Losing weight in late 30s is hard

[Pandora]

Getting lean in your late 30s is so much harder than when I was even in my early 30s. I work out alot. Do martial arts at least 2 times a week and regular gym atleast 2 times a week.

It seems that I have to not eat ANYTHING at night time in order to get lean. You have to starve yourself.

The issue is that I work the night shift on the weekend. I am also very hungry after training so it is very difficult not to eat at night.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Diet, diet, diet. Cut out all added sugars and refined carbs, cut out butter and oil, eat more fruit and vegetables, and drink only water, tea, and black coffee. The pounds will fly off.

 

[SargeMaximus]

Try gaining weight when you have the metabolism of a teenager still X(

 

[Gamisch]

Diet, diet, diet. Cut out all added sugars and refined carbs, cut out butter and oil, eat more fruit and vegetables, and drink only water, tea, and black coffee. The pounds will fly off.

I will probably brag about this again and again , but late 30 and lost 10 kg in 3 months. Last year i was ripped AF, got depressed and gained weight like crazy, in combination with the wrong arrogance thinking the body ive worked so hard for is a God gift .Its not..lose 5 % of strength a week, meaning approx 20 weeks of doing nothing and you are back to square one. I have to say, I do notice my metabolism is slowing down but tbh i was just living extremely unhealthy.

You gotta find a routine you can do at home. Try some tabata . A plain exercise like like jumping jacks for 4 minutee straight is harder than you might think ..or simple push ups.

Diet wise you have to literary change your taste. The stuff you eat and like might not be the best food to obtain your goals .

I agree with @EyeBRollin that all those small details will long way. Cutting butter and fat, sugar alcohol and most snacks and sweets is essential. Become aware what it is that your eating. There are so many foods nowedays that seem innocent, and will add up pretty damn fast to a calories surplus.

One tip about eating and working out. What helps for me is cutting the normal portion of food on my plate in half. I eat one half before ,and the other half after working out. I've noticed my stomach got way smaller because of this .

Normally i would eat a bigmac menu with extra burgers , now i am full after just the fries. Recently i ate just a few sandwiches and went to sleep, woke up not being extremely hungry. If i was a muslim i would go through doing Ramadan with ease.

Remember, our brain is hardwired to store as many food as possible. We are still animals at the end of the day. Another trick that worked for me is waiting 20 minutes after dinner, to see how i feel then. Turns out that after 20 minutes your body is cool with the amount of food it got. But during eating your brain and body love the sensation and telling you to keep stuffing your self unnecessary.

You could try to switch up the routine. Meal prep , eat diner in the afternoon amd someting light at work during night shift. Make yourself a great sandwich or two and some small snacks

 

[Hamurabimbi]

cut out booze completely.

 

[Pandora]

cut out booze completely.

Thing is that I do not drink. I do love sugar though.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Depending on what you are doing, I have found that often times I need to eat MORE to lose weight.

Almost like my body has to know it has enough calories coming in to feel comfortable dropping weight. It's happened a few times over the years.

Typically if I am not able to lose weight, I have to start eating more. Especially true if I am lifting and doing cardio regularly.

 

[Murk]

Went keto for this exact reason. Only carbs I consume are from veg and wine. Actually got complimented on my pecs Sunday night, first time ever.

Reverse grip bench press activates 30% more top pec (crucial for aesthetics or you'll have boob pecs like Andrew Tate) compared to 10% on incline.

All about the reverse grip lads. It's OVERforregulargripbenchcels. Never again.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Thing is that I do not drink. I do love sugar though.

Phase out sugar. Trust it helps a lot. Substitute sugar with raw fruit. Taste is mostly acquired so it takes baby steps.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Went keto for this exact reason. Only carbs I consume are from veg and wine. Actually got complimented on my pecs Sunday night, first time ever.

Reverse grip bench press activates 30% more top pec (crucial for aesthetics or you'll have boob pecs like Andrew Tate) compared to 10% on incline.

All about the reverse grip lads. It's OVERforregulargripbenchcels. Never again.

Keto is both unnecessary and bad for you long term.

