Fat Loss After 40

Many Women Find It More Challenging to Keep Weight Off After the Age of 40. We Explore Why the Kilograms Creep on After a Certain Age and How to Keep Them Off…

- Julia Lamberti-Morreira

Fiona says that studies show that a drop in oestrogen also regulates metabolism in a number of ways. Firstly, oestrogen may assist women in building muscle and a decline in this hormone could result in a loss of muscle mass and an increase in fat mass, particularly around the belly area. In addition, because metabolically active muscle tissue keeps the metabolism ‘revved’ up, as it decreases, the metabolism is compromised.

“Oestrogen also plays a part in the regulation of fat metabolism in women and helps to sensitise the cells to insulin, which enables insulin to carry glucose into the cells and therefore prevents excess glucose from being stored as fat,” she explains. Thus, a woman with lower oestrogen levels will store fat more easily and not burn calories as efficiently. “Oestrogen also has an anti-cortisol effect, so if cortisol levels are high and oestrogen levels are dropping then this will encourage fat storage,” she adds. As women age, they also experience a decrease in the production of the hormone progesterone which can cause water retention and bloating.