Eat Whatever You Want, Drink Wine, Lose Weight After 40

You can eat whatever you want and lose weight after 40, fries and wine included. If every diet you start feels too restrictive to last, this episode covers the 4 things that let you keep the foods you love.

I don't mean a cheat meal on Saturday. I mean French fries and wine in a normal week while the weight comes off. There is 1 rule every way of losing weight has to follow, and 3 ways to follow it, and the slowest of the 3 is the one I use to keep 20 pounds off through perimenopause. What you give up to get there is your choice, and it doesn't have to be the food you love.

In this episode:

• The 1 rule every diet has to follow, and the 3 ways to follow it, with the speed and the trade-off of each
• What I gave up to keep French fries in my diet regularly
• How often the foods you love can show up and still let you lose weight after 40
• The question to ask yourself before you finish a restaurant plate
• Why the scale goes up the morning after the meal you love, even when you did the week right
• What to look at instead of the scale, and how often

RESOURCES:

💪🏼 The Strong Core Method: my 4-week at-home core program for women over 40, built for every level, even if you've never worked out a day in your life. 12 guided workouts per level with video demos, 20 minutes, 3 times a week, to build a stronger, more defined midsection.

📝 Grab the FREE Fat Loss Formula Workbook to calculate your maintenance calories, your protein target, and your exact calorie deficit.

🎯 Take the FREE 'What's My Metabolism Type' Quiz to identify your unique metabolism type and get a personalized plan to manage your weight confidently.

💌 Stay connected: join my BTB Newsletter for weekly insights.

🎧 Listen Next: Lose Weight Without Exercise After 40

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👋🏻 ABOUT ME:

I'm Andrea, a double-certified NASM Nutrition and Fitness Coach and founder of Behind the Body. For 20 years, I under-ate, avoided weights, and lived on cardio chasing skinny, and none of it gave me a body I was proud of. In my mid-30s, I changed my approach: more protein, real strength training, and a plan that fit my life. I lost 20 pounds, and 10 years later, at 45, I'm still maintaining it through perimenopause. I help women over 40 simplify their approach, build real strength, and get results that last. Every week, I cover the science, the strategy, and the honest truth about fat loss and maintenance for women over 40.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER:

This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health routine. Results vary. Andrea is a NASM-certified Nutrition and Fitness Coach, not a doctor or registered dietitian.

