100 Tips to Lose Weight After 50

Here is my giant list of 100 Tips to Lose Weight After 50. These are what I do myself and what I teach my clients every day.

Don’t fall for the lie that it’s impossible to lose weight after 50! It is possible to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight after 50 and beyond.

June 2023 Update: I’m 61 now and still using these tips to look and feel my best. Loving the body you are in is a part of creating a life you love.

I made this list to give you an idea of things that you can implement every day that will help your body heal. You don’t have to do them all–just pick one or two to try at a time.

As a weight loss and life coach for women over 50, I’m at expert at helping you use your MIND to get the results you want in your body and in your life!

Your number one goal is to do things that are good for your body. Once you can do that, then you will be able to find a way to lose extra weight and maintain your healthy habits for good.

What to Eat to Lose Weight After 50

• Eat real food. Let proteins, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats be your main source of nutrition.
• Eat healthy nourishing fats: olive oil, butter or ghee, coconut oil, avocados, nuts, and even fat from pastured or grass-fed animals.
• Many people are sensitive to wheat. If you have tummy gut problems; eliminate wheat for a few days and see how you feel.
• Eliminate as much flour and sugar as you can.
• Carbs are not bad! There are so many wonderful vegetables that are nutritious and will give you energy and that satisfied feeling: potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, carrots, and beets.
• Eat fruit in moderation. It’s delicious and good for you. It’s also super sweet. Eat it with your meal.

How to Eat to Lose Weight After 50

• You probably don’t need as much food and calories as you think you do.
• Eliminate or reduce foods that slow your metabolism: sugar, grains, pasta, and breads.
• Don’t snack!
• Don’t eat after dinner. Let your body have at least 12 hours a day to rest from eating.
• Hunger can be your friend. It’s a signal that your body is going to use its fat stores for nutrition.
• It’s okay to not eat breakfast.
• Most people do not need snacks between meals.
• Don’t eat if you aren’t hungry.
• Quit eating when you are full.
• Fasting for 12-16 hours can improve your metabolism.
• Let your hunger build before you eat.
• Plan your meals around a protein, lots of vegetables, 2 tablespoons of healthy fat, and a small amount of fruit.
• Eat only two to three times a day.
• Eat enough at your meal to hold you until the next one.
• It’s important that most of your food provides nourishment.

What Does Make You Fat

• Too much insulin in your blood, too much of the time, makes you gain weight and store fat.
• Sugar and foods that act like sugar in your body, raise insulin.
• Sugar not only makes you gain weight, it is hard on your skin.
• There are a lot of foods that act like sugar in the body: pasta, bread, crackers, muffins, flavored yogurts, breakfast bars, chips, bagels, biscuits, quick oatmeal, and rice.
• Our brains often want more food than our bodies need.
• Remember, it is not dietary fats that makes you gain fat, it is foods that raise your insulin.
• The only way to lose fat is to lower your levels of insulin in your blood.
• Our natural fat-burning times are in the hours between dinner and the first meal of the next day.
• Eating more healthy fats with your meals will keep you from getting hungry in-between meals.
• The more time that passes after a meal, the more fat you will burn.

The Truth About Dietary Fat

• Fat does not make you fat.
• Sugar and foods that raise your insulin cause your body to store fat.
• Your body fat is a complex system that uses fat and stores fat.
• Having some body fat is protective.
• Dietary fat is an important nutrient that your body needs.
• Low fat diets can be harmful to your health.
• All fats are not created equal.
• Avoid these fats and oils: canola, vegetable, margarine, and soybean.
• Eat more of these fats and oils: olive oil, coconut oil, butter or ghee, avocados, and nuts.
• If you eat enough fat with your meals, your hunger will come on gradually and you can go longer between meals.

