Three pillars of weight loss can help you shift stubborn fat and stay healthy over 50
An expert shared tips for healthy weight loss
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Weight becomes more difficult to shift over the years as the body's metabolism naturally slows down and it is more difficult to burn calories.
Luckily, an expert shared three things you can keep in mind to fast-track results.
While there are lots of diet plans that promise weight loss, knowing where to start can be overwhelming and will often cause slimmers to give up altogether.
Speaking exclusively to GB News, Balanced Body education director Joy Puleo shared the "challenges" of staying healthy over 50, including during menopause.
Getting enough sleep is key for weight loss
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Keeping these in mind, however, will put you in good stead for transformative results.
How to stay healthy
1. Prioritise yourself
2. Getting enough sleep
3. Exercise and remembering this is an opportunity to create who you want to become, both physically and emotionally. Exercise can play a big role in what that looks like.
Prioritising yourself
It is easy to put yourself last amid busy schedules, but Joy said prioritising yourself can help you make healthier choices.
She said: "By 50, between family, careers and expectations, we are often low on the priority pole.
"Put yourself up high enough to see in the distance and to understand that you have options. You can choose how you want to engage for your health so let go of what worked, or did not work, in the past and set yourself in a space where you can see who you are becoming by embracing all you have accomplished and all that is before you."
Taking the time and energy to figure out what lifestyle approach works for your body will make it easier to make healthy choices every day.
Getting enough sleep
Sleeping is linked to weight loss for a number of reasons. It helps to regulate hormones and ensures you have plenty of energy so dieters do not need to rely on unhealthy snacks to provide this. Aiming for more than seven hours a night is a good place to start.
Dr Anthony Balduzzi, founder of The Fit Mother Project, commented on this. He said: "Most women don't know that sleep - especially in their 40s, 50s and 60s - is the foundation of weight loss. Sleep is like the master clock that controls all of our main weight loss hormones: cortisol, insulin, and the thyroid hormone.
"When we don't get enough sleep, we're basically shooting ourselves in the foot when it comes to our weight loss efforts.
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Over 50s can benefit from moving more day to day
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"The research shows that women who don't sleep enough and then go on diets end up losing muscle and not fat - and it's more likely that they'll gain weight after they stop the diet."
Exercise
It is a common misconception that dieters need to spend hours in the gym or take part in intense fitness classes to lose weight.
Joy explained "all movement matters" and encouraged people over 50 to add more into their day to day routine to slim the waistline.
She said: "One of the primary reasons, as we age, that people do not engage in an active lifestyle is because they do not believe that it would make a substantial change to their lives.
"Every step matters. Every opportunity to move, workout, spend an hour on the floor with grandkids, garden, dancing - everything. It matters. So move, move often, and move joyfully."