Proven Ways to Lose Stubborn Belly Fat After Age 50

There is good news about life after age 50:

• Losing just two inches off your waist can dramatically improve your health.

Now, for the startling news:

• The risk of dying increases about 25% for each additional four inches of waist size.

It’s shocking and scary, but there you have it.

Fortunately, there are solutions for reducing your waist size, even if you’re over 50. What follows are proven solutions for shrinking stubborn belly fat – and a motivational video lower within this article.

New Research About Waist Size For People Over Age 50

Slimmer waist size increases odds of a longer life, says new research.

A recent New York Times article (see sources below) revealed the connection between waist size and longevity in a research study by epidemiologist Dr. Eric Jacobs.

The doctor and his research team tracked people over age 50 – 48,500 men and 56,343 women – from 1997 to 2006.

What they discovered is fascinating.

The upshot is that having a large waist size doubles the risk of dying.

The results from the research establish that it’s crucial to your lifespan and vitality to have a tight waist.

Slim Waist Size Means Longer Life, while Standard Modern Diet Shortens Life Expectancy

I believe that many of us are mildly allergic to many foods in the standard modern diet, but we don’t know it.

And according to my quirky theory, the more allergy or inflammation-inducing foods you eat, the more subcutaneous and visceral fat cells your body produces to pad and protect your vital organs from irritation.

I’m not the only one who connects food sensitivity, inflammation, and belly fat.

Quick Ways to Tell If Your Body Dislikes the Food You Just Ate

I encourage you to seek out your health care professional to develop a proactive, conscious healthier aging strategy. Meanwhile, here is a diagnostic scan to help you determine if you might be sensitive to a particular food or menu item.

For starters, it requires simply looking and listening carefully to a couple of your body’s key signals.

After Eating, Do You Usually Feel Puffy?

Everybody gets a little gassy sometimes, but if you’re often seriously bloated and uncomfortably flatulent after eating, then perhaps what you ate is something that your own body is challenged with processing.

An important exception to this occurs when you’re not used to eating fiber, and then you start eating more fiber; you’ll get gassy – usually just because your body isn’t used to fiber yet. You will become accustomed to higher fiber intake over time.

“After eating, you want to feel enhanced with strength and sustained energy – not tired and gassy.”

After Eating, Does Your Energy Level Drop?

Please believe me when I tell you that food is supposed to give you energy, not drain it! If you feel even a little tired after you eat something: receive that as a message from your body.

Most of us who have been eating the standard modern diet for a long time are so accustomed to feeling full and tired after eating that we don’t even think about it or notice it that much.

“If everyone over 50 would implement the steps in Silver and Strong, relationships would improve, energy levels would increase, productivity would skyrocket, and time in the doctor’s office would decrease. Just do it.  You can’t help but improve the quality of your life.”

–– Stephen J Anderson, Executive Coach

Very-full-and-tired is not the feeling you want to go for after a snack or meal.

After eating, you want to feel enhanced with sustained energy.

“…after you eat your lunch, you want to feel agile and energized.”

It depends on your body’s unique chemistry. Generally, however, wheat and dairy are culprits to the waistline (besides the other, more obvious ones – like sodas, fried foods, and booze).

“For men specifically, there has also been evidence to suggest that the leaner the waist, the higher the testosterone. And when testosterone levels are higher, men have more zest and robust emotional energy to enjoy daily life.”

Lose Fat with Evidence-Based Lifestyle Improvements After Age 50

It might be helpful to you if I quickly tell you my story. At one point in my life, my waist was almost 36.5 inches.

I’m 57 now; my waist is 32 inches and still shrinking. This is a significant achievement for anyone over 50 (especially in the US).

Metabolism slows yearly because overall muscle mass tends to shrink over time.

“Has that ever happened to you, where you see a photo of yourself or your passing reflection in a window, and you don’t even recognize yourself?”

How I Got Leaner After Age 50, in 3 Steps

Many years ago, on a pleasant weekend afternoon when I was 40, my friend Kirsten took a picture of me sitting on the floor playing with her toddler.

Later, she mailed me a print of the photo with a greeting card.

When I opened that envelope and looked at the photo, I was stunned.