Transcript

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You can eat whatever you want, drink alcohol, and still lose weight. Anyone tells you that you have to cut those things out to lose weight is either fear-mongering, trying to sell you something, or just doesn't understand how weight loss works. And I'm not talking about like a cheat meal once a week or every Saturday. I mean having the fries and wine in an average week while the weight comes off. I'm Andrea and welcome to Behind the Body. If you're over 40 and trying to lose fat, build muscle, or take better care of your health, you're in the right place. Every week we'll tackle the questions women over 40 are asking about nutrition, fitness, metabolism, and aging, helping you spend less time doing what doesn't move the needle and more time focusing on what does. If you've been putting off weight loss because you're not ready to sacrifice the foods that you love, or if you keep falling off your diet because you think it's too restrictive and you can't enjoy yourself or live your life, here's exactly how to lose weight with a diet that allows for all of your favorite foods. It comes down to these four things. First is what you give up instead of the fries and wine. And I'm gonna use fries and wine here because those are my favorites. Because no weight loss comes without some sacrifice. It just that doesn't exist. But the sacrifice doesn't have to be the French fries or the wine. You get to pick where it comes from. There is only one way to lose weight. You eat fewer calories than your body burns. That's it. The fries and the wine can stay, but their calories still count. So something else that you eat has to get smaller to essentially make room for them. That's a sacrifice. Give up the foods that you don't really care about or you won't necessarily miss to make room for the foods that you love. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about what makes weight loss possible. I am not saying that all foods are created equal when it comes to your health or your hunger, your energy, or how you feel because they're not. If you don't know how many calories you should eat per day, I have a free fat loss formula workbook that walks you through it step by step, including your protein target and a healthy calorie deficit for you. I'm gonna link that in the show notes below. So there are three ways to eat fewer calories than your body burns, and each one gives up something different. So you have options here. The first way is to keep everything, but in moderation. So you eat the foods that you love, you drink alcohol, and you manage how often and how much of it that you have. What you give up in this scenario is the rate at which you lose weight. So if keeping more of those foods in your diet means you maintain a smaller calorie deficit, then you're gonna lose weight more slowly. The second way is to eat mostly whole foods, lean proteins, healthy fats, healthy carbs throughout the week, and then leave a little room for the foods that you love and for alcohol. What you give up in this scenario is some of the fries and some of the wine. This makes it easier to create a bigger calorie deficit. And for most people, it's also gonna be the way that you feel your best, also. The third way is to cut out all processed foods and alcohol. What you give up in this scenario is literally everything. That can make it easier to create even a larger deficit and lose weight faster, but you're essentially giving up all the foods that you love. And in my experience, not only is that unsustainable, but it's also unnecessary to lose weight. None of these is automatically the right choice for everyone. The right one is the one that you can fit into your life without overhauling or changing your entire life to do it. So your friend who cut out carbs or literally cut out everything and lost weight so fast did it right for her. But if you pick that first scenario where you're leaving all the food that you love and alcohol in your diet in moderation, then you're gonna lose weight more slowly and you may not lose as much as you could as you were willing to sacrifice or give up a lot more. But who cares? You get to keep the fries, you get to keep the wine, and you're far more likely to still be doing this a year from now. I fully believe that leaving the foods you love in your diet within reason is the most successful way to keep the weight off for good. That's how I lost the weight, and that's how I've been able to keep it off for 10 years into my 40s through perimenopause. Okay, second is how often you eat the foods you love, because you can control portions two ways: how much is on your plate, and how often you give yourself the foods that you love. And how often is what makes this whole thing work. I love french fries, that's why I'm using it as an example. They're my favorite food. Most nights of the week, I cut up potatoes, spray them with olive oil, and put them in the air fryer. And I have french fries in a healthy way. I go out for dinner maybe like two nights a week. And when I eat out, I order french fries. And it doesn't feel restrictive because I'm eating at home healthy most of the time. And when I go out, I get to order whatever I want without feeling guilt or without feeling like I'm taking steps backward. Same thing with drinking alcohol. I drink probably a couple nights a week, and sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the week or the season. But I try not to drink more than two nights a week. And it isn't because of the calories necessarily. But when I drink, I don't sleep well. I feel sluggish, I feel tired, I feel lazy. My workout the next day either doesn't happen or it happens at half the effort. I don't have as much self-control around food while I'm drinking, but especially the next day when I'm usually like hung over. And I get hung over a lot easier now in my 40s than I ever used to. So two nights a week is like the sweet spot for me where I can enjoy some wine or alcohol without ruining my sleep or my diet or my workouts for the next two days. And that's the part to look at