Tips for Understanding Your Hormones for Weight Loss After 50

• Insulin is the hormone that regulates fat storage. When it can’t remove all the sugar from your blood, it converts it to fat and puts it into storage in your body.
• You will know you are insulin resistant when you store fat easily, A.K.A. gaining weight.
• Hormones control how your body uses fat, when you feel full, and when you feel hungry.
• The food you eat determines how your hormones function.
• How often you eat affects how your hormones function.
• Eating too often keeps insulin raised.
• A period of fasting helps regulate insulin.
• Too much insulin negatively affects your body’s ability to signal hunger and fullness.
• Your body becomes insulin resistant if you eat too many foods that raise it and don’t allow time for it to go down naturally.
• Cravings and over-hunger are caused by an imbalance of your hormones.
• Eating naturally occurring foods keeps hormones balanced and hunger signals clear.
• When your hormones are working, your hunger comes on gradually. It feels good—not hangry.
• When your hormones are working, you feel full when you have eaten enough.
• To keep hormones functioning properly: eat real food, do not snack, and have a period of fasting of at least 12 hours once a day. (Dinner to Breakfast or Lunch)
• By keeping insulin low, you can lose weight even after 50!

Fat Burning Versus Fat Storing

• You can turn yourself from a fat-storer to a fat-burner but it may take some time.
• Once you become a fat-burner, you can have some treats in moderation.
• When you are in fat-storage mode, it probably feels like everything you eat makes you gain weight. It does.
• Limiting carbs at meals to vegetables and some fruit (not eliminating), adding in healthy fats, and eating just until you are full will help your body learn to burn fat again.
• Instead of thinking you need to lose weight, think, “I need to burn fat.”
• When you feel hungry, your body can access its fat stores.
• Your body will initially resist accessing fat stores. This is okay.
• Eating a breakfast or a snack is a way your body can get energy quickly, but it doesn’t allow your body to access its fat.
• When you fast, your body can start learning to access fat.
• Your body can access fat stores when you are hungry. That’s a good thing!

Mindset for Losing Weight After 50

• Managing your mind is the most important part of any diet.
• Food doesn’t have to be exciting but it does need to be nourishing.
• Instead of trying to lose 10 pounds in two weeks, just decide to lose 10 pounds no matter how long it takes.
• Portion control isn’t about leaving the table hungry; it’s about leaving the table before you are full.
• If you can’t resist eating something—don’t buy it at the store.
• If you overeat or binge, don’t use that as an excuse to go crazy with your eating. Just move on and eat your next meal as usual.
• Overeating doesn’t fix anything.
• You can lose your desire for any food you currently think you can’t.
• Hunger is your body’s way of saying it’s time to eat.
• Learning to take care of your body is a skill that will serve you for the rest of your life.
• Turn back the clock—instead of eating around the clock.
• You’ve trained your mind to respond to urges to eat. It will take time to reprogram your mind.
• Eliminating foods that cause more desire and an urge to overeat will help. These types of food are any kind of junk or fast food, soda, processed foods, flour-based foods, and sweet treats.
• There are many other ways of showing love besides eating food because someone else wants you to.
• It’s not selfish to take care of your body.

How to Move Your Body to Help You Lose Weight

• Exercise 5 to 6 times a week.
• Take walks, do yoga, dance, swim, hike, ride your bike, lift weights (light ones are fine), do YouTube videos. The possibilities are endless and there are going to be many workouts that you enjoy and will look forward to doing.
• A variety of workouts will give your body lots of good results. Aim for some cardio, stretch, and strength throughout the week.
• Reducing stress through exercise or meditation can help in managing your weight.
• Find exercise that is fun and reduces stress.
• Having a body that is fit, feels great.
• Building muscles makes your body look better.
• Exercise doesn’t have to be hard to be effective.
• Exercise can help your body access fat for energy.
• Plan your exercise for a time before lunch or dinner if possible.

Love Your Body While Losing Weight

• Imagine how you will feel about your body once you lose weight. Practice feeling that way now.
• Wear clothes that fit no matter what your size is.
• Take care of your appearance right now.
• Take care of your skin and hair.
• You are beautiful and worthy right now.
• Your body is an amazing miracle just the way it is.
• Every time you look in the mirror, tell yourself something wonderful about yourself.
• Play up the parts of your body you already love.
• Losing weight if needed is about loving your body, not hating it
• Love your body like it is your best friend. It is!

Next Steps to Lose Weight After 50

Don’t try to do all the tips to lose weight after 50 all at once. Pick one section at a time and work on that. Or just pick one tips and play with that. Some of the tips are mindset and some are actual actions.

Pick the easiest tips to work with first! Once you master that, move on to something else that’s easy.

Get some help! Losing weight can be fun when you have a plan and help. I don’t hand you a diet and say, go do this. I work with you every step of the way to build your knowledge and self-confidence so you can do this for the rest of your life.