Nutrition for women over 40 isn’t always fun. Remember the days of being able to eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted? Gone are the glory days of having dessert every night and junk food all day. It’s been replaced with cottage cheese. Yes, that was my dessert last night…ok, and I confess, I also had a cup of hot chocolate.
Today let’s talk nutrition.
Everyone knows nutrition for women over 40 plays an important part in our fitness level. Without the proper nutrition, we will not see the fullness of our workout efforts.
We can be very serious about our diets when we want to be. But believe it or not, I don’t worry about those of you dieting and eating too much. For women over 40 trying to lose weight and get fit, we are more likely to restrict our diets too much than over eat which can be as bad for us as overeating. Ladies, starving ourselves will not work in the long run. What good is skinny if you are flabby? We want to be toned, leaned out like we were at 20 years old, am I right? So that takes eating, but eating the right amounts and the right foods.
How much should we eat?
There is a formula for that!
The Mifflin-St. Jeor Equation has been proven to be within 10 percent accurate and is what most dietary professionals use.
Formula:
10 x (weight in kg) + 6.25 (height in cm) – 5 x age – 161 = total calories per day
Let’s take Bonnie, a 43 year old woman who weighs 160lbs, 5’8″ as an example.
10 x (73) + 6.25 x (173) – 5 x 43 – 161 =
730 + 1081 – 215 – 161 = 1435 calories
Of course, that does not take into account your exercise. You get to add the calories burned in exercise to your daily intake! How exciting is that?!!
So if Bonnie burned 300 calories exercising, her total daily calories would be 1735.
Just knowing how many calories to eat daily isn’t enough. We have to eat the right calories. That’s when macros come in.
It’s important to have the proper balance of nutrition. Proteins, carbohydrates and fats are macros – the building blocks of our diet.
Macros
The choices of foods we eat is the name of the game.
According to the formula found at Macronutrient.com, moderately active Bonnie’s macros should be:
Carbs 179g per day, 50% of total daily calories
Protein 108g per day, 30% of total daily calories
Fats 32g per day, 20% of total daily calories
Thanks to MyFitnessPal, and others, but MyFitnessPal is my favorite, it can be easy to keep track of what we eat daily, including macros and calories burned during exercise to give a complete caloric count.
We won’t get fit by starving ourselves. Contrary to what we thought many years ago, we get to eat to lose weight!
Don’t wait another day. Nutrition for women over 40 doesn’t have to be difficult.
Use the calculators for the total calories and macros needed to reach your goal.
Download the MyFitnessPal to track your intake and exercise daily.
Need a little more info on macros? Here’s a great guide!
If you missed the first 3 parts of the series, be sure to check them out and subscribe (located upper right of this page) so that you won’t miss another post!
Why It’s Impossible for Women Over 40 to Lose Weight: Part 1 Motivation
Why It’s Impossible for Women Over 40 to Lose Weight: Part 2 Medical Obstacles
Why It’s Impossible for Women Over 40 to Lose Weight: Part 3 Exercise