in your own week. Like, could you technically eat pizza every night and still lose weight if you stayed in a calorie deficit? Yeah. But for most people, that makes weight loss a hell of a lot harder. Pizza two nights a week is much easier to make fit. The same thing with alcohol. You could drink wine every single night and still lose weight if the calories fit within your calorie budget. But a couple nights a week gives you a lot more room to work with. So I look at the week and not just the day. Like if Saturday is, you know, Mexican food, enchiladas, and a few glasses of wine, then Sunday through Friday, I eat a little healthier to make up for it. If Saturday is like a little over a normal day of calories for me, that's a portion. If you eat and drink whatever you want all day on Saturday, that's too much. And that could definitely stall your weight loss that week. If you want to try it, pick the two nights this week to splurge and like eat whatever you want, enjoy your meals, enjoy your food, and let the other five nights be normal within your calorie range. Okay, third is how much is on your plate. And this is especially important to consider when you're eating out because restaurant portions have far more calories than you expect. They are so much bigger than any meal that we probably eat or cook at home for ourselves. And the food is often cooked in oils and butters. So that plate has so many more calories than you're probably accounting for. But you can still make it work. And here's how I do it. Let's say I go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I am definitely eating chips and salsa. I will probably have a big burrito or some tacos with a side of rice and beans. And that's a lot of calories in one sitting. So I plan around it. And how I do that is breakfast and lunch that same day, I will probably have a protein shake or a smoothie, and like for lunch, I'll have a lean protein over a salad. And if I'm looking at my calories across the whole week, I may eat a little lighter the next morning too. Also depending on how much I had the night before. Am I sacrificing something? Yes, I am sacrificing heartier, bigger meals like around that meal to save those calories for the Mexican food. But I love Mexican food, so that sacrifice to me is what I choose. It doesn't even feel like a sacrifice. For you, it's the same. Sacrifice foods that you don't really care about around the meal that you love to make room for it. Then I asked myself a question while I'm sitting at the table. Am I hungry enough to eat this entire plate? A lot of the time I'm not. So often we have the mindset that we need to eat the entire plate because you feel like you have to be so restrictive in your diet. And you'll only get to eat this every so often. So you better eat all of it, right? It feels like you're one chance. So you make the most out of it. When the foods you love are allowed in your diet and you know you can have them again in a couple days or next week, that urge to finish and devour the entire plate, it goes away or it diminishes. So you're more likely to eat until you're satisfied and you don't feel like you have to devour the whole plate just because it's there. And now the fourth thing, and this is the morning after the meal that you love, which is don't panic when the scale goes up, because it probably will at some point, even when you're eating within your calorie limits. That doesn't mean that you've gained two pounds of fat or whatever the scale says. A salty, higher carb restaurant meal can make you hold on to more water. And there's also more food sitting in your digestive system. That extra scale weight usually clears up over a couple days. So don't judge whether your diet is working or not based on the morning after you have a meal that you love. That jump on the scale doesn't mean you suddenly gain that amount of body fat. It doesn't happen that fast. So what I do instead is I take progress photos every two weeks. Same clothes, same spot, same light, before I've eaten or drank anything, after I go to the bathroom. And I look at that trend over time instead of one weigh-in. One morning's weigh-in tells you very little about whether you're actually losing fat. In fact, I barely even weigh myself these days anymore. So eat fewer calories than your body burns. That is the only rule for fat loss. How you get there and what you give up to get there is your choice. And it doesn't have to be all of your favorite foods and it doesn't have to be alcohol. Decide how often you have them, decide how much is on your plate. And when the scale goes up the morning after, don't let that one wing convince you that everything you just did didn't work. How do you know how many calories your body burns in the first place? Everything else in this episode depends on that number. So grab your free fat loss formula workbook below. It walks you through your numbers for you: your maintenance calories, your protein target, and the calorie deficit for your body, and not just some generic number off a chart. I'm gonna link that in the show notes for you below. So if you're keeping all your favorite foods in your diet this week and you finally know what to give up instead to make it work, follow the show so that the next episode is already in your library. And if you have 10 seconds, it would mean the world to me if you could leave a rating. It's the single biggest factor that helps other women like us over 40 find this podcast. And if you want more on all things diet, nutrition, fitness, lifestyle, and basically everything else that goes into losing weight after 40, come and join the behind the body community. Every week I will send you something straight to your inbox to help you keep making progress. And you can sign up for free at behind thebody.com forward slash newsletter. And if you want the other half of this, how much of losing weight is food and how much is exercise, listen to the lose weight without exercise after 40 next. I'll link it below and I'll see you over there. Thank you so much for tuning in, my friend, and I can't wait to chat with you next week.