Developing a Realistic Nutrition and Exercise Plan for a 41-Year-Old Woman

Nutrition and exercise planning in your 40s need not be any more complicated than it was previously. The classic principles apply: exercise regularly, eat sensible amounts of wholesome foods, and take time to let your body recover when needed. Be sure to adjust your calorie intake for any decrease or increase in activity and be mindful of any illnesses or injuries.

  1. Keep Your Expectations Realistic

    • The first and most important aspect of developing a nutrition and exercise plan is to set your goals and expectations. How do you want your body to look? How do you want it to perform? Set specific goals, and then build your nutrition and exercise plan to support them. Be realistic with your expectations: creating significant changes to your physique can take anywhere from six months to two years. It requires long-term commitment and single-mindedness to stick to any nutrition and fitness plan, even if it's just a simple program designed to keep you fit and healthy.

    Get Your Training Right

    • Your training frequency and intensity will really depend on what you want to achieve. If you want to be very slim and fit, four to five high-intensity sessions (such as weight lifting, interval training and long-distance cardio) per week will fit the bill. If you simply want to be healthy, fit and in fairly good shape, two high-intensity sessions and two low-to-medium intensity sessions a week will give you the results you want.

    Eat to Match Your Goal

    • Your nutrition plan should support your exercise plan. How much and what you eat should be directly related to how much activity you are doing. If you are training four to five times per week at high intensity, you will need to include protein at every meal, along with at least two servings of carbohydrates per day. You will also need to include two servings of fat and several servings of vegetables. If you are training at lower frequency or intensity, have protein and vegetables at every meal but just one serving of carbohydrates and one or two servings of fat per day.

    Take Care of the Incidentals

    • It's also important to factor in the amount of incidental activity you do when creating your exercise and nutrition plan. Do you spend a lot of time walking? Playing with your kids? Running around the park with your dog? All these activities, along with things like cleaning and gardening, take a lot of energy. If you frequently feel tired and sluggish, it could be that your nutrition plan isn't quite matching your energy needs, and you may need to increase your daily carbohydrate or fat intake to give yourself the extra boost.