How to Lose Stomach Fat for Men Over 40
As a man over 40 you’re probably wondering what’s the best way to lose stomach fat and keep it off permanently.
Well here at lean over 40 for men, that’s exactly what I teach and, in this article, I’m going to provide you with some great tips that will really help you.
Firstly though, here’s what NOT to do.
Mistake #1 – Resort to the latest diet
There’s no shortage of diet plans out there and right now as I type this, “keto” is all the rage. The problems with “diets” are they get you to either go too low in carbs or fat or too high in protein.
While you might experience short term weight loss, what’s really happening is your body is losing water weight from the muscles and liver as your body gets depleted of carbohydrates.
You’re not experiencing long term fat loss, but short-term weight loss that gives the illusion you’re dropping fat.
Diets simply aren’t sustainable because your body needs a steady supply of protein, carbs and fat. Not only that but carbs and fat are even more important for men over 40, due to their testosterone producing benefits.
Protein is needed for recovery from weight training and carbs are needed to fuel your workouts and support brain function.
Mistake #2 – Do group classes or “insanity” workouts
Whenever I hear about men over 40 who are following workout DVD’s such as insanity, P90X or going to group classes it makes me cringe!
Not only are these workouts not designed for men over 40, often leading to burnout, frustration and injury but they simply aren’t very effective at burning fat to get rid of your belly fat.
Mistake #3 – Following bro workout splits
Following “bro splits” i.e. training with weights every day in the gym training separate body parts is not only in-effective for men over 40, but for drug free men in general.
While it’s a step in the right direction lifting weights, you’ll very quickly over train if you’re trying to hit the gym every day lifting weights.
As a rule of thumb, 3 strength training workouts for men over 40 is perfect for not only building and maintaining muscle but for getting brutally strong as well.
Not to mention the time you’ll have to enjoy your life. I’ve made some of the best progress in my life lifting weights 2 x per week.
What to do to lose stomach fat
So much for knowing what NOT to do, you need to know what to do in order to build muscle and lose fat.
Nutrition
The number one thing that you need to get right when losing fat is nutrition. Firstly, there’s absolutely no point in messing about with macro’s if you’re not in a calorie deficit.
You can play around with carbs, eat healthier and increase protein but if you’re still eating too many calories you won’t lose fat. Period.
But this is where a lot of guys screw up, they eat far too few calories making fat loss even harder. When you go from eating lots of calories to practically zero, your body slows the metabolism to save fuel, bringing fat loss to a halt.
Therefore, eating slightly less calories than what you body burns is always the best solution to fat loss.
From those calories you should be eating 0.8 – 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, up to 40% of calories from carbs and the remainder from healthy fats.
Aim to lose 1-1½ pounds of fat per week.
Strength training
Instead of doing insanity or group classes, opt to do 3 x strength sessions per week focusing on key compound movements such as bench presses, squats, pulldown, rows, bent over rows etc.
By focusing on key compound movements you’ll build muscle, increase testosterone and drive up metabolism burning more fat.
As a man over 40 you need to do strength training without exceeding recovery, that means not lifting weights more than 3 x per week.
This allows the body to fully recover between workout sessions. The central nervous system takes longer to recover than the muscular system.