If you are a woman over 50 you may have noticed that your metabolism has slowed. After 50 muscle mass begins to diminish, which reduces the number of calories burned at rest. This is also the time that most women enter menopause. The hormonal changes that come with menopause change the way your body distributes fat making it easier for fat to deposit in the belly area.
While these changes are inevitable, they do not have to take away your ability to have the slim and shapely body you want.
One of the nutrients you want to pay close attention to is carbohydrates. As you age your body handles carbohydrates differently. When you were in your teens and twenties, carbohydrates were quickly burned for fuel. While carbs are still your main source of energy after the age of 50, your body is less efficient at burning them for fuel, leaving many of the carbs you eat to end up in fat storage.
Here are some ways you can make your carbohydrate intake work for you to speed up fat burning.
Carb cheats for women over 50:
1. Time your carb intake. There are three primary times to eat carbohydrates so your body quickly converts them to energy, not fat. The first is early in the morning. Your body naturally experiences a metabolism boost in the morning so these carbs are more likely to be burned for energy.
Another good time to consume carbs is prior to a workout and the third option is immediately following a workout. By eating carbs around the time you work out your body has a quick energy source. This not only causes the carbs to burn for energy, but also gives you an overall energy boost.
2. Reverse taper carbohydrate intake during the week. By eating carbohydrates you tell your body that all is okay and in return your body keeps your fat burning potential high. If you eat a low carb diet for longer than one week your body gets the signal that you are heading to starvation and sharply reduces your fat burning potential.
To lose weight, but still keep your fat burning potential strong you want to manipulate your carb intake during the week. The best, and most satisfying, approach is to eat a high-carb meal one day a week, follow that by two days of low carbohydrate intake, and then slowly increase your carb intake for the remainder of the week.
This process, called reverse tapering, allows you to enjoy satisfying carbs and at the same time keep fat burning strong.
3. Swap carb calories for protein calories. Because your body is more likely to turn carbs into fat after the age of 50 you can help your body burn fat by swapping out 200 calories of carbohydrates a day and replacing it with 200 calories of protein. Your body is less likely to convert protein to fat and this simple swap works toward your goal of fat burning.
