If I want to lose belly fat, where should I start?

You can be eating much the same way you always have, staying active, and still reach your 40s or 50s and notice that your middle looks different.  There are real physiological reasons for that.

What’s behind it

As estrogen declines through the menopause transition, the way the body stores fat shifts, with more fat tending to accumulate around the abdomen. At the same time, maintaining muscle becomes increasingly important because muscle naturally declines with age unless we actively work to preserve it. Sleep can change during these years too, affecting energy, appetite, food choices and recovery. A woman can even weigh about the same and notice that her waist or the way her clothes fit has changed.

So when the weight around your middle starts getting your attention, there are several places you could reasonably look.  Food intake and the overall pattern of your diet matter. So do physical activity, strength training, sleep, alcohol and the way you’re fueling yourself across the day.

That brings us to a harder question:  Which one deserves your attention first?

Let’s say you want to lose weight, and eating less feels like the logical place to begin.  Take a closer look at your day.

Breakfast is coffee and something small. Lunch is light. By late afternoon, you’re extremely hungry. You get home and start eating while you make dinner, sit down and eat dinner, and find yourself looking for something else later.  Your overall intake still matters for weight loss.

At the same time, the way you’re fueling earlier in the day is making the amount you want to eat later much harder to manage.  A more satisfying breakfast or lunch—with enough protein, fiber and other foods that help the meal stay with you—could be the first habit worth building.

For another woman, strength training could deserve attention because she’s doing very little resistance exercise.  For another, sleep could be the area that stands out.  For someone else, regular alcohol intake could be contributing more energy than she realized.

Several of those areas can support the same weight goal.  Where you want to end up doesn’t always tell you where to begin.

One Useful Rhythm

When several changes could help, look for the one that would make another important change easier.  If intense evening hunger keeps making intended portions difficult, earlier fueling could deserve attention.

If poor sleep is leaving you exhausted and making movement, meal preparation and food choices harder, improving sleep could become the first place you focus.

If strength training has disappeared from your routine, building that habit could be the place to begin.

The useful first habit is the one that makes sense in the context of what is actually happening in your life right now.

That’s what we’re going to figure out together this Wednesday at 5 PM CT on Fuel Queen Live!: Midlife Belly Fat: What Should You Work on First?  We’ll look at the different areas that can contribute to changes around your middle and help you identify the one area that deserves your attention first—and a healthy habit that can make some of the other changes easier.  Save your seat here.

Warmly,

Kim Stitzel, MS, RD
Founder, The Fuel Queen
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Helping women discover what deserves their attention and build rhythms that fit real life.

P.S. If you’re already wondering what deserves your attention first, the What Deserves Your Attention First? assessment can help you sort through what you’re experiencing. If you’d like help making sense of your results, you can also schedule a complimentary Results Session with me.  Take the assessment here.