Why Diets Don’t Work for Men Over 40
If you’re a man over 40 trying to lose weight can be difficult with all the diet information and misinformation that’s out there.
The problem with most diets
I’m sure you’ve tried many of the popular diets out there right now, Paleo, Atkins and ketogenic is one of the diets people are talking about at this minute.
But the problem with most diets is they destroy your mood. Kill your testosterone and diminish your willpower.
They’re either going too low on carbs or fats, too high in protein, too low in calories or a mixture of all of them!
Most diets are getting you to eat crazy amounts of protein or cutting out one of the vital macros such as carbs.
But for men over 40 this is horrible.
Not only are these diets not effective at fat loss but trying to stick to them over the long term is very difficult. The problem with going low on carbs is you need them for energy and testosterone production.
They also keep you feeling full and affect your mood. Cut out carbs and life will get miserable very quickly.
It’s the same with fats, they’re needed to keep testosterone high and if you cut them out, testosterone levels will be destroyed.
For a diet to be effective it needs to be:
- Sustainable
- Keep you feeling full
- Enjoyable
- Not void of any macronutrient i.e. protein, carbs and fat.
What’s the solution?
The solution is to eat at a calorie deficit that keeps you feeling full like I teach in my popular course Abs Over 40.
In my course, I teach you how to lean down by eating 2-3 bigger meals per day instead of 5-6 bigger meals.
By not eating first thing in the morning and fasting for 5-6 hours upon waking, this creates a huge buffer of calories that can be eaten later in the day.
Then, once you eat the first meal, you’ll activate more the bodies sympathetic nervous system boosting testosterone and refuelling the body.
Eating this way has also been shown to boost clarity and mental focus. It’s very easy to stick to and most importantly, highly effective at getting you lean.
Once your calories have been set, it’s a matter of getting the correct proportion of protein, carbs and fats to fuel your workouts.
The importance of a refeed
When you’re following a low-calorie diet, it’s important to have a refeed once per week in order to bring insulin and leptin levels back up again.
If you eat too few calories for too long your body thinks a famine is around the corner and fat loss can come to a halt. But when it gets an influx of calories and leptin levels are brought back up, it aids the fat loss process.
That’s why I recommend having a refeed day once per week when losing fat to bring leptin levels back up and keep the fat loss process going.
Key takeaways
Nutrition is extremely important for losing fat, but it needs to be sustainable and enjoyable for it to be effective.