Carb cycling gives you all the benefits of keto(and usually more) without any of the drawbacks.

 

[Murk]

Keto is both unnecessary and bad for you long term.

Carb cycling gives you all the benefits of keto(and usually more) without any of the drawbacks.

Lol.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Lol.

Always funny when people who just start something think they know more than people that have been doing it 20+ years and that have literally experimented on themselves with every type of diet restriction known to man.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Keto is a gimmick. Not recommended, not necessary. Granted, it’s better than standard American diet but that’s not saying much. Keto “works” because it gets people to dump sugar and refined carbohydrates. Big plus.

Unfortunately, the big pioneers of the Keto / Atkins / Carnivore diets usually drop dead of extensive coronary artery disease.

 

[Ricky]

Thing is that I do not drink. I do love sugar though.

I cut out all the aggregious sources of sugar last week starting for Lent. I am a bad Catholic but at least i give up some things. I have lost 3 lbs already. Work in a hospital and they bring in literally tons of sugary stuff.

No soda, no candy and no desserts is working out pretty good for me so far.

 

[Ricky]

running into this myself. You basically need to cut out alcohol almost entirely, go keto, and do 2 clean meals a day max. Still, it takes forever.


interesting. I tend to get injured when I do reverse grip so I stopped doing it early on. Incline has been enough for me to develop good uppers, but I might integrate those back in.

Weird I just heard about reverse grip bench press last week. Never knew it was a thing.

 

[Hamurabimbi]

I did IF. that worked.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Keto is a gimmick. Not recommended, not necessary. Granted, it’s better than standard American diet but that’s not saying much. Keto “works” because it gets people to dump sugar and refined carbohydrates. Big plus.

Unfortunately, the big pioneers of the Keto / Atkins / Carnivore diets usually drop dead of extensive coronary artery disease.

Or until you end up stopping...which you WILL at some point because it is not long term sustainable, and then you start packing on pounds like the Michelin Man because your body no longer can use carbs efficiently and stores them as fat much easier.

Seen it happen many times. Lose a bunch of weight while on keto, gain it all back plus another 15-20 lbs once carbs get reintroduced.

 

[Murk]

Always funny when people who just start something think they know more than people that have been doing it 20+ years and that have literally experimented on themselves with every type of diet restriction known to man.

I just think it's funny you have something to say EVERY SINGLE TIME it's mentioned. I already said in a previous thread when I used scientific evidence and studies, that I wouldn't be engaging you on this topic as you've already exposed yourself for having limited knowledge.

You think Keto is a gimmick, we get it, you also have limited knowledge on fasting, insulin resistance etc, the effect ketones have on ADHD (which I am diagnosed with) and mental clarity, the ability to focus long hours, reduction in my alcohol consumption etc etc. I posted MY experience, my experience eating 0 carbs and running on ketones seems to offend you, bizarre.

 

[manfrombelow]

I will probably brag about this again and again , but late 30 and lost 10 kg in 3 months. Last year i was ripped AF, got depressed and gained weight like crazy,

I totally relate to this. Somehow there's a connection between depression (especially mid 30's depression) and gaining weight. I lost the most weight when I was the most happy.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I think the only reason people claim it gets harder to lose weight as they age is they haven't yet identified the problem foods they're eating and their habits are finally catching up to them.

I lost about 10-15 lbs during Covid lockdowns despite only doing very basic exercise. Last year I was the most ripped I've ever been.. I'm finding it much easier to stay fit than I did in my 20s .

Three things are key: limit your daily eating window to <12 hours (ideally fast about about 18+ hrs per day), avoid sugars/excess carbs, and avoid vegetable oils. The latter one is something most of society is completely in the dark about and will take decades before it gets mainstream attention. Good luck finding food that doesn't have soybean/canola oil, it's almost impossible. Grocery shopping is so easy for me now, I walk past 99% of the stuff I see since I've read about every food label in the store. Everything is hyper palatable processed junk.

Another thing, I don't count calories, don't even macro track, and still have plenty of cheat days, if that helps convince you.