In the photograph, I looked like I was carrying a few bowling balls under my polo shirt – or pregnant!

I had no idea that things had gotten so out of hand. I guess all that pizza had caught up with me.

Has that ever happened to you, where you see a photo of yourself or your passing reflection in a window and don’t even recognize yourself?

As alarming as that photo might have been at the time, it was one of the best things that could have happened. It encouraged me to see my health more realistically and inspired me to begin the journey of getting more fit.

1. Prepare Internally for Change by Making Careful Plans

How did I lose the fat?

Those of you who use this site frequently might already know that I am deeply interested in the art and science of improving personal productivity. I truly believe that:

• a significant part of success is having great organizational systems
• this is especially true when it comes to eating for strength
• when we “fall off the wagon” with our food and lifestyle choices, it’s usually because we’re not fully prepared.

For example, for me personally, I tend to feel better when I pack my lunch and bring it to work (instead of going to a restaurant, market, sub shop, or burrito place during my lunch hour).

But packing lunch requires preparation:

• It requires having a list for the once-a-week visit to the grocery store.
• And it requires scheduling a set time to fix and pack the lunch before leaving the house in the morning.

Even if you work from home, you must be organized to successfully pull it off.

The best year of your life probably hasn’t happened yet. I’m Dane Findley, and my message is simple: it’s only in your thriving that you have anything to offer anyone – therefore, the best investment you can ever make is in your own health.

 

2. After Age 50, Get a Great Blender

If you want to get healthier, you have to eat more vegetables. Period. End of story.

To increase my intake of fresh foods, I got myself a food processor and an excellent blender (not all blenders are the same, folks).

The blender helped me to discover the magical world of freshly made green smoothies (life-changing, and that’s an understatement.)

I use my food processor almost every night to make a fast and healthy dinner, and I use my blender to make breakfasts, lunches, and healthier, lower-calorie frozen desserts. This was no little thing. This made a huge difference!

3. Use a Proven Success Formula After Age 50

I decided to keep it simple. My strategy was just to shave 200 calories off my daily intake (which isn’t that much; yes, I noticed it, but it wasn’t painful) and burn 300 more calories a day through exercise. Completely doable.

Because I know that muscle mass correlates with higher metabolism, I included some strength training each week.

My favorite is using the kettlebell because I find it easier on my 57-year-old joints (see image above).

Pilates was very helpful to me (as it has been for decades), so I turned up my pilates workouts a notch.

I use kettlebells and pilates exercises to help my clients, age 50 and over, trim their waistlines, too.

As I experimented with my daily menu, I found that – over time – my taste buds changed and became used to fresh plant foods. I was attracted increasingly to anti-inflammatory foods: I had fewer grains and more “super salads.”

Perhaps most importantly, I tried to have a sense of humor. Life after 50 isn’t always easy – it’s strange to have a full head of silver hair and see my skin lose some of its elasticity and refinement, but the wisdom I’ve acquired in life truly has made me happier than I’ve ever been before.

My mind feels calmer at this age.

My life feels more meaningful to me, so as I undertook my lifestyle improvements after age 50, I saw it more as an adventure instead of as “dieting.”

Yes, you can lose belly fat after age 50. Here I am doing a Pilates workout – age 57 – knee raises using parallel bars (the Pilates trapeze table). Abdominal exercises help trim my waistline and keep my core muscles firm. However, eating an anti-inflammatory diet – a freshly made green smoothie each day and avoiding grains, dairy, and sugar- has been more helpful to me in losing belly fat. (Less fruit, too.)

• What action steps does this article inspire in you to complete?
• Do you believe the results of Dr. Jacob’s research study – that long life correlates to a lean waist, even for people over age 50?

Additional Sources about Losing Belly Fat After 50:

Correlation between Waistspan and Healthspan – http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/waist-size-linked-with-longevity/?_r=0

Parents Not Recognizing Obesity in Their Own Offspring – https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/misc-kid-s-health-news-435/today-s-parents-less-able-to-spot-obesity-in-their-kids-study-691022.html

Inflammation Increase Linked to Fatal Disorders –http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303612804577531092453590070.html

Food Allergy Culprits – http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/08/24/junk-food-diet-puts-children-at-higher-risk-of-allergies.aspx