreme.
And that requires:
- a small calorie deficit (ie. 200 calories below maintenance)
- high protein (around 1g per pound of ideal body weight)
- strength training.
If you focus on these things, you’ll much better results. Remember, it’s not just about weight loss. It’s about losing it the right way that creates a nicer shape, builds strength and promotes longevity.
Learn more about the science behind why weight loss gets harder after 40, why most diets fail, and the smarter, slower strategy that actually works long-term for weight loss over 40 in this video:
3. You Need Support And Accountability For Weight Loss After 40
This is the part women underestimate the most.
Weight loss isn’t just about food and exercise.
It’s about mindset.
It’s about consistency.
It’s about getting through those weeks where you’re doing everything right and the scale still isn’t moving.
And that’s where support changes everything.
Research shows that people who check in with someone – a coach, a support group, or accountability partner – are more successful with weight loss and more likely to keep it off. When you have support, you have someone who can:
- spot patterns you can’t see
- keep you grounded when emotions take over
- remind you that fluctuations are normal
- help you troubleshoot
- reduce the urge to give up
- keep things simple when you feel overwhelmed
- help you stay consistent even when life gets busy.
But I don’t need research to know that. I’ve seen it with thousands of women over the last decade.
Magen’s Weight Loss Story
Magen is one of my most successful clients – you can read her full transformation story here. She lost a large amount of weight and kept it off long-term but midway through her journey, she almost quit.
She had stopped seeing progress despite thinking she was doing everything right. And she was frustrated and ready to quit, even though she had already lost a significant amount of weight.
During her check-in, I could see what she couldn’t: she had simply stopped being consistent without realising it. At first, she was offended because she thought she was being consistent. The beauty of my app and process is that we track calories and weight so I could easily point out the gaps in her data and get her back on track.
Once we made small adjustments, the weight started coming off again. Without support, she would’ve quit, which would have been a real shame because she ended up losing over 50lbs. She also has kept that weight off, and has trained with me for 5+ years inspiring and acting as a mentor for other ladies.
Sarah’s Weight Loss Story
Sarah is another example of a successful weight loss story after 40. She lost over 35 pounds – and kept it off – because she didn’t just focus on diet and exercise. Sarah knew she would only be successful with weight loss if she also worked on herself. Sarah has been successful because she:
- checked in weekly for almost a year
- completed my mindset programs – the Pivot Challenge and Mind & Muscle
- journaled every day
- focused on rebuilding her habits when times became challenging
- reminded herself regularly of her powerful “why.”
And because of that, she didn’t just lose weight (over 25lbs) – she became a much stronger, confident version of herself.
These 3 Things Work For Successful Weight Loss Over 40
When you combine a gentle calorie deficit, consistency, and support, your body responds – even if nothing has worked in years.
Women in midlife are often told that weight gain is inevitable. That their metabolism is slow. That hormones make it hopeless.
None of that is true.
What is true is that you need a different strategy than you used in your 20s. It can be harder but it’s definitely not impossible. Women over 40 can have incredible transformations. You just need the right approach for the stage of life you’re in and the confidence to trust the process even when it feels slow.
If you’re feeling stuck or frustrated right now, I hope this gives you clarity and hope. Because you can absolutely do this, and it’s not too late. In fact, with the right approach, this can be the strongest, healthiest, and most empowered chapter of your life
