Best Diet for Men Over 40
The best diet for men over 40 is one that doesn’t restrict calories too much, doesn’t cut out one of the important macro’s such as fat or carbohydrates and keeps you feeling full whilst dropping fat.
The fact is, if you want to drop fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit – there’s no way around that.
You need to make sure that you’re consuming LESS calories than what your body needs each day to sustain its CURRENT weight, then it will draw upon it’s fat stores as the energy balance.
The problem most men face
Now the problem with the above is men tend to make this process excruciating difficult to stick to long enough so that they have a chance of reaching their goal.
Don’t get me wrong, eating in a deficit will take some sacrifice, you can’t just eat as much food as you want and expect to drop fat or think you’ll out train a bad diet with exercise.
It doesn’t work that way, but if you set it up correctly I can teach you how to make dropping fat on a diet as enjoyable as possible.
Step 1 – Calories
The first key stage is getting your calories right, this needs to be approximately 20% less than your Basal Metabolic Rate i.e. how many calories you burn each day without gaining or losing any weight.
Note: Even if you eat too many of the best foods, you’ll still gain fat, so getting this step right is crucial to success.
If you make the deficit too large you won’t feel full, encourage binge eating and run the risk of making your body think a famine is around the corner.
When you restrict calories too quickly, your body tends to hold onto fat thinking a famine is around the corner, the key is to be in a deficit of 300-500 per day.
Step 2 – Macros
Of your required calories, you don’t want to restrict carbs or restrict fats or eat only protein etc.
Most diets focus on restricting one of the important macronutrients, they either cut out fats, get you to go low carb or eat massive amounts of protein.
I have news you for though, most diets don’t work, they aren’t sustainable and something “new” is being brought out every year promising you the key to a lean body.
I advise you to stay clear of fads and fallacies.
So, of the calories you need to lose fat, let’s say it’s 2000, your goal is to make eating them as enjoyable as possible and you do that by eating a healthy balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats.
Protein is super important to repair damaged muscle and to repair cells, carbohydrates are important for energy and keeping you feeling full and fats are important for metabolic processes in the body and testosterone production.
Going too low in calories and fats is the WORST thing a man over 40 can do to lose fat! Our testosterone levels are already diminishing and resorting to low carb or low-fat diets kills testosterone even more – avoid at all costs.
At the same time, you don’t want to eat ALL carbs or too much dietary fat, a balance is needed to lose fat and support the leanest body composition.
Step 3 – Foods
Of your fat loss calories, you need to eat the right foods and devise a meal schedule for those foods.
It’s possible to lose fat eating some “junk” foods if you’re still eating less calories than what your body burns per day – but I don’t recommend it.
The reason is because when you supply the best foods to drop fat, you’ll feel more satisfied, better fuel your body, feel healthier and perform better in the gym.
That doesn’t mean you can never eat some “cheat” foods, it simply means at least to begin with, find foods that are healthy and that you enjoy.
Then once you’ve devised your plan, some cheat foods can be incorporated into your plan whilst staying within your calorie limits.
When you shop for foods to lose fat, for the best results, think of anything in it’s natural state. What I mean is anything that isn’t processed and is simply one ingredient.
For example, broccoli is broccoli, eggs are eggs, chicken breast is chicken breast etc.
Foods that are in a bag or box have usually been processed. They contain additives and preservatives that you don’t want.
And they make it harder for your body to lose fat. Does that mean your meals have to boring?
Far from it!
There are plenty of healthy food choices that contain a variety of healthy protein, filling carbs and fibrous vegetables, the combinations are endless.
As a man over 40, look out for foods that are going to keep testosterone high. Foods such as eggs, fatty fish, avocados, lean cuts of beef, extra virgin olive oil are a good start.
Put them together into great meals, so that you’re eating a combination of protein, carbs and fat with every meal.
Step 4 – Meals
This is where you need to be smart with your meal design.
Eating 5-6 meals per day used to be the way to go for losing fat, it was once thought that eating little and often kept the metabolism fuelled up for burning fat – but the bottom line is, it’s NOT the number of meals you eat every day but the total amount of calories you consume over the entire day that matters.
Eating frequently is a pain in the butt and comes with no added benefits!
For men over 40, eating fewer but BIGGER meals are a lot more beneficial, by consuming fruit and black coffee in the morning you’re creating a buffer of calories to eat 2-3 bigger meals later in the day.
Ori Hofmekler, author of the Warrior Diet talks about this less frequent eating schedule and it’s what I base the nutrition portion of My Abs Over 40 Course up on.
By undereating and then overeating you’re effectively using more of the sympathetic nervous system which has been shown to greatly increase testosterone and growth hormone in men.
Not only that, but the research is clear that eating less frequently is better for concentration and digestion – a double bonus for men over 40.
By taking advantage of this diet mythology, you can effectively lose fat without feeling like you’re on a diet.
Step 5 – Consistency
The fact is losing fat is a relatively slow process, that’s why I caution you to avoid anyone who says you can lose 10 pounds in two weeks or so, what they don’t mention is most of that weight loss will come from glycogen and muscle.
It’s losing FAT that’s the key to changing your body composition and giving you that lean, athletic look.
A realistic and permanent solution to losing fat is dropping 1-1½ lbs per week.
This is the FASTEST road to permanent fat loss and if you’re strength training correctly, all of that will be fat leaving you with a lean, chiselled appearance.
Those that try to drop fat faster, will end up losing muscle, binge eating and bouncing from program to program.
Do it once, sensibly and correctly and you’ll lose fat permanently.
Summary
Stick to the 5 keys above and you’ll soon realise this really is the best diet to lose fat, get lean and see visible abs.
The proof is in the pudding!
Did I mention that you don’t need any supplements to drop fat and reveal your abs?
Well you don’t!
Lastly, it’s NEVER too late to get into fantastic shape and get your leanest and strongest body. And in my opinion, it becomes even more important as you get older.
Really it comes down to two choices as we get older, get leaner or get fatter! I know which one I’d rather choose.
If you want a complete program that breaks down all the above step by step AND includes a handy metabolic calculator spreadsheet that I’ve personally used to get down to the single digits of body fat, then you’re going to want to check out my course, Ripped Abs Over 40.