How to Lose Weight When 48

No one said getting older was easy, and if your goal is to lose or maintain your weight in your late 40s, you already know that it's much more difficult than it might seem. In your 40s you may be dealing with changing hormones, a slowing metabolism and muscle loss -- all factors that can make it more difficult to lose weight than it might have been in the past. In spite of the obstacles, however, your best bet for weight loss is to follow the advice you've probably heard time and again -- watch what you eat and get plenty of exercise.

Things You'll Need

  • Calendar
  • Scale
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Instructions

    • 1

      Get at least an hour of aerobic exercise every day, such as swimming, low-impact aerobics, bicycling or jogging -- if your knees can handle it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends about 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, or about 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, each week to maintain health -- but a 2010 Harvard study revealed that amount is not enough to maintain a middle-aged person's weight -- not to mention losing weight. The study found that middle-age women need at least one hour of moderate exercise every day to stay at the same weight. If you want to actually shed pounds, you'll need to do more intense exercise during that hour; jogging instead of walking, for example.

    • 2

      Perform strength-training exercises at least two days a week. Starting in your 30s you begin losing muscle mass. Since muscle tissue burns calories more efficiently than fat, that muscle loss is already making it tougher to maintain your weight. Not only will strength training help you maintain your muscle mass and prevent osteoporosis, it will help you burn even more calories. You don't need to go to the gym for this either; a set of dumbbells and resistance tubing can provide you a beneficial at-home strength-training workout.

    • 3

      Cut calories. According to MayoClinic.com, to maintain your current weight you'll need about 200 fewer calories a day in your 50s than you did in your 30s and 40s. At age 48, it's time to face that reality. And in order to lose weight, you'll have to cut even more calories. Keep in mind that to lose 1 pound you have to create a 3,500-calorie deficit through diet and exercise. By burning about 300 calories each day through exercise and cutting 200 calories from your diet, you'll be at a 500-calorie deficit each day -- which could lead to losing about 1 pound per week. Don't skip meals -- that could slow your metabolism -- but instead include fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and complex carbohydrates as your main sources of sustenance.

    • 4

      Track your progress so you'll be able to adjust your program as needed. Keep a calendar and write down the amount of exercise you did on a given day, as well as the number of calories you consumed and the number of calories you burned doing your exercise. Use online calorie calculators to count the number of calories you consumed and the number of calories you burned. At the end of each week, weigh yourself and write down your weight on the calendar. If you find that you're not losing about 1 pound a week, try to cut 100 more calories from your diet and exercise a little longer to burn even more calories.