Why Fat Loss Feels Harder After 40 — And What Actually Works
Hitting your 40s can feel like your body is suddenly playing by a whole new set of rules. What used to work — cutting calories, skipping meals, doing more cardio — now leaves you tired, stressed, and stuck.
If you’ve spent years dieting, fasting, cutting carbs, swapping meals for shakes, or eating far too little, your body has adapted. I did it for 17 years — and I know how frustrating it feels when nothing seems to work anymore.
Here’s why fat loss after 40 feels harder, and what to do instead.
Why Fat Loss Feels Harder After 40
1. Hormonal Shifts in Perimenopause and Menopause
As you move through perimenopause, your hormones start to change — and not just a little. Progesterone, your calming and pro-metabolic hormone, naturally declines with age and irregular ovulation. Estrogen no longer has it’s buffering effects, leading to symptoms like bloating, breast tenderness, and stubborn fat gain around your hips and abdomen.
Add in life stress, poor sleep, under-eating, or overtraining, and cortisol — your main stress hormone — climbs. Chronically high cortisol:
Breaks down muscle
Slows thyroid function
Raises blood sugar
Encourages belly fat storage
When progesterone is low and cortisol is high, your body shifts into survival mode. Digestion slows, sleep suffers, and fat loss feels impossible no matter how “healthy” you eat or how much cardio you do.
The fix: Support your metabolism with enough food, nutrient-dense meals, and strength training so your body feels safe to let go of excess fat.
2. A Sluggish Metabolism
Your metabolism’s job is to turn food into energy. But decades of under-eating, cutting carbs, skipping meals, and overtraining send a “danger” signal that tells your body to slow down.
When your metabolism slows, you might notice:
Feeling cold often
Constant fatigue
Bloating and puffiness
Mood changes
Fat-loss plateaus
The fix: Stop signalling danger. Eat enough (either at maintenance or in a small deficit), prioritise protein and carbs, manage stress, and build muscle. That’s how you shift your body from conserving energy to burning it efficiently again.
3. A Focus on Cardio Instead of Building Muscle
Muscle is one of your most metabolically protective assets. It:
Burns more calories at rest
Stabilises blood sugar
Supports thyroid function
Helps regulate hormones
But decades of “do more cardio, eat less” messaging have left many women losing muscle without realizing it. As we age, muscle loss speeds up — unless we actively fight it. Less muscle means a slower metabolism, more fat storage, and higher risk of insulin resistance. We need to be in the gym with progressive loading of weights over time to increase our muscle.
The fix: Strength training isn’t optional after 40 — it’s essential. Focus on building, not just “toning.”
4. Stress Overload
Many women unknowingly live in constant fight-or-flight mode. The day might start with caffeine on an empty stomach, managing family dynamics, burning off energy with intense workouts, fuelling with quick carbs and more caffeine, long hours at work and driving kids to activities, and restless sleep due to waking up at 2AM and not being able to fall back asleep.
This keeps cortisol chronically elevated, which:
Breaks down muscle
Slows digestion
Suppresses thyroid function
Promotes belly fat storage
Causes blood sugar crashes and cravings
The fix: Lower internal stress by fuelling your body regularly, prioritising sleep, choosing restorative movement, and reducing excessive cardio.
What Works for Fat Loss After 40
✔ Fuel Your Body — Stop starving it. Track your intake, aim for enough calories, and focus on nutrient-dense protein and carbs.
✔ Build Muscle — Lift weights to improve body composition, metabolism, and hormone health.
✔ Balance Stress & Sleep — A healthy metabolism needs recovery as much as it needs training.
✔ Be Consistent, Not Perfect — Progress at this stage comes from steady, sustainable habits.
The Bottom Line
Fat loss after 40 isn’t about eating less, working out more, or finding the “perfect” diet. It’s about restoring your metabolism, balancing your hormones, and giving your body what it needs to feel safe, strong, and energised again.
If you’re tired of guessing, I help women 40+ rebuild their metabolism and lose fat without cutting carbs or living on willpower. You can:
Join my 28-Day Nourished Challenge to start building a foundation for a healthy metabolism and learn exactly how to eat and train for your body now
Become part of The Nourished Collective for ongoing coaching, community, and accountability (only available after you’ve completed the 28 Day Challenge)
Work with me 1:1 or in a group coaching cohort for more personalized support (only available after you’ve completed the 28 Day Challenge)
